Old Naim 12 and 120 sound

[Miss Ariel]

I had a 42 - HC - 250 about 1988 and my 42 went back for the 42.5 mods to NAIM and my dealer lent me a 12 and I was blown away how lovely it sounded.
It had this sparking hf and detail and airy sound about it.
Getting my 42.5 back it sounded really rolled off in the top end and just thought it needed running in but 2 months later no real improvement and sold all my Naim for the new in the UK Byrston 0.5 pre and 2 B poweramp.
The Bryston 0.5 had the Naim 12 sound about it
I still have fond memories of that 12 and if I had loads of money would get one with a 110 power amp for fun.
I did read once maybe on the Naim Forum that there were really good 42 preamps and avearage sounding ones.
So maybe I had an avearage sounding one.Having said that Naim gear is pretty consistent in build.

But agree with all comments about the 12...fabulous piece of kit...might look a bit ancient but sounds great
A real case of newer doesn't always sound better....well to my ears it didn't.
.

 

[stevec67]

Thinking aloud here but can’t help wonderi g if the reason why the Nait 1 and 2 are so good with records is because the phono is embedded in the main board and is not a removable board.

Maybe so. Flying leads or other longer circuit lengths are never going to be an especially good idea. I also wonder how much is individual variation from one example to another.

 

[Svein]

I have had a few different copies of the Nac12. They were from 5 different batches. Two of them were really good -, one 12/2 and one 12/3. Both of them have late production numbers (532 for the v.2, the v/3 10xx). The rest were so-so and one of them sounded like crap. A good Nac12 (or 42) together with a top notch Nap120 should easily beat a Nait1 or Nait2, even a 42-110.

 

[Stemcor]

I have had a few different copies of the Nac12. They were from 5 different batches. Two of them were really good -, one 12/2 and one 12/3. Both of them have late production numbers (532 for the v.2, the v/3 10xx). The rest were so-so and one of them sounded like crap. A good Nac12 (or 42) together with a top notch Nap120 should easily beat a Nait1 or Nait2, even a 42-110.

That’s why I was happy to get the 42/110. A definite improvement over the Nait 1 and the 12/snaps/120. My favourite Naim was a 42.5/hicap/160. I stupidly sold the 160 and a Nat101/snaps to fund a 250. Loss of a superb source and a downgrade in the power amp. Even upgrading to a 52/250 couldn’t reproduce the “magic” of the 42.5 combo.

I’ve only used 2 other “serious” amp manufacturers in the last 35 years. I suppose the moral is “if you like it don’t mess with it”.

 

[rontoolsie]

I have had a few different copies of the Nac12. They were from 5 different batches. Two of them were really good -, one 12/2 and one 12/3. Both of them have late production numbers (532 for the v.2, the v/3 10xx). The rest were so-so and one of them sounded like crap. A good Nac12 (or 42) together with a top notch Nap120 should easily beat a Nait1 or Nait2, even a 42-110.

Back in those days, when Naim was a small cottage industry, EVERY piece of equipment would get a full audition in their demo test-room.
It is hard to imagine how some lemons in the lower quartile managed to find their way into dealer stock.
It is understandable that for essentially hand-built units where would be some unit-to-unit variance, but the ones that pass QC should all be in the very good to excellent spectrum.

Like Linn used to say, it was not the bearings used in the LP12 that made it so good-it was the bearings that were rejected.

 

[Enfield boy]

I thought that was John West with their Pink Fish

 

[Svein]

Back in those days, when Naim was a small cottage industry, EVERY piece of equipment would get a full audition in their demo test-room.
It is hard to imagine how some lemons in the lower quartile managed to find their way into dealer stock.
It is understandable that for essentially hand-built units where would be some unit-to-unit variance, but the ones that pass QC should all be in the very good to excellent spectrum.

Like Linn used to say, it was not the bearings used in the LP12 that made it so good-it was the bearings that were rejected.

I was also surprised by this, never heard or read anything but positive about these old bolt down Naim products. Stemcor's post suggesting that the sound quality was not up to par was similar to my experience. What I considered bad luck with some units may be the reality of this production line. Another thing is that it seems as if more effort has been put into the units that sound really good.

 

[rontoolsie]

Rather than replacing all, only going to replace the three important resistors that affect the sound.

I convinced NJ to build me a set of Z-foil boards about a dozen years ago...the first he had ever made. Given a carte blanche he only put them in four places, per board. So 8 z-foils per pair of 312 boards. They worked a treat in my NAT-01, replacing the original 321-variant TOB boards, making the 01 truly the best Naim source I have ever owned.
Later on these Z-foil 321 boards were replaced by RSL boards which offered a different set of strengths compared to the NJ boards. Nobody would be disappointed with either.