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What’s your Naim ?

It might be only a matter of time before certain people arrive on this thread. But I'm a fan of what Naim does, so (in no particular order):

135s. They were the mainstay of my system for over a decade, and I really couldn't fault them. Trying to get the fans to turn on was entertaining (and I did try to respect my neighbours)
The 52. It is a classic preamp, and the leap from an 82 was not small. It just sounded so incisive, and added at least one octave of bass
The 72/140/Hicap as a combination. I'm pretty sure I could live with it now. Plus, visually, long before I owned them, they were what I aspired to as an undergraduate.
Pretty much all of the CD players designed when JD was with us. Especially the CD2, which in my hifi consumer career was astonishing
The Aro. It worked so well on an 80s LP12. The step up from an Ittok (still a hugely overrated arm IME) was tremendous.
The Nait 2. Yes, the prices now are nutty, but as an integrated in the right context, it remains hard to beat for thrills.
The CD2/555PS combination. I worked a lot of overtime to get this together, and it didn't let me down. Still the best digital I've ever heard - in some ways an utter hooligan, and in others rock solid control.

The point about a lot of this, at certain stage in hifi tech, was obviously PSUs and upgradeability and regulation for low voltage (or do I mean current?) applications. And it worked.
 
Joolzdee said:
Early red LED chrome bumper Nait and Supernait 3 here in 2 different systems. Could happily live with either.
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Interesting...........
It always seemed to me the first generation of Nait shares many things with the Supernait 3 but I never admitted it out loud............or maybe my ears are full of that brownish wax ?........
 
Hi All,

Living in QLD and coming into summer I have put the QUAD II’s aside and I’m now using these little “Bad Boys” for the summer.

medium


I like the small form factor of the 72/Hi-Cap/140 combo and the 140 works a treat with medium efficiency speakers and “smallish” rooms. The 140 and Hi-Cap are both late 90’s build while the 72 is the earlier build with two sets of phono inputs. I have the MC cards on Phono input and the MM Cards on the Aux input with the two sets of BNC connectors swapped out with more mainstream "Posh" RCA connectors fitted. This gives me options to use just about any cartridge I connect to it.

I never got into the newer look naim gear as I think it has lost its individual and quirky look while the chrome bumper just looks a little too “DIY”. For me the “Olive” gear just looks the part.

Happy Listening.

LPSpinner.
 
Have a Naim XS2 integrated amp . Hate it and plan to move it on asap . Not just the sound that is the problem but especially the crazy connections that necessitate lots more cash spent on the relevant cables . As soon as I find a 2 nd hand Copland CSA70 or Lavardin I'll be happy .
 
Hi All

Dealing with Din plugs in not that bad and you don’t need spend silly money on cables and Soldering is a handy skill to have. Plugs and good cable is readily available from any electronics store like Digi-Key, Mouser, RS components. Etc.

None of my DIN-DIN or DIN-RCA cables cost my more than 10 Aussie Dollars to build.

LPSPinner.
 
Nait 2. I pull it out of the box once in a while but the rc 82/250 is more convenient for day to day usage. Must be getting old...
 
TLS said:
...rc 82/250 is more convenient for day to day usage. Must be getting old...
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I hear ya… Not sure if its old or just lazy …

I would like the remote functionality in the little 72. I have seriously thought about the Ryan soundlab cards but then the 72 would no longer be a 72. At the age it is, the little 72 is, it deserves a dignified retirement and not to be molested by Mods... I don't want it to lose that Salisbury magic.
 
Speaking from my personal experience I have tried several aftermarket "upgrades" that were given many positive reviews here on PF on my otherwise factory maintained spec chrome bumper Naim system over the years giving them all a few weeks to break in, I won't name specifics though on which exact upgrades I have tried. But what I found on all the ones I've tried is that they all offered some type of "HI-Fi" type characteristic change such as seemingly more detail, more lively and animated sound and/or a bigger soundstage but they all came up short when it came to maintaining the tune, musicality & musicianship/overall band cohesion, so I found myself always reverting back to stock and feeling relieved by doing so because the tune was restored. ...IMO once the tune is lost people can find themselves going down the rabbit hole trying to get it back, in turn buying more and more upgrades, but yet still finding something lacking/uninvolving. Some even then moving on from their modified Naim gear completely, then blaming Naim as a whole as being overrated.

What I have found to be the most musical/in tune upgrade for my system was to completely change the front end/source, in my case the turntable as I don't listen to digital in my main system. I find that if the source is improved the whole system is then improved/transformed. And I always do only one modification at a time as to not get confused as to which potential change may have effected my system in a negative way, then easy to revert FWIW..
 
Gervais Cote said:
For me, it’s definitely my 1986 NAP 110 thanks to its lively and punchy sound and astonishing bass drive.
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I went from a NAP 110 to a NAP 160, and in my room, with my speakers and at the levels I listened, there wasn't anything in it. I could have saved the money.
 
JOHN VAN BAVEL said:
Have a Naim XS2 integrated amp . Hate it and plan to move it on asap . Not just the sound that is the problem but especially the crazy connections that necessitate lots more cash spent on the relevant cables . As soon as I find a 2 nd hand Copland CSA70 or Lavardin I'll be happy .
Click to expand...

All of which were evident before you bought it... sigh!
 
Once had an olive CDS2/82/Hi/135's system, even, for a while, SBL's.

Now there is just a NAIT2 that's not in use.

Since then downgraded to something completely different.
 
I was late to the CD party, for me its the CD3. Given I was in Linn/Naim land, it was the first CDP that I actually wanted to listen to. Only much later did I realise why. It was my first step on the TDA1541 path.
 
PerF said:
Yes, I believe it was the last run before they went to Nait 3 release
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It was a special, originally for the Japanese market, as I understood it. IIRC batches of CD Nait2 and "normal" Nait2 with phono input were built at the same time so it wasn't, I don't believe, a complete move to CD Nait2 before Nait3. Just batches according to demand. That was my impression anyway!
 
I’ve had more Naim stuff than has been remotely sensible over the years, since stating with a 42, Snaps and 110 back in 1983. I reached the heights of CDS3, 555PS, 552, 300 and SL2s, which was way beyond my means but very very good. I’ve had a NDX2 and Supernait 3 for the last two years, and thankfully remain very content with it.

My favourite box was probably my first Naim CD player, the CDi. A lovely sounding player and goodness knows why I swapped it for an NDX2, before getting the CDS3.
 
LPSpinner said:
I hear ya… Not sure if its old or just lazy …

I would like the remote functionality in the little 72. I have seriously thought about the Ryan soundlab cards but then the 72 would no longer be a 72. At the age it is, the little 72 is, it deserves a dignified retirement and not to be molested by Mods... I don't want it to lose that Salisbury magic.
Click to expand...
The "mods" are just slide in cards, completely and utterly simple to fit and reverse and @RyanSoundLab has previously provided loans so you can try and buy or try and revert to "unmolested" if that is what you prefer. There is no magic in Salisbury, just folk who cared and had ears and knew what they liked. Kit has ears, cares, and knows what he likes too. Les has ears, cares and knows what he likes too. Up to you who's ears are closest to yours and which you prefer but the 72 offers a lot of options with card swaps that do zero damage to resale as long as you keep the original cards you replace :)

Edit: ah I see you are in Aus, might make it a little harder to try stuff, still, I stand by card swapping is easy and safe and reversible
 
Only ever heard naits, nap 140 (90 too but discounting that), & briefly a 160. I've never once had an opportunity to hear any amp 'above' these. The CB 160 looked the part, but the 140 just pipped it especially the olive look.. still the best looking hifi box I think: it's design perfection to me.

Hearing a nap140 in 1986- & that was it, I didn't need to strive for any other amp. Ten years on I nabbed a fine olive one off ebay (£245), & this is my amp: the only itch I occasionally need to scratch is another.. two 140 mono's. But the cost of this idea now, & that itch soon dissapears.

I had naits 1,2,3 beforehand: the 1 & 2 terrific but so underpowered, that's all. 5 I heard once in a demo was grippy & impressive (with big atc's mind you, so must've had a bit more chutzpa).

I have a nap 32.5 too, hugely modded, great quality. But it's not in the same league as the 140.
 
nobeone said:
It was a special, originally for the Japanese market, as I understood it. IIRC batches of CD Nait2 and "normal" Nait2 with phono input were built at the same time so it wasn't, I don't believe, a complete move to CD Nait2 before Nait3. Just batches according to demand. That was my impression anyway!
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The CD Nait 2 I've seen had late serials.
Naim CDi was released 1992, one year before Nait 2 were replaced with Nait 3 - hence my conclusion.

Anyway you may very well be right in the Japanese observation and generel demand which sound logically.
 
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