252 Sound Signature

Selling my 282, 250DR, SC2 etc will pay for the 300 (which was second hand)…same as p’xing the SN3 helped toward the 250… so I’m kinda OK with the expenditure thus far…whether I feel the same about heading up into 552 etc territory… can’t see it at the moment. Money is nice too for other stuff than hifi!

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I find it good to have a break from time to time.

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Rehab — just doesn’t do the job properly, apparently… :rofl:

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My second system of 282/HCDR/250DR/Kudos C10s is a legacy of upgradeitis.
Fronted by an Arcam r-Blink :rofl: :rofl:

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Think a few of us forget that’s it’s about music and not how much you spend on electronics.

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Amen to that!

Hmmmm…so I wonder how a 552/500 sounds?

Just kidding! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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It’s both though, surely?
My 12 month upgrade path has seen me try out various pre owned upgrade solutions with the idea that anything not finally installed will be moved on. That and the selling of the original kit will then reimburse me for the expense of my final upgrade decision, the 552/300 DR as it turned out.
Good plan, except that now I have heard how good the various kit is I now want to keep all of the best, and more valuable, kit even if its only in the rarely used rooms. Selling the bottom of the range kit doesn’t come anywhere near the upgrade cost, but I can always sell the better kit later. Right? :grinning:

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Hi Pete,

Yep i love my music and that’s the raison d’etre, a real friend throughout this pandemic. Certainly not disapproving of spending loads of lolly on a hifi system if it gives you a ton of pleasure and I’ve definitely done that in the past when I was younger without any financial responsibilities. I had this system in a previous lifetime.
I then bought my own property and that changed everything financially. I had thought nothing of spending £8 on a pre-amp before for example, but now in my present financial situation, I’ve come to really value money, when there is less of it around and realise what thousands of pounds can buy you instead.
I kept away from Naim for about 9 years but I’ve got a more humble Naim system recently again (Nd5xs2/Core/SN3/Kudos C20). Honestly it gives me as much pleasure as the high end system I had before. A lot of that is to do with the room my hifi is situated in now. Hugely better acoustically and it makes a massive difference.

Who knows if I’m able to upgrade again in the future, but if I don’t I’m really content with what I have now. This hobby is potentially crazy expensive, but I’m a little bit more prudent second time around, as long as I don’t keep reading the upgrade threads here.

May the love affair with music always continue first and foremost.

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Well said there has to be a point where you are satisfied with your system. There’s more to life than spending obscene amounts of money on hifi being drawn into the constant upgrade route. Not everyone can afford 500dr 552 etc.
It’s taken me years to reach my setup bulk of it is used apart from new Atc speakers. Placed order Monday looking forward to collecting them in time then enough is enough.

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"My…my oh my…oh my oh my…oh my

My…goodness."

Ah @steviebee I see you’ve experienced the WTF moment I mentioned earlier when you thought the 300DR was going to be so much better than expected … but don’t worry it will improve incrementally until … nirvana …

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A bottleneck 250 has restored order :sunglasses:

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Very nice Mike, the 250DR should be a huge step up in performance over the SN2 power amp secton.

Job complete?

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It certainly is. When I added the 252 running through the SN2 as a power amp, that was a big lift in detail, resolution and soundstage. But adding the 250 pulls it all together with so much control and completeness. I wasn’t actually expecting it all to be quite “this good”.

Yes, I think so. I’m already past where I was heading :sunglasses:

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This is what I love about all the regulated amps, they seem effortless compared to their non regulated cousins which can sound really excellent especially with a good source and pre but always feel held back to me.

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I actually borrowed a friends Class D power amp a few weeks ago to try it out on the 252. It was good, but the matching with the 250 is in a different league. The pre and power matching certainly works!

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That’s great Mike :+1: What I found also with my 250 - a lovely amp.

Now we should run from this place, or the 500 hounds will be forever nipping at our fancies!

Enjoy!

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Always nice when things come together, one hell of a setup Mike and safe to say leave it there.

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Welcome to club 250. :+1:

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@trickydickie did you move from 282hcdr to 282scdr? Even in that context did you experience effortless listening?