Hi all. Greetings from a bit of a newbie. I’ve sent my ancient olive NAC72, chrome bumper NAP140 and chrome bumper HICAP off for servicing and recapping. They’ve said that I won’t get them back for 3 weeks now…
In the meantime I bought a NAC282 and NAP 300DR with PSU. I have no other Naim kit currently in the house. Is there any way I can connect the NAC 282 to the NAP300DR directly ? i.e. I don’t want to pay for a supercap currently. My chrome HICAP doesn’t come back till next month. Currently the only cables I have are 2x 4pin DINs to XLR which came with the NAP300DR.
I can see the 282 has a 2x 4pin DIN outputs labelled Standard and Link 2. I’m tempted to connect via these but I can see some warning about " Link plugs must only be inserted in the sockets from which they were removed and unused power supply sockets must not be used for any other purpose. Incorrect use of link plugs and power supply sockets risks significant damage to the power supply or preamplifier." So slightly terrified to switch it all on until I’m sure. I couldn’t find any info about what the link 2 output pins actually are…Any help much appreciated.
The NAC282 will need a dedicated power supply. I’d suggest a HICAP DR. the NAP300 cannot power the NAC282. Remember also to connect the NAPSC to the NAC282 - this just powers the logic and controls (keeps the audio side nice and clean). I suggest you take a look at the manual and familiarise yourself with the connections.
Thanks Richard. So confusing… I assumed that you could somehow take the audio output straight from most preamps e.g.a NAC 282 and somehow feed that into any 2 mono power amps e.g. a Krell power amp should you want to. OK. So basically wait till my chrome HICAP gets serviced at least first and then put that in between NAC282 and NAP300DR before going any further. Got it. Thanks!
It’s not just about connections: the 282 needs power from a power supply - either a separate box or inside a suitable power amp, such as the 200 but not the 300 - in order to work at all.
Thanks so much for the help. This is such an interesting lore to learn about….I can see why people tend to upgrade within the Naim family as a lot of the stuff doesn’t seem to play well with other kit….
This is going to be difficult to sell to the wife I think… I had this plan that I would gift the nac72, nap140 and chrome hicap to my son for Uni and she therefore agreed that I could get a second hand nap300dr and nac282 to replace them. I even said that the nap300dr would be my ‘final’ amp upgrade.
Now I’ve got to convince her that I need a hicap, flatcap or supercap too….in terms of sound quality vs cost etc is a supercap really that much better than a hicap dr? What would people recommend realistically with a budget 3k? Happy to buy second hand? Do 2x hicap dr sound better than a flatcap? Bear in mind I’m probably not going to upgrade again….
Maybe a daft question, but what is two HCs benefitting? I assume its one per channel if the logic is handled by a third supply, but just checking in case I’m missing something.
With a 282 you absolutely don’t want a Flatcap. The ideal is a Supercap DR, because you have the 300 and need the preamp to be as good as it can be. But if that’s too big a stretch, get the Hicap DR. Forget the idea of two Hicaps; the second doesn’t add much.
Yep, you’ve got it. Effectively one per channel with the napsc doing the control side.
Much debate as to whether 2 HCs over 1 HC is worth the extra money. Then the whole piece about an SC over 2 HCs.
Try it.
I demoed my serviced CB Hicap against a new Hicap DR on a 282 and the new PSU was a good step up. I’d also agree with HH that the second Hicap doesn’t seem to add much but ideally you should demo all this if you can to make sure you agree. IMHO the Supercap DR is only value if you want to move to a 252 in future.
But I if I were you (and you’ll have noticed I’m not) I would just make some calls to bigger dealers to try and find an “ex demo” Hicap DR. With luck you might find one for approx £1200 and could be enjoying the new set up by the end of the week.
There are several threads on the 1 Hicap vs 2 on the 282. Some feel the second is a marginal improvement, others think the second is a worthwhile step up. YMMV…
I have a 282 and non-DR supercap and the sound is spectacular, a similar power supply for the 282 should be well within budget and will be a superb option and look after you very well into the future….
Another option would be to keep the Hicap to power your 282. The 140 can provide power to a preamp (unlike the 300). The 72/140 will sound better with the Hicap, but at least you would then have two functioning amps. Not a perfect solution, but perhaps a useful one in your situation, at least in the short term.
Thanks guys. The nap140 and hicap are currently being serviced, recapped and undergoing some upgrades. I suspect long term that’ll go with the 72/140 to my son in time. Talking to you guys it sounds like you’d probably recommend a non dr supercap over a hicap dr?
Would be interested in peoples view of a SC ( non DR) over one or even two HCDRs.
Remembering that the SC has to be connected via snaics rather than a burndy on a 282. And yes, I use two HCDRs on my 282 and enjoy the lively sound it brings. The extra HCDR did bring an improvement over the one. But I bought both HCs at a significant discount from new.
Even a single HCDR has a huge transformer and capacitance inside it. Would a SCDR or non DR provide double what a single HC can provide in terms of power supply stability?
Really interesting range of opinions here…. From what I can gather to summarise as it’s unlikely (though possible) that I’m going to go for a 252 later, at present a supercap dr sounds a bit of overkill at £4K+ (second hand) The question of whether to go for a secondhand supercap 2 at around £1.8k ( which gives me the option of a 252 upgrade and supercap dr conversion) or whether to go for a hicap dr at around £1.5k is interesting.
