My 500 combo on the blink

Sad to have to report that something within my 552/500 is badly amiss. It sounds hollow, grainy, coarse, colourless and the soundstage has gone flat and has sunk back into the speakers.
Both LP and Streamer sound the same way, so I know it’s not a source issue.
My suspicion is the 500 ( I recall @Polarbear tracked his issue to dodgy diodes? - could be) but I’ll take both into the dealer (Thanks Alastair) next Wednesday to determine which is causing the issue. Either way, with Naim service lead times it looks like no more big system music for me until some time well into 2023 :cry:.

Time to get some new strings on a few guitars and make my own vibes I guess.

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Hi Kevin - Dealer visit aside, I’m assuming you’ve powered it all down, disconnected and reconnected everything and it’s still the same ?

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Hi James,
Powered up and down a few times and I’ve swapped fuses for new ones. I haven’t yet reset connections. Probably a good idea to give that a go - will try that now.
Cheers, Kevin

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Sorry to hear that……it is what everyone dreads, i leave mine well alone just in case i mess a cable up. Hope it is something simple as the repairs are not cheap.

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All connections now remade James. Sadly, no change. It’s sounding a little less awful this morning than it did yesterday, but I think that’s because I switched off overnight and it maybe appreciated cooling down. It’s still no fun to listen to. No air, no acoustic, grainy, the music all very matter of fact and rough on louder passages.

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Ah ok. It does sound like something is definitely wrong. I assume you’ve not added anything mains powered in the house of late or have had any mains issues, power cuts, electricity board digging up the road etc ?

Hope your dealer can track down the issue anyway by component substitution.

Hi James……just spoke with Andy at Signals the ADOT single mode cable upgrade is available and they are flying off the shelves. I get my demo tomorrow.

Sorry to the OP for thread drift.

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Are you sure that it isn’t the speakers?

I’ve listened up close to each drive unit and all seem to be working. I’ve also put the amp in mono and swept across hard left and right and they both sound the same. So unless they both failed at the same time then I don’t think so.

I am sorry to hear you are having problems with your amp. Mine was struggling for some time and finally started blowing fuses. Once this happened it was straight to hq and the problem was diagnosed and sorted. The issue eventually shows itself, it’s just frustrating having to listen to flat music.

I hope you get it sorted quickly, sadly I know it will take time to be fixed by Naim. It’s the way of the world at the moment!

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So… now it seems it’s an intermittent problem. It sounded unlistenable this morning and for the previous 3 days before that, but this afternoon sounds back on good form. I don’t know what to make of it tbh. It’s possible it could be a delayed response from plugging and unplugging all connections as per @james_n idea, but for the first hour after that it continued to sound awful and I would have expected it to instantly change if a connection were the problem (?)
Anyway, it’s good news of course that it’s back on form, but leaves me in a quandary regarding taking the amps to Ipswich on Wednesday: no point in that if I can’t rely on the problem manifesting itself while I’m there!
I guess I’ll keep an ear on it over the next few days and see what transpires.

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My system noticeably dips when the mains is at its busiest. Not unlistenable but certainly flatter.

Perhaps some work going on at your nearest transformer?

G

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I’ve also experienced a phenomenon like this.

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Thanks Graeme. That’s a fair question, but not to my knowledge. I know from experience that mains quality is important, I’ve heard the effects before ( I measured a low of 195Volts in my last house), but I’m fairly certain this is not a mains issue. The previous 3 days were not just a bit off form, more like it was broken. Like listening to a giant sized, poorly tuned transistor radio.

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Good to hear normal service restored. I think if that remains the case for several weeks the issue must be elsewhere.

This energy monitor below cost £25 and needs an AC connection for power and to measure incoming voltage. If the clamp is on the dedicated Hifi CU you get to measure the power and energy. I had my DNO check my voltage and they reported the same as my monitor. I measure all my main outlets that can vary in order to check how much the air source heat pump uses. It reports integral kWh. It seems to slightly over record by 2-3%.

Phil

Thanks Phil. Can you please tell me the model of that. If the cost is reasonable it would be nice to have. It would save me sticking multimeter pins into sockets which I’m sure is not recommended!

If you search for

DollaTek AC 80-260V 100A Current Voltage Amperage Power Energy Panel Meter LCD Digital Display Ammeter Voltmeter Multimeter with open CT

you should find it. The Only downside is that after 10kWh it only displays whole kWhs. You can however reset the energy to zero.

I’d also urge you to make sure you can provide its power from a socket by connecting it to a plug and cable. Make sure you connect the CT clamp and mains to the right inputs.

Phil

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Perfect. Thanks Phil.

Hi how old is your 500 - is it a DR?

Dates amended from earlier response:
Hi Richie, The 500 is a 2003, but was DR’d and serviced in 2017.