Unpackaging and Swissvaxing
Final installation
Cables run decently behind
After the282 departure, i was planning an upgrade to 252 when my dealer offered an ex demo 552
(very scarce opportunity on our shores)
At the beginning it was meant to be a late 2012 unit, but last week he called me telling .. "I have a surprise for you, I' m packing up the 552 and the psu is already DR ! "
An hour later he popped in at my workplace with the "beast"
Once at home, for a few adverse circumstances on "Une Heure De Tranquillitè" style had the
opportunity to install it only last Sunday, since such a special event deserve all the time necessary
I began, white gloves on disassembling every Fraim Stack to insert the new boxes.
For the record the new one i added last December was a bit loose already, despite it was re-tighthned a week later the arrival, while the old stacks seemed fine.
On the first hour i can't say was like turning on the light on in a dark room, but something
interesting was already showing.
On the same evening the sound was definetely opening out and yesterday and yesterday night
night even more so.
We have to bear in mind that even the 250 lied unused for 3 months
I played a good variety of records from early medieval to 70's pop rock, neo folk and electronic and
particulary with most dense & complex music, the most positive effect i noticed, was the almost total lack of fatigue.
Despite even at 9/10 'o clock it seems to play quite louder and with bigger scale than before,
i no longer urge to drop the volume with loud and complex piece of music, the music flows
now naturally and effortlessy and probably there is still room for improvement with a proper
run in and warm up since i' ve been told that it saw very little use.
At the same time i' m also praising the effect of my trusty Nait XS within its obvious limits
it's not ashamed in this company
Regards
Roberto
Posted on: 17 February 2016 by rsch
Just a quick update after a week of use.
i don't know how reliable are the following impressions since there are some factor like mains
quality day by day, individual state of mind and son on, leading to one or another conclusion.
Apparently, some of the early wow effect was fading away and over the weekend, the clarity and opennes showed at the begininning, turned into something like aggressive vocals and too much
dynamics excursion with some recordings. This is probably part of the burning in process.
Futhermore the mains plugs order on the distribution block probably was not ideal.
The order from the incoming was 1)Nap 250, 2) 552 psu, 3) 555 psu.
Later i changed to : 1) 552 psu, 2) 555 psu, 250 into another wall socket. I don' t know if this is a better solution than plugging it together into the block since my mains circuit is less than ideal, being the latter at the tail end of a radial circuit.
However the following day, with such arrangement, the overall balance seemed much better.
Today i 'll try a plug arrangement into the block like this . 1)Nap 250, 2)552 psu 3) space 4 555 psu.
P.s.
A curiousity i noticed,
Recently someone with a 552 complained that at a fairly low level, the signal from one channel
was disappearing or much lower anyway.
Mine, with the pot at point 0 (about 7 o'clock) still produces a very faint
nicely matched sound left and right from the tweeters.
So i can assume that its tracking is perfectly matched on left and right channels.
Proof of this was a check i did yesterday with a multimeter, at less than 8' o clock level, with
the balance at noon, the figures i read were pretty much the same.
Regards
Roberto
Posted on: 17 February 2016 by rsch
Roberto,
Thank you for your continuing update! Your 552 impressions & expectations are important to me since I'm anticipating my own purchase in coming weeks. More than other Naim gear the 552 is characterized as redefining, but your initial engagements suggest a sound that is caustic, or aggressive. Recently I DR my power supplies & acquired new NAP300DR. From start I hated much of the sound, found it grainy, hard, edgy & at moments burden to listen to. Several weeks have gone by & the sound is increasingly succulent if not seductive. I suspect whatever the alleged breakin window it's far longer. I just hope I'm not the one being broken in.
Has your dealer participated instillation & concerns? Please keep your impressions coming.
Hello,
I don't see a culprit into the DR, it's probably a sum of factor, like
1 the digital smear in many recordings, and the excessive level of them ( new and remastered
recordings) like Mr DB pointed out, old cds seem better than new one
2 Naim Nacs, for the reasons above, have little degree of adjustment on volume, probably
exacerbated into little/medium rooms and medium/high effciency loudspeakers, sometimes at
9 'o clock you are already way too loud.
3 The elements downstream, 1 Naca 5, it seems that our Max B. mitigated this
effect with a different cable, ideally would be S. Lumina.
4 Nap 250 ? I' d be tempted to try either a 200 or 250 DR.
Regards
Roberto
Posted on: 04 March 2016 by rsch
Hi Nick,
Well, it seems that is settling down nicely, you can also read some comments from Max Bertola who payed me a visit this week in the other post " Lovely day with fellow naim forumites"
The level of clarity and dynamics is utterly mental. Not just for the system itself but probably for the small_ishroom. I' m pretty sure that in a bigger one it could be more at ease and " stretch its legs"
Moreover as i noticed and Massimo confirmed me, even a variation of 40/50 cm back and forth with seating position, affects the tonal balance in the mid bass area. In fact, staying closer to loudspeakers gives a tremendous clarity and focus with leaner mid bass. A little farther away the mid bass is fuller and more articulates ,more similar to Massimo's system with SBL at the expense of a little lack of focus and clarity.
Regards
Roberto
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