I have had a few issues with playing vinyl through my 52. It has happened a couple of times when one of the Chanel’s (left) is muffled and distorted rending vinyl play unlistenable. The other sources are fine. Last time my LHS spotted a phono card not seated properly and they pushed it in properly and this rep solved the issue for a couple of months. I had am heading back there this week to try and Fix it again but I wondered about the route cards specifically…
Do phono cards ever burn out? The 52 is an old olive type and around 3years old - but I love it. It was serviced by Naim about 6 months ago.
Will a set of new, latest version, cards improve SQ
Is this a problem that can be resolved permanently without having to send it back to naim ( I have been waiting over 3 months to get some other amps booked in for a service!)
Before you do anything, unplug the 52 head unit, undo the feet and carefully slide back the outer sleeve, then check that the boards are fully seated on their pins and the plastic retaining tabs are engaged - there is one board on top and the other underneath (acres through a hole in the chassis tray).
I opened it last time and was pretty flumuxed by the layout and was unable to find any pictures or explanations online (lots of searching). So I just sort of gently pushed everything I could see to check that everything was seated in. But frankly I didn’t know what I was doing - nonetheless less if sorted it out, at least for the past few months but now appears to have come loose again. Hence a trip to Grahams to have someone who knows what their doing, have a look.
They do need a service if older than 10-15yrs. Darren @ Class A will do them I’m sure for a very reasonable price but be sure to ensure that they are seated properly first which I’m sure you have/are doing. They can be posted to Class A and returned insured so no need to pay a visit.
I hope you don’t mind but wouldn’t mind tapping your superior knowledge, and apologies if these are stupid questions but… when I look at the pics Juiushui sent showing “the tabs”, It’s a very sparse board and they do not seem to match withany I can find on web searches where both sides of the boards are much more busy, Here are a couple from an ebay ad. This confusion is what concerns me about tackling anything my elf as I dont know what to look for. Interested in any thoughts or explanation you (or anyone else) may have may have. Thanks. Kit
Oh that’s an interesting picture, I have question,
if mine is the same inside with them straight through boards, could I take input 6 cards and put them on input 1, and would the phono boards work on input 6
Thanks all. for you help. Ray at Grahams HiFi fixed the problem - a loose phono card. He showed me where they were accessed from. I’m am such an idiot, I didn’t even know that there was access to them from underneath - so was sooo confused by only the overhead view. Live and learn (slowly) . Next up a Karousel ,which is on order then possibly a Keel towards the end of the year.
Yes, defo okay to plug 526 cards into input 6, that’s what many owners do. But iirc space around input 6 isn’t enough for phono boards, and input 6 is buffered as well.
Saw a member in the old forum said leave the input blanked (ie without cards). I tried and I think it’s slightly more noisy and flat than putting 526 in Input 1. I asked AI and it said
Leaving it completely blank (no boards at all) means the signal path is open/floating: no connection from the sockets to the rest of the circuit. Owners report this results in:
• Potential hum, noise, hiss, or instability (floating inputs can pick up interference or cause ground issues).
seems match with my experience, see if you want to try by yourself
