Upgrade form 82/sc to 52

You won't regret it, its a worthwhile step.

Not as big as hicap to supercap on an 82 which is quite dramatic, but noticeable all the same.

I have changed 82/sc to 52 and found it a very significant upgrade indeed. Frequency extremes are much improved and a sense of greater musicality. However,this is using a CDS2, I'm not sure whether a 52/250/NBL may expose ypour CDX a little. Perhaps a 52 and addition of XPS would be a good idea with the XPS before 52 if you can't do both at once.

Brendan

quote:

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Originally posted by Peter C:
You won't regret it, its a worthwhile step.

Not as big as hicap to supercap on an 82 which is quite dramatic, but noticeable all the same.

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Not sure I agree.

I really struggled to get excited about this upgrade and couldnt get enough of the leap to a 52.

The Supercap felt like more of the same whereas the 52 was almost surreal in its quality.

Make certain you investigate the generation of the 52 and that it has the new front panel arrangement which makes a big difference.

Either way you wont look back.

The 52 makes the most of your source. It will make your 82 sound broken.

I would not hesitate on upgrading.

Chris Bell

If the 52 makes the 82 sound broken with a SC, I can't wait to sample its delights... but, for the moment my 82/HC is beginning to really come on song...!!

John

PS. Need to ask about the phono boards in the 52 - are they the same as those of the 82, and if so do they sound any quieter in the 52? I ask because the ones in my 82 are considerably noisier than those in my previous preamp - and the other preamp's phono stage sounds better too, but I'd rather not keep it just for its phono stage!!! I'm hoping that the 52/SC seriously improves on the K-board experience I'm having now...

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

TC.

The 82 K boards are the same as the 52's. They might be slightly quieter with a SC powering them, but I don't think the differance would be massive.

Are the K boards the best for your cartridge? I think the 'S' boards are slightly quieter, but have a slightly less open sound with many cartridges

I was told by my dealer that I could use either. My cartridge is a 0.35mV Lyra Helikon.

The phono issue doesn't worry me too much at this stage, but obviously I'd rather sell my old preamp than keep it for just its phono stage...

John

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

I was previously using a internal S board on my 82 powered by SC. Recently got a Dynavector P-75 phono amp and it walks all over the S-board and more and that is with the default settings. It's quieter, digs more music and makes the bass on my Epos14 a lot more articulate.

I would highly recommend the P-75.

[This message was edited by leeto on MONDAY 22 December 2003 at 14:46.]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jonathan Hales:
[...]
Make certain you investigate the generation of the 52 and that it has the new front panel arrangement which makes a big difference.

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What do you mean by 'new front panel arrangement'?
Since when the newer 52 has this upgrade(?)?
How can one recognize the better 52?

Is it possible to upgrade an older 52 (by Naim service)?

Regards
Hannes

A no brainer!!

I changed from 82/SC to 52/SC but kept the 250 power amp. The difference was so huge that it is difficult to know where to start. In a nutshell the music was now effortless and much much more interesting to listen to.

Question Has anyone gone from this configuration to a pair of 135's ??

Regards Robert

Goldstar

I hope you're right!I'm waiting to take delivery of a '97 vintage 52 to replace my 82.I always intended to do this,so wasn't too disappointed by the less than breathtaking improvement from 2 HiCaps to Supercap with the 82[tho'the improvement was still very noticeable]

As for phono stages etc,I will continue to run my prefix off a HiCap which works very well and forget about the in-built 52 "flatcap" power supply.

Regards

Simon

Hannes,

I went from an 82 HiCap to a 52 SuperCap. The differernce was not "more 82" it was a fundamental improvement in the music. The 52 let the music flow. I used to just listen to a favorite track and quickly change to another CD or LP with the 82, now I find myself listening to the whole album.

I now know that I should have made the upgrade to the 52 a lot sooner. The 52/Supers are now more available 2nd hand and prices are reasonable.

Go for it!

Charles
Los Angeles

Without going into all of the silk like descriptions, in simple terms I just thought that it was a well worth upgrade, suck it and see. but I must admitt to going from
82x2 hicaps to 52+it's ps and I thought that, that was a great upgrade ,so from 82+ sc may not be such a big step. The best advice would be to have a listen,if possible and go by your ears they will tell you a lot more than anybody else can
oldie.

Ohhh my...all these talks are making me itch all over about moving up from 82/Super to 52/Super.

I regretted not making a Christmas resolution to not to go into this forum.

Thanks very much to all your answers and advice, I will tell you what happened an as 'oldie' said what my ears will tell
me ... ;-)

Wish you all a Merry Christmas

Hannes

Hello Simon,

I am feeding my Troika through the built in mc boards. Is it worth my investing in a Prefix?
I would value your opinion.

Regards Robert

quote:

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Originally posted by Simon Douglass:
Goldstar

As for phono stages etc,I will continue to run my prefix off a HiCap which works very well and forget about the in-built 52 "flatcap" power supply.

Regards

Simon

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Simon,
I think you should try to use the 52 to power your prefix or at least compare it to a separate hicap. If you system (or TT) works realy well it should be an upgrade.
regards
Dev

Hi Goldstar

I initially ran a Lyra Lydian off a prefix powered by a flatcap.It was certainly an improvement over the MC boards in my pre-amp[Nac 62 at the time] I then went on to change the flat cap for a HiCap and there was certainly a big improvement in the sound:"more music"[I know this is a much used term on this forum!]
This was also at a time when I jumped from 102 HC to 82 x2 HC so it is fair to say that the whole system took a major leap forward.
I would imagine a prefix used with your Troika would be very worthwhile

Hi Dev

Point taken:when the 52 arrives I may well try this.The flatcap was an example of 52 technology trickling down the range.I believe that it is basically the in-built prefix supply in the 52 put into a seperate box.Logically a HiCap should provide a superior power supply for the Prefix.I guess a supercap would be even better;several forum members have commented on this before[a bit hard to justify for me at the moment!]

Simon

quote:

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Originally posted by Hannes:
Thanks very much to all your answers and advice, I will tell you what happened an as 'oldie' said what my ears will tell me ... ;-)
[...]
Hannes

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Yesterday I got my s/h 52, I promised you to tell ...

Going from 82 to 52, it's really a different world! Everything goes better and the
improvement is huge and magic, even just after a few hours with a cold 52.

Everything I did in the last weeks to upgrade my frontend (82/hi -> 82sc, CDX -> XPS,
CDX -> CDSII) was a more ore less improvement but the biggest step was going from 82/sc
to 52.
So I hope for me, that the 'upgraditis' can finally come to an end and my inner
restlessness will disappear! ;-)

Hmm, what's next? First of all nothing for a while.
Later I need a stageline to make my LP12 playable again, but fortunately this would be
a little bit cheaper ... ;-)

Regards
HANNES

Hi Patrick,

Could you have a go at describing what it is about the sound of a Prefix compared to the internal phono board that makes it worth doing the swop?

Many thanks Robert

Goldstar...my 2ps worth

Upgrading from internal boards to a Prefix gives improvements in all areas. The most noticeable aspect, I found was the sense of increased "stability" and control, and percieved removal of "grunge"

Not unlike adding, say, a hicap to , say a 72/140

Laurie S

I upgraded from an 82 with 2 hicaps to a 52 + supercap. The difference was huge - it wasn't an improved version of the 82 sound (whic was good), but a totally different type of reproduction. Everything was easier to listen to, especially lPs, but there was more detail and a lot more musicality and naturalness. Even my old Meridian 202 transport and digilog DAC weren't shown up - a second hand 52/supercap is worth every penny.

Goldstar,

Going from a 250 to 135's with the 52/SC is an improvement. Maybe not quite as big as changing from an 82 to the 52 but well worth it.
Cheers

Does anyone have any ideas on the relative merits of the 282 vs the 52 (using, say, a Supercap/250).

I asked a similar question recently (although my interest is officially academic as I've committed to buying a very late model 52/SC to replace my 82/HC) and the consensus (as much as there was) was that the 52/SC should still be in front of a 282/SC2, though obviously by less of a margin than would be the case on an 82/SC1 system.

At least, I hope that this is the case

John

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."