What's involved in pre amp servicing?

Posted by: John Schmidt on 07 September 2000

I recently had my ca. 14-year old Hicap and 18-year old 250 recapped. Bargain of the century, in my opinion, for anyone who has older equipment. Elsewhere on the forum, I've read inferences to servicing of preamps. What's involved in this case? From general discussions on the forum I'd assumed that dried-out capacitors were the main target of servicing, and that these are all located in power supplies and power amps. More specifically to my situation, I have a 32 preamp that was upgraded to 32.5 around 1986. Is there periodic servicing that should be done on this unit? How does the cost compare to recapping? If anyone has had this done, what was the result?

Thanks in advance to anyone who's got experiences to share.

John Schmidt
"95% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon

Posted on: 07 September 2000 by Tony L
quote:
I have a 32 preamp that was upgraded to 32.5 around 1986. Is there periodic servicing that should be done on this unit? How does the cost compare to recapping? If anyone has had this done, what was the result?

I have a 32.5 that I had recapped early last year along with my Hicap and 135s. All my stuff was manufactured in 1987, so was long overdue for a service. As far as I can tell re-capping is the only servicing that can be done to the 32.5, other than the addition of the (highly recommended) 729 filter boards that make it behave pretty much like a 72. Getting my amp re-capped was really worthwhile, a well set up and re-capped 32.5 can offer surprising sound quality and musical enjoyment. Absurdly good value for money.

The re-capping replaces all the little blue and red things (note my technical prowess), when you send it back to Naim, make sure all the boards are in as they do the phono stage etc too.

Take care what you stand your 32.5, they seem quite microphonic, and more than show a preference for a good equipment support. Try and place it away from your Hicap / poweramp too, as they don't like transformers near them either…

Tony.