Supercap in need of recap?

Hi-Fi Corner
21

Yes, in which case you should go buy age or years since last factory service.

22

For my SC it is probably obvious, given its age. I will have it recapped.

What you wrote about the two directions is extremely helpful. Much clearer than what Iā€™ve seen in previous posts. Thanks!

Recapping is one of the most frequent topics on the forum. What do you think about a sticky topic? If you could elaborate a bit more on the two directions, that might help many people.

23

Itā€™s not expensive in the long term. I paid less than 280 quid for a Naim authorised Supercap service. Thatā€™s 28 quid a year. I canā€™t tax my bike for that!!!

24

Wow thatā€™s a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. I will phone the distributor tomorrow.

25

This was at a Naim authorised service agent in the UK.

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26

280 quid for a Supercap service??? Here in the good old USofA itā€™s $3,195!!!

27

I think you need to check your facts, a full Supercap service and DR upgrade is $2299.

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28

Thatā€™s at AV Options and includes DR upgrade. I had my 282/HC/250 service and DR upgrades done at Audio Plus via my dealer because it was quite a bit less.

29

Also, AV Options SuperCap 2 service without DR upgrade is $1495. I bet it will be less at Audio Plus. Thatā€™s not to diminish what AV Options does. Their service might include more than what AV Options does. I am curious thatā€™s true or not.

30

In the Netherlands, the Naim distributor does a recap for 500 Euros and a combined DR-upgrade and recap for 2,250 Euros.

31

I so agree Mr Rackkit!

People are obsessed with servicing their Naim gear, probably a throwback to the older amps which used caps that were just about up to the task.

Cynical of me maybe, but I imagine Naim wonā€™t exactly be falling over themselves to dissuade people from getting their kit serviced, even though it doesnā€™t need it. And I wonder if the improvement folks hear is largely down to plugging and unplugging. Iā€™ve a very elderly NAP150, well over twenty years old, still boogying away, mostly in my AV system but occasionally called in for more demanding duties. Iā€™ve had it checked out of interest, and itā€™s in perfect fettle. The caps in a SuperCAP are very high quality, and used in other manufacturerā€™s gear where they donā€™t seem to ā€œfailā€ as they seem to do in Naim kit. Which is rather odd, giving the superb build and design of Naim components generally.

Anyway, itā€™s your money, Iā€™m just a grumpy old bloke so feel free to ignore. Or give me a genuinely robust technical explanation for throwing away perfectly good electronics.

1 Like
32

Well, if itā€™s a regulated power amp then the strict service intervals make a lot of sense, because once things start to slip with a regulated amp, they go south pretty fast. However, the unregulated power amps are different, and their slide is much more gentle. Indeed, there are NAP110s out there still sounding sweet and not been serviced (I have at least one of them, alongside a serviced and ā€œ140edā€ example). Itā€™s interesting to note that sometimes a NAP110 used to come in for service to the factory many years overdue and the caps were still found to be OK. However, those are exceptions and Naim work on the basis that at the 8-10 year mark performance can begin to slip, so itā€™s point at which performance can no longer be assured without a service.

33

Yep, heard that explanation before Richard.

34

My facts are accurate. Straight from the AV Options Web site:

DR6 : Upgrade SUPERCAP2 to DR version plus recap service (new smoothing caps) $3,195

No matter how you cut it, servicing in the US is a heck of a lot more expensive than in the UK.

35

Last year when I had DR upgrades and service, but from Audio Plus (which was less than AV Options), this is what I paid (plus shipping)ā€¦

HiCap2: DR upgrade + service = $1046
NAP 250-2: DR upgrade + service = $1616
NAC 282: service = $495

36

I think Latham needs to send the Naim gear for recapping to UKā€¦, or not ?

37

According to their website, they do it in-house:
https://www.lathamaudio.nl/latham-audio/reparatieservice
(Sorry, itā€™s in Dutch.)

38

if itā€™s not necessary to send the naim gear to UK, service will take much less time. :ok_hand:

39

No problem, I can handle that language a little bit :wink:

40

Hi Richard,
Is there a risk that a component that is in need of service gets seriously damaged or causes damage to a connected piece of gear? For example, can a Supercap damage a preamp, or can a power amp damage the loudspeakers?
Regards, Arjen