Could be a 402? It was the forerunner to the 602 (The 502 was basically like a 402 but with active amps inside). If so, the mid/bass driver should be a Goodmans 200mm unit too.
Richard, you really should go by the new handle āMr. Naim ā
Cause now you have really impressed me !
Got a reply from Naim HQ about these speakersā¦
Thank you for your email - I have asked for a few peoples opinion and advice on these speakers and even some of our longest serving member of the team have very little information to offer on them. I can however tell you that they are NA-602 speakers, not 206. According to our records.
It looks like the Bass drive basket is one that is used for the MK1 SBL driver, but not sure that is the original tweeter that has been fitted. Looks a little rough around the edges. They are very rare, only manufactured for a year and no more than a couple of dozen would have been produced.
That is all the info we can provide on these rare speakers.
The tweeters certainly look right for the 602. The bass looks very like the Mordaunt-Short, except for the colour of the cone, which was black. Iām pretty sure the basket is right except, again, for the colour, which on mine was black. And the 602 didnāt have that little hole (port) below the base. The Naim audio logo wasnāt on the mounting board, as hear - it was stuck to the foam on the outside. The foam grill was secured by Velcro loops going all the way round the edges of the mounting board, rather than just two little bits, one at the top and one at the bottom.
I believe Roy George designed the 602, but I could be wrong.
A quick Google turned up the 502. I assume that this was just the active version of either the passive 402 or 602 ?
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Yes, according to my official Naim notes, the NAM502 was introduced in 1972. It was a two-way passive speaker built to IBA approval with an integral power amp based on a single channel NAP160. It was discontinued in 1974.
It used the same drive units as the NAM402 and was for broadcast and studio use, notably 12 pairs being used by Capital Radio. FR = 40Hz - 20kHz +/- 4dB.
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Ah i see - not a true active but a powered passive. Thanks Richard.
Actually one more question if i may - where did the link with Mordaunt Short come from. Just a liking for the (DSB208 ?) bass unit or some other link between the two companies ?
James
That looks very similar to the 602
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Just been clearing out some old paperwork, and came across the receipt for my first pair of Naim speakers - NA 702 Serial Number 2, for Ā£285 in 1977 from Russ Andrews. That was some serious money for me back then.
Also from Russ Andrews was a Rega Planar 3 for Ā£132.00 in 1978
And direct from Naim Audio in Salisbury, NAC22 for Ā£74.75, in 1980 along with a Mordaunt-Short drive unit for Ā£16.10, so presumably the original bass unit only lasted for about 3 years. ISTR going through a couple more over the next few years.
Wow! NA702s! I didnāt even know there was such a thing. Any pictures to show?
Iāll try to find some - I know I have a few but not good detail. Iām not sure how different they were from the 602s, though.
Some (not very good) photos:
The ones that are shown in a room are crops from general views of the room, so little detail. Where there is a Naim logo on them they are totally original. The foam grills eventually decayed too much, so the logo went too. The close ups are when I sold them - after I had changed the tweeters from the original Goodmans ones to Scanspeak (I had replaced the Goodmans many times, until Naim (and Goodmans) ran out of them). The Mordaunt-Shorts had been replaced a number of times. Not sure whether the original ones had black or silver baskets - I think at one point they were black ones, but that might have been replacement ones. The internal foam became a deliquesced mess and I replaced it, but I couldnāt find anything that matched the original.
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Very interesting. Thanks for posting. Are the terminal plates and double terminals original or later mods?
I have to say how fascinating it is to see the heritage of naim on here! Lovely woodwork on the cabinets and nice to see the excellent DSB208 in another speaker from Naim. A mate of mine had original MS20ās with that bass unit in a sealed cabinet and I could never get my ported MS30ās to sound anything like as good and tight. I learnt then the value of sealed cabinet designs for firm bass.
Surely it would be worth naim putting together a heritage archive at the factory? It could certainly become a place of pilgramage with chargeable tours for fans to cover the cost.
Jonathan
Hmm - not sure what happened, but I lost a couple in that process. The first one there is the back of them after I had made them active.
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Terminal plates are mine as part of the move to active - I removed the (internal) crossovers and used an electronic crossover (a Naim unit, about a quarter width of the standard Naim kit, but full depth and with a bolt-down top) and two NAP 120s (one was a copy that I made - mea culpa). Then a couple of 250s. Then I went to active SBLs with proper Naim crossover (SNAXO 2-4) and 135s.
I kept the passive crossovers, and when I sold the 702s I included the crossovers mounted inside some metal boxes (aluminium alloy of some sort). I think that the speakers are now in Italy.
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Any idea what these old Naim speakers are worth now, especially in excellent condition? They must be rare.
So, thereās 402, 502, 602 and 702 - is that it?
They are rare, but I donāt think theyāre worth much. IIRC someone was recently selling a pair in Scotland for around Ā£100.
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That is quite a good price for them. Mine went for, IIRC, Ā£44.00, delivered to Sittingbourne, but Iām not sure thatās where they ended up.
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Great thread - The very first Naim speakers have always been difficult to find info on so this has been an interesting read. There seems to have been a similar thread going on in the pink place too with some interesting info.