Please reassure me: going from 82 to 52

Hi Mike,

Alex is right. An 82 is great. Until you hear a 52, and suddenly all the grainy stuff is gone leaving a huge, really natural sound that'll have you up all night finding out what your music collection really sounds like. It's the best upgrade I've ever done, I shit you not!

Mickey

Mike

If you got the money, just do it.

The simple truth is that the 52 is the same as the 82 but does everything more effortlessly and better.

You are going to hear better music than ever before.

Regards

Mick

Thanks gentlemen. I consider myself reassured.

Mick - did you get that 82 from PFM? I assume for the kitchen system? What do you think?

M

On the Yellow Brick Road and happy

Mike....the 82-52 upgrade was probably the most significant I ever made...do not hesitate...I recommend it without reservation

Laurie S

I agree, 82 to 52 very significant. I've changed in the last 10 days. There are some good price 52s about at the moment if you don't mind a bit of maturity. I paid a difference of just £220 between my 11 year old 82 and 10 year old 52 which is a no brainer really. Add a service for £300 to bring the 52 to current spec and I'm well pleased.

Brendan

Not having any experience of either, I have read that the 72 over-achieves and the 82 under-achieves on VFM terms. Is this true? May help explain the apparently large leap to the 52. ARC – how much would I pay for a 52 then? Oh..and also, does it really need the supercap or would the lesser power supply suffice for a while? You are getting me interested now.

Rasher,

The 52 will only work with a Supercap (unless it's a very early one which comes with it's own dedicated power supply). There should be a decent supply of 52's due to the arrival of the 252 and 552, so I'm guessing that around £3k -£3.5k will get you a late spec 52 with S/Cap.

Just wait until you hear a 552! I feel a remortgage coming on...

Best wishes,

Mickey

Until recently my most profound upgrade (in terms of the effect that it had on the music at least) was going from 72/Hicap to 52. It was a 10 on the goosebumpometer.

They must have got something right because the mighty 552 is "just" a 52 with icing. Very nice, bloody expensive icing.

Rasher,

I paid £1250 for a 52 without power supply. £1550 including recap and new pot board.

Brendan

Mike--

Changing from 82/Super to 52/Super is one of the most dramatic upgrades in the entire Naim lineup, considering the 52 is only one step up the ladder.

While the 82 is superb, and offers a good taste of what the 52 provides, it is almost as though there is a glass ceiling on the 82. You can hear what the 52 does from having an 82/Super, but you can never get there with the 82. The 52 is both a qualitative and quantitative leap from the 82; the difference is surprisingly large.

I just moved from 72/Super to 52/Super and the improvement is at once both astonishing and hard to credit. For those folks who have a 72/Hicap or Supercap I'd say skip the 82 and go directly to the 52--the character of the music and sound is similar, and the improvement dramatic.

Best,

Bob

My best upgrade ever: 82 to 52!

But have a listen to a 552 to really fall in love!

Richard

“I paid £1250 for a 52 without power supply. £1550 including recap and new pot board.”

How did you find that deal?! (Though presently still I don’t get the means for a 52 but sooner or later I will.)

graphoman

I was just very lucky, normally I end up paying too much for things. I saw it advertised on a local dealers website and couldn't believe it. I phoned expecting it to have sold but they still had it. I put a deposit of£500 down without seeing it immediatley as the 3 month warranty gave some reassurance it would be O.K. The dealer was happy to sort out the service for me which took just 10 days.

All in all I'm both lucky and happy.

I have to admit that I never thought I would own CDS2, 52,250 but by trawling the secondhand adverts I've ended up with what is for me a fantastic system. Now in about 8 years I'll be looking for a 552 for about £4K.

Brendan

Hold on a sec., it was only last week we were reading about how close a Nait is to a 52/250 and now we are reading about the gulf between an 82/Super and a 52/Super. Perhaps we need some kind of objective scale here.

Allan

quote:

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it was only last week we were reading about how close a Nait is to a 52/250 and now we are reading about the gulf between an 82/Super and a 52/Super.

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Allan, those Nait's are really something special...

[This message was edited by bjorne on FRIDAY 13 June 2003 at 23:11.]

Comparing a hicap to supercap upgrade for 82 vs 82 to 52, which is a bigger step?

Lee--

82 to 52 is a substantially bigger step.

Best,

Bob