End of my tether

That’s excellent sir. Thank you (again).

@james_n I think it’s highly likely I’ll do exactly that.

Just been playing some new music tonight. It’s amazing how unengaging it is at present.

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Rushing out into Manchester but got the Nait 5 home; on the Hutter shelf where the 202 was (yes the Naim speaker connectors work just fine). Got TV into Aux 1 and the Hi-Line where it should be. Speaker cables are a twisted mess and touching the wall. Even then, from cold, it sounded like a Naim system for the 1st time in months.

Clearly the 202/200 etc. have much more power as the volume knob has to go closer to 11pm to get anything on the 5 whereas on the former 9pm was more than enough. Not sure on bass but given the mess of the speaker cables I’ll cope.

My dealer gave me a choice of Naim or Class A so I’ve elected for the latter given likely timescales.

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The volume controls are very different. The NAC202 uses the ALPS pot whereas the NAIT 5 used a resistor ladder with an encoder wheel, which allowed much greater adjustment range for high level sources such as CD. Also you got perfect balance even at low levels. Only downside was that the ALPS pot sounded better, which is why it re-appeared in the NAC122x and the NAIT 5i and NAIT 5xs.

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Thanks Richard. Noticed the volume thing as soon as I powered up.

Gosh, my issue must be the 202 as this is sounding very much like a Naim system right now. CDX2 plus XPS2 into a bare Nait 5 and for the 1st time in months I’m fully engaged. A little bass light but I’m on late night low volume and the speaker cables etc. area total mess. Can live with that for a week or so.

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Blimey Mike, you seem to be getting to the bottom of all you hifi woes.

Let’s hope that Class A breathe new life into your 202.

Fingers crossed for you!

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Cheers @NigelB. From what I’ve heard there’s little doubt it will come back fully renewed. When it does it’s an opportunity to relay cables but right now I’m on my third album of the evening and enjoying myself musically for the first time in months.

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Whatever you do, don’t be lead astray by that NigelB bloke. He is the devil incarnate, and his only purpose us to to trick you! :crazy_face:

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Say what?

It’s post no 666…

It’s fascinating that the little Nait has changed things so much. Maybe the 202 was at fault or maybe you simply prefer the Nait’s sound to that of its bigger sibling.

I know you are not keen on more comparisons, and I don’t blame you. One thing you could try is to use the Nait as a preamp with your Hicap and 200. If the sound collapses it would suggest the issue lies in other than the 202.

The alternative is a straight Nait vs 202/Hicap/napsc/200 test once your 202 returns. If you still prefer the Nait then it might be time to replace the 202/200 with a Supernait 2 or 3.

In the meantime, enjoy the music.

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A good idea from HH. Just to add to that, it’s worth trying NAIT+NAP200 as well as NAIT+HICAP+NAP200. That should weed out any weak link.

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^^ Exactly that.

At the minute the OP has replaced a ‘3 box’ amp (plus SNAIC 4&5) with an integrated, so it’s too soon to declare the 202 as the culprit. I’d want to introduce the above components one at a time and for at least a couple of days per change.

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Mwa…ha…ha…ha….

Seriously, I am chuffed to bits for Mike, as he has been through a very irritating time, and it has taken an age to identify the offending item.

Mike, please come back here when you get your 202 back from Class A and let us know if you are at the end of the end of your tether.

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This is a Nait 5 at its best. Can be used as an integrated amp, pre amp, power amp, with or without power supply and it sounds good!

Thank you for all the suggestions. Eminently sensible but…

I have the Nait for probably a week until the pre comes back from Class A. There’s no option to keep both and do an A/B. I can ask but given that I’m 40 miles way and it’s a loan solely because mine is in for a recap/service.

I’m off work for another week. Come Tuesday or Wednesday I have the day to myself and could give serious quality time to all that’s been suggested. It makes sense, although my starting point would be to untangle the mess of cables I created when I hurriedly put the Nait 5 in and it would be nice if my holiday could remain just that.

However, I’ve not listened to any music on the system other than brief confirmations it was still lacking mids and bass since this thread started sometime in November 2019 so you’ll forgive me if I spend a couple of days doing just that. It remains bass and mids light in my view so there may be something other than the 202 going on but it certainly has that Naim PRaT back; the occasional distortion I felt I was going on has gone and, I’ll have to recheck this but, I think the sibilants has gone too. Needs to be borne in mind that there’s a Christmas tree interfering with all this at present and that will be gone sometime Monday. The room correction thread could have a field day with that.

I’m still intrigued by the addition of a HC2 DR. All the online literature refers to is “a power amp” without specifying which, and a Flatcap.

Having been a victim of others miswiring in the past, which led to the 200 going in for a large repair, I’m especially anxious to not do that myself. Is the wiring setup as per the Flatcap? Are we 100% confident a 200 and a HC2 DR are okay to use with it?

It occurred to me this afternoon whilst listening to the new Stormzy and taking down decorations… if an integrated amp restores PRaT but not bass/mids then that suggests the problem is not the 200. I associate the PRaT with the pre amp. Is that too simplistic?

Hopefully get stuck into this Wednesday when Mrs. H. is working and the boy is back at school finally.

I was very surprised by the difference in bass performance when I changed from 202 to 282 so I’m not sure that analogy holds. I understand the gut instinct behind the theory though. Anyway, fingers crossed for you getting this resolved one way or another.

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Nait with a subwoofer maybe? Would make your kid’s horror movies great as an additional benefit

@mikehughescq I am fascinated to read that the Nait 5 can give you so much pleasure after your 202/HC/200 set. Given the interest in your thread, it’s probably a fairly safe bet to say that you are not the only forumer keenly awaiting the return of your serviced NAC202!

Quick question. Okay to remove speakers cables from the Nait 5 whilst it os on and muted? Ditto re: reinsertion?

Only me in the house today so some Daft Punk to set an (ahem) baseline and then out with the XPS2; thorough the-check of speaker cables and laying them out with minimal bends on lounge floor whilst there’s no-one around to protest. See where I get to by 4L45pm.

Anyway, do i need to power down the Nait to remove speaker cables at the Nait end or not?

Thanks in advance.