Hi all, I have an opportunity to purchase a used 552/552 PS DR. The PSU was not originally a DR model but was upgraded (and also recapped) by AV Options back in 2014.
My questions are: 1) is there anything about the upgraded PSU model that is somehow inferior to a factory spec DR unit or are they functionally the same?
how long is a recap good for? The S/N of the preamp, which has not yet been recapped, is 248560 which puts it at 2007. Am i looking at an expensive recap soon?
I really appreciate the groupās feedback as this is a significant purchase as Iām sure you all know
The DR upgrade now forces a service at the same time so maybe get them serviced as the DR upgrade did not service the components at the same time previously unless the customer specified it. Then it will be good as new (apart from the aged components they donāt change during service but on that basis they should be fine for the lifetime of the product)
There are no DR parts in the 552 preamp, so the service will usually entail replacing a few tants and caps, plus a thorough check that everything conforms to specification. Once done youāll have another 15 years on the clock and will sound pretty much the same as if you had just spent Ā£25k on a new one.
If this is true - that the 552PS was DRāed and re-capped, then its been serviced - and is good to go for another 12 to 15 years. It should - I believe - now be identical to a factory built DR version.
The 552 itself, being from 2007, is now in the 12 to 15 year range that Naim recommend for being serviced (for āBlackā units). On cost, my only comparison would be my 82, which cost GPĀ£219 to service, at Class A in the UK, in 2014.
According to the AV Options website, they are āthe only 3rd party authorized Naim Audio restoration center in the USAā.
AV Options is owned and run by Chris West who worked at the Naim factory back in the chrome bumper years and then moved Stateside and, along with Chris Koster, distributed Naim for a number of years as Naim Audio North America (NANA for short).
Personally, I would have complete confidence in any piece of Naim kit serviced by Chris. Heās also a member of the forum, an all round top bloke, and posts here from time to time.
I had the full monty AV Options recap and DR done a couple of years ago. A brand new 552 was/is out of my reach, so decided to take the time to track down a used model. After a year, my dealer found me a 2003 model of known provenance. I lived with that for a while, then sent it off to Chris for some tlc.
The upshot of all this was that, in return for a dollop of patience, I got a 552 thatās every bit as good as new for about 2/3 retail. Given that sample variability is real (admittedly more a thing with older Naim gear), and given how painstaking AV Options are, itās even possible that the path youāve chosen may land you with a better than new 552.
Pre-COVID, the process left me without my 552 for several months. If you havenāt already done so, Iād recommend verifying with Chris that he has the necessary parts in stock before sending your kit off.