I have just brought my 1985 (CB-converted-to-Olive) NAP 250 back, from @Darran at Class A in Sheffield. Its only been powered up for maybe 1 hour - and most of the rest of my system (2 x HiCap’s for my 82 and an XPS for my CDX2) has been powered off for several days, since a recent power cut.
But… it alrady sounds fabulous…
Tried one of my go-to HiFi test CD’s - Enya’s first - Track 12, Boadicea - and I got deep & clear synth bass to kill for. And it should only get better. Nice…
That’s fantastic news. Glad that Darran has sorted you out. I can’t praise him enough for the work he is done for me. And your 250 will sound better and better over the next few weeks as the caps burn in.
Darran provides a great service - please excuse the pun - with good prices, a fast turnaround and great efficiency. He seems to have been running Class A for ever. I wonder how long it will be until he calls it a day, and whether anyone else will step in. It’s certainly a great alternative to having to send stuff back to Salisbury, with the extra time and costs involved.
Yep, iirc they were done early last year, so due in 2030. I’ve only ever heard the fans once, I’m not that demanding of them, so hopefully not too much dust getting in them.
These service stories I find interesting, especially preamp servicing. Don’t get me wrong I’m happy with my last service but the service in the UK seems to go that little bit extra
In our discussions, Darran also mentioned the ‘priority’ of servicing. First, any regulated NAP (so 250, 135, 300, etc), then the power supplies (HiCap, SuperCap, etc) & non regulated NAP’s (200, 180, 160, 140, 110, etc) - and then the preamps.
I asked about my 82. Darran suggested 15 years was a good interval.
Interesting @IanRobertM, my 252 was 17 years at time of service and all that was done was a frequency response check. No change to caps. I get pops when changing the selector options which I thought was a symptom and need to change decoupling capacitors. It sounds great though so I’m not so bothered
My 282 and napsc are my last items that will require Darren’s work. Currently 10 years from new.
Darran has serviced all my 72s ( 3), HCs( 3) and 140s ( 2). I wish I’d sent him my late (2006?) Olive 250 rather than Wiltshire. But that’s another story.
Reason for my olive collection is my daughter has one, my son has one and the one with the 250 is in my second system.
The thread title made me wonder if someone had just come back from hospital with new blood and maybe body parts, or if someone had just been to a particularly notable church service…!
Interesting how different components have different service intervals - but entirely unsurprising as any degradation will depend un a variety of factors, but particularly heat. It is also interesting how different brands compare: 8 or 9 years ago I sent a Musical Fidelity p270 power amp to the manufacturer for a service, and they changed a few caps - but apparently not the main reservoir caps, which they said tested fine, despite being at least 25 years old. It will be interesting to see what is done whenI take my A370 to be serviced some time next year, at what will be around 33-34 years running, at a typical case temperature of around 60C when on, with no evidence of having been serviced before.
My comments were based on a very short discussion with @Darran and should not taken be a substitute for the official advice from Naim Audio, in my view. Which is that Olive and earlier units be serviced every 8 to 10 years. Later Black/Classic units are 12 to 15 years.
What I was trying to express was if an owner was trying to work to a budget, then the highest priority units are the regulated NAP’s.
This discussion resulted from me asking Darran about my 82, which ‘officially’ is due for its next service early next year. Having just spent £299 on my 250, I was hoping to push the 82 back as bit. Hence my question.
Hope that a bit clearer…?
Back to the beginning. Perhaps in a way, Naim is a religion, then…?
