Naim Recapping

That once you've joined the cult you won't ask questions like these and instead will pay up like the rest of the zombies? Really, $750 to "recap" a 10 year old NAP 250? At that rate I may as well buy a new one......OHHHHHH, I get it!

Except a new one costs >$5000.
A bit of a difference from $750 wouldn't you say?
A recap is as good as a new one.
Naim services all their older product, unlike many other manufacturers.

Electrolytic capacitors deteriorate over time. They lose capacitance and start to leak DC. Allowed to detriorate too far they can breakdown causing catastrophic failure. It doesn't matter whether it is a Naim or not. At some point electrolytics should be replaced. These are facts.

Naim recommends recapping every so often (10 years?) to avoid these problems. Whether this is the correct interval or it is worth it to put that much money in a 10 year old piece is open to debate.

"Except a new one costs >$5000".

Exactly. And for what? A great amp that will drive any British two-way in a moderate size room. Hey, I was a fan when the folks at Naim made sense.

They still make a great CDP. :-)

"They still make a great CDP" Agreed.

Definitely worth it. You can not only get "close-to-new" or as close as you can remember with decade-old gear, you can also get better than new thanks to evolving designs, component improvements and so on...and when you get these in the course of "routine service"--figure it out.

Operaddict, you must be assuming that Naim upgrades other components as part of the recap which they do not. That is sometimes available at additional cost, frequently not.

I applaud Naim for standing by their products, but personally do not see the value.