Ten grand

Ive been listening to my 52 and 135s driving ob1s for just over 16 years and enjoying it very much but the enevitable upgrade itch has appeared the question is used 552 or replace the speakers with maybe t606s
I did have a month long loan of a 552 back in 2004 and didnt want to give it back but the then £13500 was more than my lifes worth .
With £10000 what would you do?

£900 on a muso QB 2 and the rest on lots of good wine and a wine fridge to keep it in until I was ready to drink it? (sorry)
Best

David

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Buy an awful lot of records and enjoy the 52?

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Buy a 552, they really are excellent as you know! The bonus is it will retain a fair chunk of its value also!

one option: swap the OB1s for used MB2s, or Fact 12s if the room is small.

What’s the source?

Is this to last indefinitely, or any likely future upgrades?

I’m still enjoying my 52 and 135s … I might just go for LP12

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I’d buy my wife a lightly used Mazda3 because the engine in her Micra just seized.

Actually, I just did that!

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By coincidence I had exactly this dilemma. Thought about a new Naim streamer and ps but then decided to give the 20k to my niece who has recently moved house, has a young family and is in desperate need of a new kitchen and bathroom. My ND555 and ps can wait :slightly_smiling_face:

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I partexed 252/300 DR for preloved but serviced November 2016 552/500. Superb bit of kit even unDRed. Others find 52/135s a sweetspot. Good mains with PLs and racks essential for any system. The PLs don’t come with unDRed boxes so you might need to buy them first if you don’t have them. A 500 passive is the equal and more of 135s from what I hear. It’s fundamental to decide whether you want to stay active. Don’t know your speakers.

Phil

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Nice new Avatar Annalogg!

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Without knowing what the OPs source is the question is impossible to answer properly…

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sorry, my sources are cds3 and p6 aria oh and my room is 6mx 6m if this helps

I was going to guess CDS2! Anyway, is all your Naim gear serviced? If not, I’d do that before anything else.

Btw, I used to have CDS3/XPS2 into 52/Supercap with 250 (all olive except the CD bits) and it was a very nice system (using B&W 803S speakers). I would imagine it would be better still with the 135s. A change of circumstances meant that I sold the lot and later restarted!! Wish I hadn’t in some ways, but that’s life.

I would take two pills against the itch and keep the ten grands. Reproduced music sound is way overrated.

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My friend, you are already in the promised land. Get the 52-135s serviced and forget about “upgrades” to your amps.

You vinyl source on the other hand could probably benefit from going to P8 or P10.

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Whilst my original thought was to upgrade the speakers, seeing your sources store/renderer and Chord Dave DAC is what I think I’d do. What exactly for the former would take a bit of consideration including knowing how ‘techie’ you are, and depending what does push the 10k a bit - though a bit of negotiation on the Dave’s list price of £8.5k should be possible. Moving to streaming by ripping your CDs would would improve the sound quality, with Dave’s very natural presentation and stunning sound quality making it a real wow factor. (Ripping buying a used ADC to rip your vinyl and selling after at negligible net cost would be an additional option you might then consider.) it could also open up possible online streaming if interested.

List of benefits of streaming is large (no time at this instant to include here) - thiugh there are othe options including Naim’s streamers (NDX2?) and a music server, even a variant with an external DAC like Chord Hugo, the preference of some…

This!!!

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52 was serviced with the ps and brought uptodate in 2015 the 135s in jan of this year its all fraimed and pl’d and does if im honest sound fantastic it was just an itch and after all the comments on here is subsiding pretty quick so i may just order a p10 and be happy

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You did try in the same system a 552 and loved it. Why not demo a 552 and P10 and see what you prefer?

that comment Steve just brings the itch back
but i did take your advice earlier in the year and had the xps dr’ed as well as serviced and a great upgrade that turned out to be.
my only concern is I dont want to spend more than 10k so the 552 would have to be used and the servicing dr cost are pretty high at around 3.5k