Recommendations to improve a stone age system.

If the amp is unserviced, the best option may be a recap, especially of the Hicap and power amp. 

You obviously enjoy your system otherwise you wouldnt have had it for so long. The Naim stuff is classic and well matched. I would save your £500 - but if you HAVE to spend money then maybe you could look at some different speakers. If you haven't had the Naim amps serviced then spend the money in that direction.

Sister xx

Nice system. Have you had the hicap and 140 serviced?

Clive 

Hi,

It might be old but so what?

i doubt updating the CDP would do much.   I don’t know your speakers but if you’re in a small room how about a pair of Neat Iotas?

Regards,

Lindsay

My immediate thought would be to look to get the 72/140 serviced if they haven’t been done since new, they’ll be at least 15 years old. I recently had my similar vintage 82/Hicap135s serviced at Class A in Sheffield, you can see the price list if you google, Darren did a stunning job and they came back sounding much better than before. You’ve got a lovely system there.

A great balanced classic system. If amps and hicap haven't had a service the 500 quid is best spent here. Then enjoy another 20 years of a great system.

To misquote "2001, A Space Odyssey":  Keep banging the rock together! 

Actually if it's not already been done then getting things serviced is the best answer.

Wow...what a great forum. I thought I would be lucky to get one reply due to the age of my stuff so a huge thank you to all those that took the time & trouble to reply.......much appreciated. Very enlightening that no one mentions a cd player upgrade but virtually everyone recommends a service to the amps.....I hadn't even considered that so have fired off an email to my local electrical guru to try & get an idea of costs.

Thanks to you lot I now "know some of the unknowns" although there are bound to be unknowns I don't know!

Once again, big thanks.

Dick.

Dick D posted:

Wow...what a great forum. I thought I would be lucky to get one reply due to the age of my stuff so a huge thank you to all those that took the time & trouble to reply.......much appreciated. Very enlightening that no one mentions a cd player upgrade but virtually everyone recommends a service to the amps.....I hadn't even considered that so have fired off an email to my local electrical guru to try & get an idea of costs.

Thanks to you lot I now "know some of the unknowns" although there are bound to be unknowns I don't know!

Once again, big thanks.

 

Dick.

I don't know who your 'electrical guru' is but I would recommend having this done at Naim or an approved service agent like Class A.  If you don't you could potentially make matters worse, whereas an approved service will bring the item back as good as new using genuine parts.

Send the amps back to Naim or Class A repairs in Sheffield. They will service the units to Naim specs using Naim approved parts . An" electrical guru" will make things worse,

Sister xx

If you Google Class A Sheffield, you should get to their site. Click in the Naim tab, it's got the price list for servicing. He's a Naim approved service agent, you can also get it done at Naim, I think they're quite a bit more expensive. I've got no relationship to Class A except as a very satisfied customer. 

Any money left after the service, get a new cartridge and a new belt for the record player.

My assumption is that you have some Naca5 speaker wires......  if not, get some of that too.

Apparently some here have done servicing via non-approved gurus that have made their system 'worse'. Would love to hear the details of those direct experiences. Otherwise reads as suppositional. Hard to imagine any reasonably qualified servicing of older units would make matters worse.

TrickeyDickie, Sister E & Eonik...thanks for your concerns...my local guy is a semi retired electrical engineer who worked for years for a local Naim dealer & still does most of their work so I don't think there's any problem with his work...he did a great job on my CD3 & wasn't ridiculously expensive. Thanks for the suggestions Christopher M....had a new cartridge & belt a couple of years ago & am already using Naca5 speaker cable.

Thanks again everyone, Dick.

I don’t think anyone is saying that you wouldn’t benefit from a source upgrade, but even at today’s bargain used prices, I’m not sure you’d get anything decent for £500. Even if you did, making sure your existing kit is working optimally should take priority. Other areas you could look at, if you haven’t already, are mains supply, cabling and support. 

The CD3 is old, and flawed by today’s standards, but it is huge fun with any music that doesn’t demand total neutrality. Think hard before making a change here. 

I agree with Chris and many above, if you enjoy your system why change it... but £500 could be very well spent on getting the equipment, especially the amps and Hicap,  serviced.. it probably will make quite a performance boost.... and yes ensure done by Naim or Naim authorised service company... if in doubt give Naim a call.

BTW Naim test and validate most of their electronic components, and certainly all in the signal path... there is a rejection of those that don’t meet Naim’s requirements, although the component itself is within its manufacturer’s specification... therefore it’s important that any servicing is done via approved service partners or Naim themselves so this performance is maintained

Working for a Naim dealer isn't really the same thing.

With a number of Naim components of that vintage quite a few of the original types of capacitor are no longer available.  Naim have worked with their authorised service agents and done some research to find replacement capacitor types that keep closest to the original sound (and in a few cases actually improve it).  Your friend won't have access to this research.  Replacing these now unobtainable capacitors with different types can have a significantly detrimental effect on the sound.

A case in point is that someone replaced several critical signal capacitors in an 'Olive' amp with Elna Silmics (which are a very well regarded cap in their own right) but they didn't suit the Naim amp at all - they made it sound flat and lifeless.

Definitely best to go to 'Class A' or to Naim themselves.

I had my Olive (NAC 72, HiCap, NAP250) serviced by Naim. Not living in the UK, the cost of sending it via my dealer / distributor to NAIM vs sending it directly to Class A was more or less the same. But less hustle. So I chose an easy option.

It came back 6 weeks later, sounding like a brand new / brand old sytem  very happy with it.

So - coming back tot the OP’s post - my recommendation is to have it serviced, check and clean the cables, have your speaker cables re-soldered and enjoy it

I echo all of the comments above about servicing and using an authorised service agent or going direct to Naim.  I recently had my olive 82, 250 and Hi- cap serviced at Class A. The system sounds much better following the service.

Another in agreement here with the service option. Had my 52/supercap done earlier in the year at Class A. Great service and wonderful improvement. Darren cab arranged unsured courier both ways for a good price.  As other of said only use an authorised repair option  

Rob

Dick D posted:

Brand new to the forum but with a 20+ year old system (you're never too old to learn). My very ancient system still sounds great to my ears but is the only one I've known for over 20 years & consists of a CD3; NAP140 & NAC72 with hi-cap (all 2nd hand); Monitor Audio Studio 6's (also 2nd hand) & Rega Planar 3. I've had the CD3 serviced with a few new bits but apart from that nothing has been touched. My question to you lovely people is this.....would a £500 ish injection improve things to any degree? My initial thoughts are that the pre & power amp together with the speakers are a great base for a smallish room but perhaps a better cd player could be a good move. Would I notice any great difference if I could find a decent 2nd hand CD5 or indeed any other make? 

Sorry to take things back to the stone age but not all of us can afford the sort of kit that seems to be so popular in most of the posts (wish I could).

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Nac a4 speaker cable..?? Or Linn K20 ?? if not using could be a good move.. The Linn cable is essentially the same as Nac a4..

Thanks again for all the brilliant replies...I'm quite bowled over with your responses. I've taken on board all your comments regarding using only an authorised Naim Service agent & I've emailed Class A for some more info. Garry....would using Naca4 cable or Linn K20 make any noticeable difference over the Naca5 I'm using at present?

Thanks again,

Dick.

Stick with NACA5, it replaced NACA4 and is better even though it isn't as user friendly as A4 is more flexible.

Whilst the Linn cable is very similar I've always found that it sounds different to NACA4.  In non Naim systems (ION and Morgan Audio Systems) I preferred the Linn cable, but in Naim systems I felt that the Naim cable was more energetic and preferable.

Dick D posted:

Brand new to the forum but with a 20+ year old system (you're never too old to learn). My very ancient system still sounds great to my ears but is the only one I've known for over 20 years & consists of a CD3; NAP140 & NAC72 with hi-cap (all 2nd hand); Monitor Audio Studio 6's (also 2nd hand) & Rega Planar 3. I've had the CD3 serviced with a few new bits but apart from that nothing has been touched. My question to you lovely people is this.....would a £500 ish injection improve things to any degree?....

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Welcome to the forum, Dick

Lot's of good advice above, your system details maybe vintage but has the built in benefit of excellent and enviable engineering.

With £500 budget for improvement i'd spend the money on better speakers, if you're in a smallish room then keep with stand mount designs [and look for soft dome tweeters] you may get lucky and fine a nice pair of pre-owned naim n-SATS speakers which would IMO be a very nice upgrade : )

Debs