Pulling boards from a 102?

The 102 only has one set of removable boards and thats on input one, it is unlikley any benifits would be reeped by removing these boards.

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The 102 only has one set of removable boards and thats on input one, it is unlikley any benifits would be reeped by removing these boards.

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Gary's first point is correct. His second is not.

A 102 is a little better without phono boards. Pulling the phono boards isn't going to give a night-and-day kind of upgrade, but if you don't have a table (or if you have an external phono stage for your table), there's no point slightly handicapping your preamp to keep an unused input.

For what it's worth, the kind of upgrade you get by pulling the phono boards is just the sort of improvement that CD players need -- you'll get a smoother, more sophisticated sound, without losing any of the fun.

Joe

"For what it's worth, the kind of upgrade you get by pulling the phono boards is just the sort of improvement that CD players need -- you'll get a smoother, more sophisticated sound, without losing any of the fun."

Yeah Joe,it’s an all gain no pain move.

It's a pity Naim didn't put the tape-out circuits onto removable boards in the 102 as I'm sure a lot of people never use them. In my own 102 I removed the power supply to the tape-out circuits by simply giving two resistors the snip! (They can be easily replaced if necessary). Even with the benefit of a hicap and napsc, disconnecting the tape-out circuits made a noticeable improvement.

Y,
Are you using a napsc by the way? – No 102 should be without one!

Mr Tibbs

Well OK, fair enough, if you strain on a dark night with your ears on full patrol you may, (Just may) hear a difference if you pull these two boards, which barely interface with anything on the whole kit-kay-boodle

If you really listen, (and I mean butt anal listen, the kind of listening where the music is secondry but the quality is everything) then you may, just may hear a slight deeping of a particular bass note.

Good luck!

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Y,
Are you using a napsc by the way? – No 102 should be without one!

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Yes sir, I am. And an old SuperCap to boot (I should probably get it re-capped at some point...). The NAPSC is all alone on the floor... unloved and far away.

Speaking of noticable improvements... I just ran a clean dedicated AC line (US 120V /20A breaker/ 12AWG Romex) to my kit. After letting it charge up for a few days the improvement was enough that my wife even noticed! "I can hear each note better... and it's like the quiet bits are more... quiet" All that without =any= prompting from me. The last time she commented on an improvement was when I upgraded to Epos ES12's from some god-awful Infinity floor standers.

y.

[This message was edited by yannzola on FRIDAY 20 February 2004 at 23:27.]

Gary

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Well OK, fair enough, if you strain on a dark night with your ears on full patrol you may, (Just may) hear a difference if you pull these two boards, which barely interface with anything on the whole kit-kay-boodle

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Are you speaking from experience or out of yer arse ;-)

Joe

Do you mean have I owned a 102 for a number of years running with a flat cap, and then flat cap/ NASPC then Hicac, NASPC?

Then yes I have and the removal or playing in genral with the one set of boards made no difference whatsoever,

However Joe, I know its terribly fashionalble to hear these differences, so I belive the poster should make the effort to remove either phono boards or the striaght through boards, then proclaim to all of us the masive differences he did hear!

Agree with Joe, not night'n'day but sans phono boards the cd definitely sounds more 'together' and a bit sweeter.
If you don't have a table yank 'em pronto. Guarantee you won't want to put them back in

red

I'll give the phono boards a yank them.
Thanks for the tips, all.

y.
always fashionable.

Gary,

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However Joe, I know its terribly fashionalble to hear these differences,

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It has nothing to do with fashion. Phono board pulling is a simple, free, reversible tweak that several people -- besides me -- have confirmed makes small but worthwhile difference on a 102. It takes about 30 seconds to do if you're at all handy with a hex key and screw driver. The real question is why wouldn't you do it if you don't need phono boards installed.

I'm not looking for an argument. All I did was counter your advice that "it is unlikley any benifits would be reeped by removing these boards," which to me sounds like you didn't even bother to try it despite your more recent post that "the removal or playing in genral with the one set of boards made no difference whatsoever."

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so I belive the poster should make the effort to remove either phono boards or the striaght through boards, then proclaim to all of us the masive differences he did hear!

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That's already been answered by Mr. Tibbs, Redeye and me -- it's not massive; it's small, but worthwhile.

Yannzola, give it a try and let us know what you think.

Joe

Yannzola, sound like you've got a good companion if she offers insights like that. Hope there's a reward in there.

Wish I could do a mains upgrade but can't in this old building.

glenn

Life is analogue

"However Joe, I know its terribly fashionalble to hear these differences, so I belive the poster should make the effort to remove either phono boards or the striaght through boards, then proclaim to all of us the masive differences he did hear!"

Gary, you'll (obviously) not hear any difference by removing a pair of straight through boards – maybe that's where you went wrong.

Mr Tibbs

Snigger thats what I did do prior to installing phono boards.

My mistake.

Joe, I am only having a bit of fun, you should never take anything I say to be an argument.

What about the 52, I would be terrified of the inside of this pre.

A word of Caution


I tried running my 72 without the phono boards and my LP12 stopped working.