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Naim MC phono stage for Linn cartridge - connection guide

will1124

pfm Member
Hi fishers, I bought this a couple of years ago until recently I got a chance to try it. Does anyone know how to connect it to make it work?

Appreciate your help here.

Here is how the phono stage looks like, a very early version built by Naim.

https://ibb.co/FKvXnn9
 
Sorry, but unless I’m being very thick, you haven’t actually said what it is that you’ve bought. The link in your message won’t open for me.
 
It's a Naim PNAG moving coil headamp.

What you do is connect your turntable with MC to the inputs and the output goes to an amplifier's MM input.

It's not a complete phonostage since it has no RIAA equalisation. It replaces an MC step up transformer.
 
It's a Naim PNAG moving coil headamp.

What you do is connect your turntable with MC to the inputs and the output goes to an amplifier's MM input.

It's not a complete phonostage since it has no RIAA equalisation. It replaces an MC step up transformer.
Any idea when they made that then colasblue?
 
Mid 70's I'd guess, about the same time as the Linn Trak cartridge was introduced. It was to allow users of "lesser" amplifiers to access the benefits of MC cartridges. It was superseded by the Linn Linnk which was a full MC phonostage to connect to the aux input.
 
Yes, not to be confused with NAG-20 which was internally powered via a 9V battery, rather than via the included NAPS of PNAG.

Q: Why '-20' when the gain is 25dB?

A (with a question): How many matches in a matchbox?

NAG = Naim Audio Gain
PNAG = Powered Naim Audio Gain

Naim NAG-20 (Sold as 'Linn Pre-Amp')
302979-2e615c69-linn_preamp_for_moving_coil_cartridges.jpg
 
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Yes, not to be confused with NAG-20 which was internally powered via a 9V battery, rather than via the included NAPS of PNAG.

Q: Why '-20' when the gain is 25dB?

A (with a question): How many matches in a matchbox?

NAG = Naim Audio Gain
PNAG = Powered Naim Audio Gain

Naim NAG-20 (Sold as 'Linn Pre-Amp')
302979-2e615c69-linn_preamp_for_moving_coil_cartridges.jpg

I binned one of those
 
Mid 70's I'd guess, about the same time as the Linn Trak cartridge was introduced. It was to allow users of "lesser" amplifiers to access the benefits of MC cartridges. It was superseded by the Linn Linnk which was a full MC phonostage to connect to the aux input.
The linn trak was introduced in 1982 not the seventies.
 
I have a pamphlet, in my box of things I should have thrown away but didn't, covering "The Linn Disc Playback System" covering LP12, Ittock, Asak and on the back page the "Linn Moving-Coil Preamplifier" made by Naim Audio and exactly as shown in the first post.
On the bottom of the first page it says "Copyright 1980 Audiophile Systems".
 
Hello Peter,

Audiophile Systems, of Indianapolis, IN, were the original Linn/Naim distributor in America.

They also published a newsletter entitle 'BIASED', which it certainly was, although it was also so well crafted that reading a single issue spontaneously caused one to become a 'Linnie'.

The Oracle
 
Hi Craig,



No idea where I got my copy then!
Were I a real Oracle, I could tell you, Peter. :p

Although, I suspect that Linn HQ would have gladly spread the bumf around rather thickly, even on the home turf.
 
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Going back to the thread title, "connection guide" suggests confusion over what goes where.

As colasblue explained in #4, tt leads into the RCA sockets on the preamp, RCA plugs (perhaps changed or at least cleaned up a bit) on captive leads into phono input on your amp and the 4 pin DIN plug on the other captive lead into the left hand DIN socket on the power supply as shown in the photo.
All pretty simple.

Perhaps confusion arises over what goes into the right hand DIN socket - NOTHING!
That socket is present only because this was after all a standard Naim preamp power supply and followed Naim's convention of sending the preamp output to the power amp input via an internal connection inside the power supply. There is no voltage on the right hand socket (signified by NC - no connection - on the pin out diagram on the housing) and in a non Naim system it serves no purpose.
 
@will1124,

If the picture is of your actual device, those Deltron RCAs are one of the best designs ever and should clean up nicely. I rarely use anything else, and have done so for decades, although these are getting harder to find.

P.S. You may want to lift the lid on the NAPS (power supply) and check that the reservoir capacitor isn't leaking (i.e. the blue cylinder in the picture I posted above). Just make sure that it has been unplugged for a while before attempting inspection, as these wee things can knock one on one's arse.
 


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