Hi all,
Borrowed a Snaxo (olive) and 242 recently and loved the sound.
Bought a new 242, installed yesterday and so far underwhelmed to the point my passive setup sounds better.
Will it come on song? If so when can I expect it to do so?
System is lp12/Ekos se/ Kandid/lingo 2/prefix/hicap dr/52/scap/Snaxo 242/2x250
Had naim kit for years so cable dressing etc all ok I think…
Many thx,
Kevin
Speakers?
Might require time to ‘burn-in’. It’s supposedly better.
I bought SBLs over 20 years ago - home demoed a chrome bumper secondhand or ex-demo NAXO vs olive SNAXO and preferred the NAXO - sounded smoother somehow, and worked better with my LP12.
My active system (2xNAP 250s olive) is sounding harsh so I think it may be the ancient NAXO. I have been tempted to look at the latest SNAXO, but it would be sensible to service the NAXO first.
Kevin
I’m assuming you have speakers and the 242 is for those speakers
I’ve had 7 varieties of Naxo Snaxo and the 242/362 is by far the biggest upgrade apart from my one which we won’t talk about
Looking at your list, what is powering the 242 ?
Have you adjusted the pots ?, I’m led to believe these are no longer factory set as Naim no longer have the speakers
My bet is that’s the issue
As an aside the active systems ruthlessly expose the source components, in your shoes I’d be seriously thinking of bringing the LP12 on a little bit
Lyndon
Alley Cat
Harshness is often heard when the amps need a service and when the cartridge has passed its best
Lyndon
I had (still have) a CB NAXO, an Olive SNAXO 2-4 and a SNAXO242.
I’ve driven the SNAXO 2-4 and 242 with a Supercap so can’t really comment on what it’s like if they’re driven by a HiCap.
I would say the 242 was better than the Olive SNAXO 2-4; but in my case the 242 was second hand and about 3 years old.
Maybe it just needs some more time to burn in as you suggest… as for how long, I can’t help.
Stephen Packer
My experience is the Snaxo doesn’t need a burn in time
As I said the first point is to look at the pots
Lyndon
I’d missed that, sorry!
There are four pots I think, one for each speaker to adjust the relative levels?
I’ve not touched them on the 242 but did on an earlier model when I had a problem with it.
I bought a new 242 about five years ago and it did take quite a while, probably a few months, to “come on song.” A shift from HCDR to SCDR also helped later on, as did the addition of a SL interconnect.
Thanks Lyndon - the NAP 250s were serviced by Class A last year, it would be a shame if that were the issue.
Cartridge on LP12 may well an issue but harshness is more on digital sources.
Alley Cat
I did my half dozen 135’s with Darren years ago so no problems there
Possibly the Naxo, it’s going to be old now by any standards
I presume the power supplies were serviced
Also check the tightness of the Allen key bolts around the tweeters
I’ve had tweeter issues in the past and it can be a real pain especially on vinyl where there’s so many variables
Lyndon
Thx Lyndon - I’ll let it burn in then take a look at the pots - I omitted the scap that’s powering the Snaxo in the system detail…
…I’ll re-borrow the 242 from my mate and that’ll tell me if it’s my new Snaxo or some other issue…
Sorry I also omitted the speakers which are SL2…blame the wine…
SNAXOs are usually ordered for a particular speaker although I believe SL2 IBL and SBL use the same setting (maybe not). May be worth checking inside for the pen marks on the four trim pots to show they have been “set”
If it’s a new SNAXO, the factory would have set it for SL2’s.
Also, being a new SNAXO, DO NOT OPEN THE CASE!
Thanks to all for the input - I’ve put the prefix back onto the powered 52 input and done away with the Hicap DR for now - another 2 days in and it’s sounding better so hopefully just burn-in.
I remember from having my 52s serviced that the sound can vary sometimes harsh sometimes a little woolly till everything beds in.
Here’s a pic of the system as-is, 250s at the bottom then Scaps etc.
Blythe
You must open the case to set the output pots
It’s my understanding that Naim no longer do this as they don’t stock the speakers
Some years ago when I had a DBL 362 converted to Briks the pots were all set to minimum and later when it was converted back to DBLs the pots were all over the place and both speakers different
Lyndon
Surely they can do this with a signal generator and a voltmeter? They are only trim pots for output level, nothing more than that.
There’s not really a lot of point in Naim doing it as the end user will have a different room so it would still need adjusting anyway
Lyndon
I am surprised if it truly is the case that Naim do not nowadays set the pots for the relative levels.
As mentioned elsewhere, I’d be surprised if they didn’t or couldn’t simply measure them with basic electronic measurements.
I don’t believe it’s something an end user should be doing, unless qualified and has an understanding of the risks involved (damaging the pots in particular).
Confirmed by the factory that Snaxo is set by default for IBL/SBL/SL2 - all products are still “listen tested” also but unsure to which speaker would be used for this.
