Connecting a Hi-Cap to 102/180

Posted by: Carl Leermakers on 06 January 2002

I just acquired a Hi-Cap to upgrade my 102. Is it correct that I should now connect not only the 102 but also the 180 to the Hi-Cap, in stead of to the 102? Sorry for such a basic question but my dealer did not tell me to install it this way...

Thanks for your assistance.

Regards,

Carl
Brussels, Belgium

Posted on: 06 January 2002 by Phil Barry

Yes.

You should have gotten a 5-pin DIN-DIN cable with the hicap.

Check Naim's site for a manual to show the actual cabling - my 82 manual says: 5-pin DIN from socket 4 of hicap to 5-pin preamp input, with banded end toward preamp, and 4-pin DIN-DIN cable from socket 1 to amp.

Regards.

Phil

[This message was edited by Phil Barry on MONDAY 07 January 2002 at 03:44.]

Posted on: 06 January 2002 by garyi

The 102 comes with a 5 pin blanking plug next to the 4 pin output you should have currently been using. remove the blanking plug, insert your spanking new 5 pin cable, (this is different to a five pin interconnect cable)
That then winds into the cap, then use your existing four pin from one of the outputs on the cap into your amp.

The four pin output on the 102 does not have a blanking plug just leave it.

Posted on: 06 January 2002 by Carl Leermakers

Thanks Garyi and Phil. I indeed received a 5-pin DIN, but I was told just to use it to connect Hi-Cap to the LINK input in the 102 (which doesn't work, because that LINK input is 4-pin!!).

So I'll now spend the rest of this Sunday afternoon enjoying the benefits of the upgrade, thanks to you!

In good old former times, there was a Belgian dealer named Michel Campus (Stereotypes) who was 100% committed to Naim, knew everything about every piece of Naim, and would in any case always have insisted on installing anything himself. IMHO (but of course I don't know the story), Naim have made a mistake in discontinuing working with him.

Posted on: 06 January 2002 by Andy Kirby

Hi Carl

You might be interested to know that a copy of the Power Supply Owners Manual can be found on the Naim Web site Here along with all the other current products.

Cheers and welcome to the forum.

Regards

AndyK

Posted on: 06 January 2002 by Martin Payne

quote:
Originally posted by AndyK:
a copy of the Power Supply Owners Manual can be found on the Naim Web site

Carl,

if no manual was supplied then I suspect that this is a second had unit.

Please be aware that some older HiCaps use a different wiring scheme for sockets 1, 2 & 3. There is a plate on the back of the HiCap which explains how to wire it up. My current-spec unit says socket 4 to pre-amp & socket 3 to power amp. I believe that older units recommend socket 2 to power amp.

Please check the label on the back of the Hicap for the correct instructions for your particular unit.

cheers, Martin

Posted on: 28 March 2002 by MarkyB

On the subject of which socket to the power amp.

I had my new hi cap connected to my 140 with socket 3 as the booklet stated ( to amp 1) but when a lad from my dealers came round to set up my fraim he said 'has this been working like this' , 'yes' I replied, upon which he said they always set them up to socket 1 in the shop.

It does work OK so does it actually make any difference?

Posted on: 28 March 2002 by garyi

Well if it will help you sleep at night plug it in the 1st output, however in order for using say 2 135s the outputs would have to be indentical for left and right channels, in other words in they should all out put exactly the same information at exactly the same time in exactly the same quantity.

I think mine is in the middle input just because it is. I am confident thay are all the same.

Posted on: 28 March 2002 by Steve B

I hope you've got it sorted now.

Please let us know how you get on with the Hicap.

Steve B

Posted on: 28 March 2002 by Martin Payne

quote:
Originally posted by MarkyB:
I had my new hi cap connected to my 140 with socket 3 as the booklet stated ( to amp 1) but when a lad from my dealers came round to set up my fraim he said 'has this been working like this' , 'yes' I replied, upon which he said they always set them up to socket 1 in the shop.
It does work OK so does it actually make any difference?
M

Marky,

I guess from your description yours is a fairly recent HiCap.

If it's quite old the wiring scheme is different.

If you plug a Nap90/140/160/180 into the wrong socket you can destroy the regulators on the Hi (none in the NAP, I think?). This is because the older HiCaps are configured to power the old 4-pin-SNAIC preamps - 12, 22, 32 (not 32.5), 42 (not 42.5), NAXO (not -4 & -6 variants).

I understand that modern HiCaps do not provide power to any of the three 4-pin sockets, so this is not a problem.

Strangely, none of the wiring diagrams in the modern manual show any use of socket 1. Makes you wonder why it's there?

cheers, Martin

Posted on: 28 March 2002 by jcc

quote:
Why on earth are people connecting their hicap to the poweramp?

The Naim power supply becomes a 'middle man' in this case. It supplies 24V to the preamp and in return gets a signal from the source of choice. From there it gets connected to the amp and sends the music along its way....

HTH

Enjoy
Jim

Posted on: 31 March 2002 by garyi

The powersupply supplies power to the preamp, however it is the go between for the signal between pre amp and power amp, in otherwords it has to connect to both.

Posted on: 03 April 2002 by MarkyB

This was the reply from Naim so I am switching back to socket 3

'You should always collect the signal from the Hi-cap via "the next available socket" to the 5 pin that goes to preamp'.

Mark

Posted on: 03 April 2002 by garyi

However we must be getting into the world of anal figures here and I won't believe anyone that says they can hear a difference, after all the point of the outputs is for multiple amps and therefore the outputs would need to be the same.