Nap500

I thought Naim had said DR upgrades were finished for good? The statement was:

Due to ongoing supply chain challenges, and significant shortages of key components, we have taken the decision to discontinue this service, both in the form of in-house Naim Service performed DR upgrade and DR upgrade kits which can be purchased and installed by our partner service centres.

The key being “discontinue” as in cease or stop. Otherwise it would be “suspend” or similar.

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Your current system is really good and surely sounds great. It also looks nice, which is also important.

If DRing is something on your mind, I would agree that waiting for a reasonably priced 500DR is also an option to consider.

I sold mine at a very reasonable price, and it was almost new. Opportunities like that do come up occasionally :smiley:

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Yeah Mike, it’s a phrasing that doesn’t really bode well, which makes Dunc’s post above all the more relevant. Can’t help thinking that a 300DR could be traded in against a 500DR later. We all know how present ‘the slippery slope’ always is.
Why is nothing in life ever easy, eh!? :face_with_head_bandage: Best Peter

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Thanks all and wise words I’m sure. The 500 is a really good price, it isn’t even advertised. It’s a trade in to a non Naim dealer who finds the world of Naim a bit bewildering and just wants shot of it. It looks to be in pristine condition apart from those two tiny marks on the side and they really do look tiny. It’s still in service for another 3.5 to 6.5 years, which is only a year less than my current 300. With what I think I’ll get for my 300 it’s a very affordable upgrade at this time. And if I swap it for a DR at some point in the future then I don’t think I’ll be losing a great deal. And any thoughts of a DR really are a few years ahead. That leaves a lot of time to enjoy the 500…

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I’m sure the 500 sounds awesome but cost precludes even demoing one for me. I am worried about my 52/135 though. It’s non DR and cannot be made DR but it sounds so amazing that I wonder if there’s something wrong with it :wink:

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I really can’t see why it wouldn’t be possible to trade in a non-dr 500 against a 500dr if funds ever allow in the future.

Opportunistic trades are how I got to be able to get up to 500 series gear in the e first place! I got some remarkable bargains over the years that I sold for more than I paid or the same after 3-4 years use

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Paul

Doubt there’s anything thing wrong with your 52, it’s an amazing amp especially with the PS, the 552DR does more of the same but with more detail and refined
The difference between 135’s to 500 was much more pronounced
In hindsight I think it would have been better to upgrade the 135s to 500s first and then the 52 to 552 but with the S/H market sometimes the correct order has to go out of the window

Lyndon

Yes, I just thought people need to aware that the wording is that the DR upgrades are no longer available so when buying with an expectation to DR in the future is not going to be an option.

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Yes tim but things are different now, as the dr upgrade is no more. Its a gamble to think its coming back and if it doesn’t then the longer time goes on the worst it will get for the non dr kit as people won’t be interested in it as much as they there as no upgrade available, plus the dr kit will get cheaper as the years go by making the non dr kit even less a want.
But saying all this the 500 to 500 dr was by far the biggest price to get dred as it only really left the case original and at the old prices, £6k i think, it makes even the cheapest non 500 over £10k once dred and as said i think you can find 500dr’s cheaper.

There you go, congratulations.

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My guess, and it’s only a guess, is Naim will resume DR upgrades when the supply situation eases. Non DR units will continue to be sent in for service so why not add significant value to that service while the hood is up?

Sell a new DR for 25k or DR an old one for 5k? Where do Naim make the most money if the market is there? I would imagine if the withdrawal of the DR upgrade is financially successful then that service won’t be coming back. We are now looking at pre DR models of 20 plus years old.

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Bruss

The most recent DR & service was £7300

Also the days of getting a 500 DR for under £10 or even £12k like my last one I think are over

Lyndon

Gosh, I paid £5.7K 3 and half years ago :flushed: ATB Peter

Indeed and if you take off the service option at 1500 including any repair it gives 6300 for the DR element. I’m not privy to Naim’s thoughts for their future but I can see the sense in keeping a service element for us old gts with old gear. I can’t see the commercial sense of tying up your resources in a lower profit margin sale. If Naim can get away with charging 25k for a new one then I expect them to keep on doing so, however much it has pushed me out of that market.

Thats great news for me then, i am sure not long ago you could get a 500dr for under £10k, but haven’t looked lately i must admit.
But for me when i went 552 and 500, i made sure that the 500 was dr and the cost to do so made it much more expensive than just getting a secondhand 500dr, whereas the 552 i got non dr and had it done.

I’m paying five on the nose for the 500 which I think is quite fair given that it’s still in service for a good few years and condition looks near perfect. That’s a big gap versus a DR If they are going for 12+

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Well Stu, the usual ‘law of diminishing returns’ apply :wink: Enjoy Peter

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@Stu299 I wouldn’t get too wound up about DR. I had mine done in September 2018 when it was possible to have the DR upgrade without a service, which had been done in 2016. Then it cost £4,200 for just the upgrade. The funny thing was that despite all the hype about how good the DR upgrade was, the unit was away for about four weeks and by the time it had come back I couldn’t remember well enough what it had sounded like beforehand and obviously I couldn’t do a back to back comparison. It sounded alright before the upgrade and it still sounds alright now.

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That’s a fantastic price and well worth it I think. Do let us know how you get on with it :blush:

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