NAC 82 volume imbalance at very low volume

[peteS]

Hi All

My NAC 82 is coming up for its 25th birthday and still going strong in the classic 82, 250, 2*HiCap setup. I was testing some streamers with it recently and noticed an odd thing - if the output from the streamer was very high, I had the volume turned right down on the 82 - practically off - and there was next to no volume from one channel in comparison to the other. Turning it up past that tiny volume is all fine, and I only noticed it because of the high output level from the source.

I wondered if this was just one of those things, or if the pots need a service or maybe just a cleanup.

Ta

pete S

[cat345]

My 82 and Nait 2 behave the same at very low volume when connected to my cd player. For streaming I just use the 1v. output from the Chord Qutest so there is no channel imbalance.

[Mike-B]

@peteS

I wondered if this was just one of those things, or if the pots need a service or maybe just a cleanup.

I suspect all of the above Pete.
I had a similar problem with my Nait-2, its my 2nd ‘system’ in another room, I drive it from the main system Supernait off the buffered Tape Out, source are NDX (streaming & iRadio) & a NAT tuner. The Nait’s 75mV input is too sensitive for the 2V output from the sources & the Nait volume pot had to be turned right down, just as you describe. But it hadn’t long been serviced so it was simply the pot balance at one click past start.

My solution was to use an attenuator. The normal way is to buy a cable with attenuation, or plug in attenuators. In my case I built an L-Pad into the wall mounted DIN cable outlet that feeds the Nait. Now even low background level listening is well clear of the problem.

[Suedkiez]

It’s normal on the lowest range of travel with the Alps pots that Naim chooses. It just shouldn’t be excessive. My new 252 was unbalanced up to the volume pot being at 7:45-8:00, and that’s an already principally usable volume that I actually do use in the night. My dealer’s demo unit on the other hand happens to be dead center down to nearly zero volume.

I asked to look into mine, it went back to distributor for a few days, who replaced my pot with a selected one from those they had in stock. It’s still not perfect but improved so that the imbalance only occurs at low enough levels I don’t really use (and would not sound very good if I did. And in case I did on rare occasions, using the balance knob is not a big pain)

E.g. see first part of Richard’s post here:

SN3 Channel Imbalance

Setting aside any possible low level imbalance in the volume pot over the very first bit of travel, with a mono signal at normal volume and the balance knob perfectly centred L+R output should be equal. Of course, any slight imbalance between each speaker combined with any acoustic imbalance from the room can change that, and then add any slight imbalance from either source equipment or media, and perceptible imbalance can result - it’s why a balance control is sometimes rather nice to have.

[peteS]

Thanks everyone - sounds like it’s just something to live with then. TBH, it’s not a problem day to day as I can step down the volume of my normal streamer (still a much loved but now aging Logitech Transporter) but noticed it when I was trying to figure out a problem with another Pi based streamer which I’d plugged into the 82 temporarily.

If it’s not a sign of bad things to come, I’ll just leave it alone.

[Inmynaim]

I have a similar issue with my 282 at low volume, but there is always the balance knob - although oddly on my 282 the channels are reversed on the balance control. Works fine though!