Pull your boards! ALL of them!

Posted by: lp12 on 23 February 2004

Recently upgraded, 32.5/Hi-Cap/150. Replaced 150 with a pair of 7 yr old 135's.

I was floored by the increased level of detail BUT was agitated by the thinner sound I was getting. The bass went deaper but was less satisfying....

I was beggining to worry that the 135's were just this way (I have heard that they are not as warm as the 250, and I can say they are not as warm as the 150, 200 or 250/2 which I tried). Out of panic (ok, very mild agitation)I decided that I would upgrade the two boards in my 32.5 that can be replaced with 72 boards. I opened the case to have a look at them, (I am inquizitive)the old boards that is before calling Naim to order the new ones. I then put the pre back together and thought for the hell of it I would try the Tape input...

Tape input did not sound as clean, BUT it was a a bit more pleasing in that it was not as bright..... I then went back to the Tuner input and the clarity came back AND the lower levels of brightness were still there.

I opened the pre again and pulled all the boards on and off about 5 times each and then re-assembled. BANG! Brightness be gone!

This may be old hat to some but I would ABSOLUTELY recomend (for older pre's) to do this as i suspect it cleans the contacts much like disconecting and reconnecting DIN's does.

Adam
Posted on: 24 February 2004 by Trevor Newall
better still, if you have a turntable but mainly listen to CD, is to pull the boards out altogether and only reconnect them when listening to vinyl.
i know it's a pain in the backside to do, but the gains are quite substantial with CD when the phono boards aren't sucking out power.
just make sure to put the blanking boards in place to ensure the correct earth arrangement.

TN
Posted on: 25 February 2004 by Steve Crouch
Trevor

I pulled the phono boards from my 52 but have not replaced them with blanking boards. Does this mean I have an earth problem?

Steve
Posted on: 25 February 2004 by Steve Crouch
Anyone?
Posted on: 25 February 2004 by Furnace
"just make sure to put the blanking boards in place to ensure the correct earth arrangement"
No earth problem, I don't agree with that statement.
Posted on: 26 February 2004 by CraigP
All,

I have a Nac112 and only use the one input for the connection of my CD5 (to young for vinyl!!)

Being a barer of little brain can somebody tell me if their is anything i can do to this preamp to help improve the sound.

Regards

Craig
Posted on: 27 February 2004 by Trevor Newall
steve.
sorry I've taken so long to reply.
I was once told by a dealer that it's best to install the blanking boards when phono boards are pulled.
he mentioned something to do with ensuring the correct earth arrangement.
having tried this myself, I can confirm that my 82 sounds much better on CD (and every other source) with the phono boards pulled.
it also sounds better when the blanking boards are in place rather than not.
why? your guess is as good as mine!
perhaps you should check with Naim.

TN