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Improving a Nac 82

P

ports1000

pfm Member
I have read a lot on here and other forums about upgrading or improving Naim pre amps e.g. 821 line boards on a 72 etc, but have seen nothing about what can be done to an 82.
Not including servicing,pots 8 and adding differing power supplies,does anybody
know what can be done?
I only use 2 of the inputs,one for vinyl (with internal boards) and the other for mac mini/Young M2Tech dac.
Any advise please?

ps I am happy with this pre and don't want suggestions of alternate amps.
 
The only factory approved mod I know of is snipping a cable tie and separating a bunch of wires near the volume pot.
 
I know you don't want suggestions of alternative amps, but really an 82 is decidedly average whereas if you could sell it and put some money toward a 52/SC, you'd really notice a worthwhile improvement...
 
Even on a 72 there is no universal consensus that the mods you mention are necessarily positive "upgrades". There is also no universal consensus that an 82 is better than a 72. On an 82 there are probably things you could do to change the way it sounds, but if this is an upgrade or downgrade is a question of taste.
James, just out of curiosity, why would the factory approve of snipping a cable tie that they themselves put in, and how is it supposed to change the sound?
 
Take the phono boards out and power them externally with a separate PS (or get a Prefix). Once you have two power supplies plugged in this is a very minor difference though, even less of a difference than a second ps makes.
 
Assuming that you are talking after market and factory unapproved mods there's no point really - because anything you do to an 82 can be done to a 102 with the same result and a considerably lower starting price.

If you want to try it buy the 102 - mod the hell out of it and them keep whichever one you prefer, but for my money the mod'd 102 equals of betters (as in I prefer it) a 282/Supercap at a fraction of the cost. You could sell your 82 for less than it takes to buy and mod a 102.

But if you really want to start with the 82 adding a bunch of local internal regulators and some additional power rail decoupling to the gain, buffer and phono cards are what is called for.
 
I've found removing the internal boards, and adding a prefix has improved the digital side of my system. But its not a massive leap.
 
This might not be the direction you want to go, but in my experience the very best way to improve the sound of the 82 is to buy more music. YMMV

I suppose it can be argued that the 82 only sounds "average". But, by the same logic the evaluation of ANY piece of equipment can result in this conclusion. You only have to pre-select other equipment according to some personal criteria.

I bought my used 82, complete with NAPSC and receipt for a full service by NANA, for about $1250. Could I have bought something better for this amount of money? I don't know. I do know that I've been very satisfied and I think it is a clear step ahead of the 72 which it replaced. Also, btw, in my system I use virtually every input - cd player, second turntable, cassette deck, cd burner, digital sampler. Whoops - guess I'm rambling.
 
PaulMB said:
James, just out of curiosity, why would the factory approve of snipping a cable tie that they themselves put in, and how is it supposed to change the sound?
Click to expand...
Earlier versions had the cable tie. Latter versions did not.
 
Oh I don't know, I've done a small amount to my 82 with quite a lot of benefit.

Rule No 1 start with a later one, the earlier ones had dreadful cross talk due to inadequate ground planing.

Observation (a) my later one left an early 52/Ps for dead so there isn't necessarily an improvement to be had by getting a 52. In fact they are electrically the same as an 82 but with all the plug in options you don't want or use.

The 82 does however have proper tape looping which the 102 doesn't so you can be needledropping an LP while watching TV.

Things you can sensibly do to the 82 with benefit are

A) stop using internal phono cards. Get them outside the box with their own dedicated power supply rails.

before you start modding it get it running on a proper six rail supply, eg 2 x hicap for the 82 plus a third hicap for an external phono stage (with line link boards in the 82).

If you happen to use an SC you could actually mod the 82 to use 6 rails rather than 4 to handle this, but by default it runs them on the same rails as the main gain section which is bad.

You can equally easily shanghai a par of unused rails from an SC to run an external phono stage such as your existing boards in their own little box or a stageline.

b) Recap. depending on age your 82 will use either roederstein gold caps which sound quite veiled or SLCE ones which have a very ragged top end.

Lots of options here and I'm a bit of an oddball since I used to use Elna Silmic II's for everything 47uF to do with the audio circuits. I've now replaced the feedback caps with evox Rifa MMK 47uF but still have the silmics for decoupling. I think they do a good job once run in, but running in takes about 3 months so equally good results can be achieved quicker with other choices.

Others will recommend Nichicon Muse KZ or Oscon SP's for decoupling and Muse KZ or films but definitely not oscons for feedback.

i did also change the tants like for like but don't think it made any difference.

others will suggest various types and values of film cap instead of tants.
 
If you are going to bodge:D mod it your resale value is going to plummet if you ever decide to sell.
 
Oh I think it's worth it considering how much you'd need to spend to buy the same SQ as standard in a different product.

Properly modded stuff can actually sell quite well, but it rarely comes up!
 
It's ok as long as you are keeping it long term, older sub £200 Naim pre's are great to bodge as there is little value to lose but I would be a bit wary of modding a £800 82.
 
In fairnes they do come up very well if you are prepared to live without RC and thr 102 is a goody if you don't want full tape looping facilities.

It's a bit harder to mod it to use all the sensible number of power rails though.

My 82 can still be returned to standard but a 102 modded to my satisfaction probably couldn't easily be.
 
muzzer said:
Cutting a cable tie improves the sound!!
Click to expand...

The cable tie in question was the last one on the loom, tightly done up and around an inch away from the rear of the female plug's solder tabs which could potentially cause the individual wire sockets to splay outwards affecting the male pins' mating with their female counterparts possibly creating a less-than-perfect electrical connection.

Not as exciting as runaway Internet speculation about voodoo, magic and conspiracies but a rather boring truth ;-)
 
When I demoed my 82/SC/250 I also had the 52 available with permission from SWMBO to get whichever I preferred. After a home demo lasting nearly three weeks I went for the 82. I found it had the verve, pace and drive that just kept me up at night. The 52 by contrast seemed a little laid back and unexciting. I could happily fall asleep or start reading a book whilst it was on. Yes the 52 was more polished and refined but the 82 was having a lot more fun.

Wind forward a few years and I met up with an old friend running the 52/SC/250 combo and we did a lot of comparisons. I still felt the same but after comparing the inards we realised the 52 was really a dual mono design using all the SC outputs and the 82 was using just two pairs of rails which fed 3 separate sections of the preamp plus the phono boards. After some simple modification and with a home grown Burndy I was feeding everything individually from the SC. The further I took this process the smoother and more laid back it became. I currently run on three pairs of rail as I now have a superline and no longer use the internal phono boards. To cut a long story short I still have the old 82 sound but a little of the edginess is gone.
 
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