252.

Nice system Tony, and I made the same pre amp transition as you except mine were both pre loved but through my favourite dealer. If you trade in the move from 282 to 252 costs relatively little money and gives you a great bang for your buck.

No doubt we will get the usual banter between the 282 devotees and the 252 evangelists.

Let the fun begin.

Enjoy your new pre amp Tony. It has a habit of getting better and better, drawing you in and seducing. The little minx!

Thanks Nigel

i was very happy with the 282 until I went from the 250 to the 300

i am just sitting here listening and it just sounds right to me.

i would never knock the 282 as we are all different and all have different black boxes in our system.

Absolutely, I owned and loved my 282 for years and I think it is probably the best VFM pre in the range.

I posted at length on here when I made this transition and I think I compared the exuberance of the 282 to an excitable puppy. Very welcoming but could jump up at times. I think I also mischievously suggested the 252's allure was more subtle, could still excite when asked but would never soil the carpet. I concluded by suggesting the 252 was a grown up 282.

Analogies over. Enjoy the music.

As a 282 owner I think the 252 a superb amplifier.  

252 and 300 is a fab combo which I hope Tonycurran1 enjoys to the max!

Peter

Enjoy Tony, I think the 252 is a fantastic preamp and gets you really close to the music.. I liked my 282, but my 252 just seemed to add that extra feel, immediacy and closeness to the music.. you certainly get what you pay for... to me the 252 is closer to the 552 than the 282 is to the 252 ... but it is fussy on setup (placement, cable dressing etc)

Simon makes a good point re set up.

Tony, it is worth investing in a decent rack if you haven't already done so and it is worth spending a bit of time on cable dressing, box positioning and decent power strips/hydra if you are unable to plug everything straight into the wall. I have also found that optimising my LAN (ethernet cabling, and switch) and separating (physically and electrically) network devices from my naim kit brought some subtle but welcome improvement. Hope I am not teaching grandmother to suck eggs here.

But for the time being just enjoy the music in the knowledge things can only get better.

Yes thanks guys I have the FraimLite 

i will read up on dressing the cables.

i am using the high line and all boxes that need plugging in I am using power lines.

can any member give me advice regarding dressing the cables?

Re cable dressing, make sure there is enough room behind your Fraim Lite to keep all cable apart from each other. Some will be close to each other but avoid cables touching each other or touching the rack or floor. The only exception to this is the Burndy and Snaic exiting your 252. These two cables should be run as close to each other as possible. Don't ask me why but it is Naim's advice. The HiLine is particularly susceptible to touching other things. Let it hang free not touching anything. If cables need to cross each other, try to make it at 90 degrees.

I know all of this sounds ridiculous but I have heard for myself on several occasions the SQ benefits of taking a bit of time and care with cable dressing. One thing you should not do however is obsess about it. Do what is practical and then sit back and enjoy the music.

Congratulations on the 252, I am very interested in the comparison with the 282, I have only heard the 252 on a few occasions,  each time I was very impressed. 

I have been equally impressed with my 282, so not sure if it's just different or better?

Hi Wenger I loved the 282 with my 250 dr

but it just did not seem to gel with the 300 dr

i dont know why

but I still think the 282 is a great preamp.

tonycurran1 posted:

Hi Wenger I loved the 282 with my 250 dr

but it just did not seem to gel with the 300 dr

i dont know why

but I still think the 282 is a great preamp.

It certainly is a fine box, as you say it just might be the better partner of the 300dr.

Good move Tony!

also went from 282 to 252 - bliss. 300DR added recently.... heaven

You will love the 252. I also owned it for some time before I got my 552 and also com8ng from a 282. The 252 is a considerable upgrade and I have the feeling that from that point in the range real refinement and accuracy comes into the game.... Don’t let the 252 haters rob you from the pleasure.

I think the 252 the best VFM pre in the Naim range. It sounds so natural, unforced, confident. Welcome to your new music collection.

Makes it sense to pair the 252 with the 250 DR, or will that be an unbalanced system and the 252 will shine only with the 300?

My system at the moment is 282/250DR/Supercap and i like the fun/boogie  factor of that combo, and i fear to loose that with a 252/250DR combo.

I demoed 282/252/250DR/300DR in various combinations at the dealer‘s before purchasing a young 252 and 300DR from pre-loved/ex-dem stock.

They all shine but 252/300DR is a magic combination. Very special.

While waiting for Fraim delivery, the new family members sat on top of each other on the floor of my living room for a while (worst possible positioning, cables naked). The difference when the Fraim arrived and the cables were dressed was gobsmacking.

themrock posted:

Makes it sense to pair the 252 with the 250 DR, or will that be an unbalanced system and the 252 will shine only with the 300?

My system at the moment is 282/250DR/Supercap and i like the fun/boogie  factor of that combo, and i fear to loose that with a 252/250DR combo.

Nothing wrong with 252 and 250DR - it's a very good combo. A true classic.

Some dealers say that in the days of olive that  52/sc was paired with a 250 and 82 was used with a 180 and no hicap. I guess it makes sense in terms of customers spending and budgets

those days there was no 500 or 300 and 250 was second only to 135 and before that was the top power amp that naim made 

The 500 is the big electronics leap over the lesser amps 300 and 250

To my ears the 250 is far too crash, bang, wallop to exploit the nuanced presentation of the 252. A 300 is its natural partner. The 250 is also chopped off at the top and bottom, rather like a photo which has been cropped just a little bit too tightly. The 252, in partnership with the 300 goes into these regions and extracts information which a 250 either doesn’t get to, or doesn’t portray well. Whereas a 552 will go well with a 300 or 500. The 252 only works at its best with the one partner. Or possibly a 500 – I haven’t tried that combination. But you don't need to take anyone's word for it. Trust your ears. If something g works for you, it works.

During my journey last year to upgrade my Olive system I heard the 282 and 252 back to back and was pleasantly surprised how much better I thought the 252 was over the 282 taking into account  the many negative comments made about the 252 the rest of the demo system was NDX,XPS dr, 250dr and Spendor D7 speakers standard Naim cables were used. during the demo.

I upgraded to a 300dr earlier this year which obviously has taken everything to a different level and as Harry has said above it seems that the 300dr is the natural partner there is definitely a certain synergy between the 252 and 300dr and I'm still shocked at the level of musical enjoyment this combination can produce..

Adam Zielinski posted:

themrock posted:

Makes it sense to pair the 252 with the 250 DR, or will that be an unbalanced system and the 252 will shine only with the 300?

My system at the moment is 282/250DR/Supercap and i like the fun/boogie  factor of that combo, and i fear to loose that with a 252/250DR combo.

Nothing wrong with 252 and 250DR - it's a very good combo. A true classic.

2 great boxes Adam.

...or even three boxes with the obligatory Supercap.

Richard Dane posted:

...or even three boxes with the obligatory Supercap.