Hi
It is on all the time.
I have the powerlines for mains & Naim’s original cables.
I have tried the contacts plugging & unplugging.
I told the dealer should I get it serviced.
He said no as Naim have given it a clean bill of health & it should be good for another 3 to five years.
I mentioned a service but I think really I shouldn’t be paying for a service for something I’ve just bought.
I’ve emailed the dealer now to try & demo another non Dr 500 if possible or a 300 which would give me some comparison against mine.
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I was going to recommend you bench marking against another 500. Note the non dr 500 is warmer sounding and slightly less explicit…perhaps this does not suit your taste with your speakers. My 500 was a 2002 model which I purchased in 2016…so it had 14 years under belt…but it still sounded great. The 250dr against it sounded less articulate with less detail particularly in the high frequencies. Also if you turned volume up the sound stage did not collapse…it just seemed to get bigger… Bass was also better… but warmer…it was a win win for me. I hope you get a resolution…I know there were resistor lift upgrades…at some point…check with Naim… keep us posted…
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IMO, this should be an easy one for a good Naim dealer to resolve. Substitute another NAP (500 or 300 or 250) for the 500 and go from there.
Simples… 
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The temperature and hence fan cutting in would would depend on the speakers (and ventilation), as would sound level (also on room layout, particularly listening distance). Also of course what the music is, and the source output level.
Gets better with a 500….
I totally agree with you. Though I’d say the nap 500 dr is warmer and more like hifi where non DR Nap500 is more like “rip you a new one” music. Just love the nap 500! seriously If I ever had a chance to choose dr 500 to non dr 500, non dr all the way. Just so much slam where I find the DR way to polite. Oh my dream 552/500 come to papa…….
My opinion only we all have one, it’s qualified by spending many mant many hours listening to both. Good to have friend with this hobbie🤩
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Not trying to be difficult but do you understand how potentiometers work on Naim and other amps? Also how output voltage on preamps and input sensitivity on power amps affects things? If this all sounds like techno babble I’ll give you a little help. As an example it’s much better if it starts getting loud at 10:00 or 11:00 than at say 9:00. A volume Pot is fully On when the volume knob is turned fully Off (counter clockwise) As one begins to turn the knob up (clock wise) the volume increases because the volume Pot is attenuating the signal less hence affecting the sound quality less. Less Pot in the signal path clearer the signal
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I have never heard a 500(DR) but would be curious to know what aspects of the 300 you preferred over the 500?
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Hi
I thought the 300 dr & 500 non dr sounded very similar but as I’ve said I need to turn the 500 up to 10 o’clock on the dial before it would sing where as with the 300 it sounded good at 9 o’clock on the dial hence why I think there might be something up with my 500.
I also demoed the 250dr.
That is a very good amp & to me gives the 300 a run for its money but because I was going to buy second hand I would have gone for the 300dr as it did things slightly better which I noticed with familiar recordings.
I found that careful placement (brain brawn separation) and cable dressing (din-xlr not touching floor or anything) help to get the best out of the 300 - it should be a big uplifting compared to the 250.
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Have you got back to tge dealer yet to arrange to hear your 500 against another, or otherwise to have the dealer check out to see if they agree there’s something odd?
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Hi
Yes but there’s a twist now.
I was using chord shawline twin RCA’s from my phono stage with the 5 pin the other end into the 552, using aux 2 which is assigned to the first socket on the back left.
I decided to take this out & tried a different set, this time twin RCA to twin RCA.
I plugged these into the RCA’s next to the plug where a stageline or superline would go.
The sound is completely different.
It is now how I expected it to be.
I’ve notified the dealer & asked for their advice.
It seems that it could be the 552. The 552 was serviced & Dr’d in 2012. I bought this used not long ago so it should be still under the dealers warranty.
I will try another cable to see if it’s the fault of the cable first tho.
I think you need to read the manual as regards the wiring and mapping of the rear DIN and RCA inputs - and stay away from Input 7 (the DIN input near the rear RCAs), which is wired to provide power for the Stageline/Prefix/Headline (and also Superline?).
If you are using a DIN to connect to the 552, use inputs 1*/2/6 ideally - or you can use 3/4/5.
*this you’ll need to Map as it’s ‘Not Mapped’ under factory settings.
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Hi HL
You prompted me to look at my preamps manual. It says the 552 numbering starts at 1 on the left looking from the rear. 1-3 are normal while 4-5 are special with AV bypass meaning the volume is not adjustable. 6 is Aux 1 which is normal and 7 aux 2 with phonostage power. All are mappable to any source selection button.
Don’t recommend use of 4-5 unless the source has its own volume control.
Phil
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Phil,
You have to select Unity Gain via programme mode for 4 & 5 – not something I’ve done as it comes with dangers, as it overrides the 552 volume control.
I use input 4 (Tape) on mine for AV, with the 552 volume control in use.
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Yep, unity gain for those input channels comes with a big warning! Same for 282 and 252 as well as 552.
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9 and 10 o’clock shouldn’t be necessary at all.
The difference between 300 and 500 is obvious at virtually any volume setting.
Time to head to the audiologist?
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I had the 135’s, 300 (non DR) and 500 (non-DR) and an olive 250 all at the same time.
The 135 vs the 300 is a toss-up…the 300 has a smoother, rounder ‘Classic’ sound vs the Olive-sound the 135s that sound slightly less refined but punchier and snappier.
The 500 destroyed by a huge margin the 135 and the 300. Not even in the same universe.
The 250 was a very distant last.
If the 500 is not immediately much better than the 135/300, then something is very wrong somewhere. First check that you have not wired the speakers out of phase (yes, even with experienced people this happens sometimes). If the rear panel of the 500 is not easily accessible, then just flip the connections at the speaker end for ONE SPEAKER ONLY.
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Ron, which speakers did you have for this?
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Surely whether “necessary” or desirable to the individual depends on speaker sensitivity, room layout especially listening distance, source, selection of music, and loudness preference. What is significant is that IIRC the 500 has fractionally more gain than Naim’s other power amps, so whatever setting works with the others should sound very slightly louder with a 500.