Short but urgent query on Naim 135s

Also, Jude is sadly long gone, but you’ll probably still hear Grace coming from one of their listening rooms if you wait a few minutes.

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Not sure whether the pricing is right. Although if it’s similar once serviced to a 300 that sounds a bit steep

Worth remembering that the serviced cost is per box. So that’s £800.

But if you can agree a price they are lovely.

I haven’t been to Grahams recently, as I moved out of London after I retired early from work (near burnout), although they are putting together what I hope will be a rather splendid LP12 for my son (including reusing the black plinth that they sold me more years ago than I care to remember).

Yes, I knew that Jude had retired. I saw him not long before he left, and I believe that he moved to live somewhere near the coast,

I’m beyond delighted to hear that they are still playing ‘Grace’ (which, as any sane music lover will tell you, is the greatest LP ever made). I should have asked for 10p to be donated to charity for any system that Grahams sold to a customer on the strength of it!

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Just 3 months ago I paid GBP2k even for a late Olive pair in excellent condition, boxed, serviced in 2010, from a private seller.

Had them serviced at Class A immediately and still think it was a great deal.

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Anything under £2500 looks like decent value for that sort of age, so £2000 was a great price.

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My other pair was exactly the same price, but freshly serviced and from my dealer ~5 years ago, so my initial reaction to this latest was actually that there had been quite a bit of inflation.

Based on this thread it now looks pretty good.

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£550 the pair at ClassA

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Having had 8 of these things and having had extensive listening the 300 and 300DR
I would go 135’s every time, get them serviced, I did my last major service 10 boxes in all
Might be worth checking if the 52 needs a service
I noticed your using a Supercap for the 52, I’d keep an eye out for a 52PS, that’s another big difference

Lyndon

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It was sad to see them go, but i’m pleased they went to a good home.
Hope, like myself, you have many years of fun and satisfaction with them :slightly_smiling_face: :+1:

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Just to add from my last post
I see a few people recommending Class A
I’ll join in with that recommendation as well, having previously gone down that route

Lyndon

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Thank you for the kind words! And for being open to the deal that will make the next phase of my Naim journey possible.

I finally received everything to take the system active this week, and Peter @Cymbiosis is coming over couple of weeks from now so we can do the full build. Will let you know how we get on!

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Yes indeed but I’m doing a little bit of sightseeing first👍🏻
KR, Peter

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Yes G, as others have posted, the NAP300 being dual-mono replaced 135s, noting this was at the time the range changed from Classic from Olive.

To my ears, the NAP300 (pre DR) offered more detail and a wider bandwidth of performance than 135s (I had a pair for a while). If you like the mid-band orientated performance of Olive gear, then 135s are very difficult to beat as VFM nowadays.

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Wow. Less than I thought… My 250 was £289, at Class A, last time is was done (which is not recent).

Must be slightly less parts than 2 times a 250, perhaps. Which would make sense.

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Yes, great value imo. I got the quote from Darran in June so it’s current.

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My 250 was last serviced in 2013 - so it will be getting done gain, next year… :grimacing:

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The perfect opportunity to upg…….ahhhh! I just can’t help,myself :grinning:

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I wouldn’t regard the Humber Bridge as sightseeing Peter. It’s not that far from Rearsby!
(Only kidding. If you’ve not already done so, take a ride on the old cable street cars. A real experience).

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About passive bi-amplification with Naim.
My first Naim was in 1980, I always heard Naim dealers explain that passive bi or tri doesn’t work with Naim; which I always thought too. When I got my 1989 Linn Isobarik DMS-PMS, I used a 250 nap; then 2x135 which was better with the Isobarik; I also got to test a 500 nap on my Iso, this time the 135 was out. By curiosity, I tried the passive Bi-amplification with 2x250 - 1x250 on the Highs the other nap 250 on the Basses and Mediums; beautiful surprise! the listening was superior to the nap 135 and approached that of the nap 500: control, liveliness, cohesion, realism In my opinion the success in Bi- or Tri amplification depends on the passive filtering with separate cells and the competence and virtuosity of the designer. I also tried with my Linn Sara of 1986, filters taken out of the speakers, in bi-ampl 2x 250 it is less good than only one 250; the filter is not designed for. Maybe the Sara 9 with 4 connections ?

Star Earthing - or Star Grounding -

“A Star Ground is a single point that connects analogue and digital ground planes or traces . A star ground is not literally in the shape of a star, but the idea is that each connection is made at a single central point.”

Naim believe is Star Earthing - a lot… :thinking: