Please accept my apologies, I did misread your post and edited mine while you answered. I was distracted and thought “not again”
Thanks for restating, I had got it in the meantime. It is indeed odd, but I don’t think what you describe is the cause.
As I was unaware of the whole thing when I got my 252, I was quite confused by it. So when investigating I made very sure that my balance dial was as perfectly centered as much as I managed, and always kept doing so when returning to the issue, both when it came back and also now. Without a snap, it is never possible to be 100% sure it’s exactly the same, but when turning it with the remote, the eye seems to quite well discern between the LED moving up and starting to move down on the other side.
As the original issue was never slight but a very obvious dropping out of one channel, even with the new pot though at lower volume, I don’t think that a minimal difference in balance pot position could be causing what I am hearing now, which is essentially no difference in balance across the whole range down to the very end.
I can’t come up with a better explanation than “burn-in”. Which I would intend to also cover mechanical differences caused by use, after all such a pot is just conductors being brushed along another conductor. My guess is that the cause for the behavior in the first place is imperfect contact at the very end of the range (possibly even both ends, but nobody ever tries what happens at the top end). I’d say it’s not impossible that the parts adapted slightly better to each other by use/wear.
When you put it like that It seems like I had this issue with another Naim amp I had prior to the 252. Perhaps it was one of my old Naits. I moved the 252 on in 2010 so maybe it was the SN I had before it, I didn’t like that amp for other reasons.
Yes, it’s a funny world this Naim stuff and forum folklore. In my system, the 252 is nothing remotely like being too polite, boring, lacking attack or whatever. It’s simply well above anything I’d hoped to achieve with this hobby.
And I’ll concede that, yes, the change in pre-amp from the SN2 makes a massive difference, as I’m still using the SN2 as a power amp.
Mike, I believe we both love our SN2 and thought it a fantastic integrated amp. With that said when I recently added the NAC 282 I found your comment to be quite appropriate “change in pre-amp from the SN2 makes a massive difference, as I’m still using the SN2 as a power amp.”
Not taking away a thing from the SN 2 but the separate Pre Amp brings a lot of improvement to the sound! .
I’ve only recently acquired my 252 and was not aware of any balance problems at low volumes.
However, I thought I’d check whether there was a problem so I pressed the mono button and sat in my normal listening position.
To my surprise the RH speaker was louder than the LH one. To check this out I moved my head slightly to the left and the sound balanced out.
It seems that positioning together with, I presume, room acoustics maybe responsible for some of the problems reported rather than technical problems with the 252.
In my experience, after a months ownership I’ve found the 252 to be a brilliant pre amplifier and a significant step up from its 282 predecessor.
I second your view of the 252 - once everything is optimised such as cable routing it sounds great. I never had the 282 but did precede it with the 82 plus Supercap and it was a sizeable upgrade from that.
I did not intend to make you. Most owners love their 252s, I do so much, and this should not be a reason to put you off one. It’s just something that it helps to be aware of if one happens to be affected. But as you have seen from the comments, many/most units don’t seem to have the issue, many/most of those that have it do so only at a level you might never use, it might get better in new units on its own, and if it’s new and bad and it affects you, it will be fixed. When buying used, I expect that most reliable sellers will tell you if you ask.
Glad you enjoying your change. Yes the Supernait 2 is cracking but as you rightly say it isn’t fair to compare.
I can’t wait for you to hear what the 250DR brings, it genuinely doubles the size of the speakers and detaches the music from them.
As great as Naims combined units are, they are not a match on their Pre/power units in my opinion.
Definitely appreciating the 252. Much more delicacy and space around the instruments, everything just more defined and less frenetic.
The 282 is good, the 252 is better.
Hi @popeye. I can’t remember, did you add the 282 to your SN, or did you put the 250 in at the same time? I wondering which of the pre or the power has the most impact on the effects on the speakers that you describe?
