laverda
pfm Member
Here's the next NAP135 prior to the rebuild. Of the original Naim amps, the 135 was always my favorite. There were only a few modest changes on the original board in this photo. When seen side-by-side with the NCC300/SPM1 rebuild, one can appreciate the brilliance of Les' repurposing.
One of the contributing factors (I believe) there must be others... is that the NCC300 is only regulated at the front end..leaving the raw to do its work only on the outputs, unlike the 135 which regulated as a whole.
The NCC300 has such 'grip and control' and the added bit of magic I feel is texture. Now only a few days in (still early for a complete comparison of NCC220s I know) but the 300s have a warmth and emotion to the presentation that I didn't hear or notice before or others more of it. Its the little things that are there now and weren't before...Im still just running the JR149's for now.
Like you Flash, I do have an issue with my second board which I need to sort when time permits, is a low bias of 1.4v pot at max. Strange as the second board is identical to the first in every component. The first board I had no issue with and could drive it to 2.4v of bias with ease (swapping the 2k7 for a 3k3) and settled with 2.2v as this is were it runs just warm after an hour or two. It'll have to wait now till next week before I can fathom it out.
Graham