Coming Back to Naim

Hi-Fi Corner
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I started my Naim journey with a Nova and Neat SX2 speakers, partly because they sounded great and partly because the smaller footprint kept my partner happy, which felt like a sensible survival strategy.

Then I got more into vinyl and became a bit obsessed with keeping the analogue side of things as pure as possible. So, in one of those classic hi-fi moments where you convince yourself this is definitely a good idea, I sold the Nova and bought a tube amp. I do like the tube amp, and after spending far too much money on different valves, I got it sounding very good. But even so, I always felt it was lacking a bit in the bass, depth and pace.

Over time I realised what I was actually missing was the Naim sound. So I ended up buying a HiCap, NAC 72 and NAP 140. Only today I finally unplugged the tube amp and got the Naim system set up and, honestly, I’d forgotten just how much I’d missed it. Straight away the clarity, depth and rhythm were back. Everything just sounded more alive and more together.

So yes, lesson learned. I have clearly wandered off, spent money in the wrong places, and ended up right back where I probably should have stayed in the first place.

Current system is:

  • HiCap
  • NAC 72
  • NAP 140
  • IanCanada DAC (Project One)
  • ProJect S3 CD player
  • Vertere phono stage
  • Technics 1500 with black Ortofon cartridge
  • Volumio and Roon streaming systems (running on a Pi and Nuc respectively)

I had been planning to keep the tube amp for a second system, but now I’m wondering whether to sell it and put the money into more music, or more boxes, or probably both if I’m being honest.

The only real reason I sold the Nova was because I wanted the option of a pure analogue path. But I thought I’d share this because coming back to Naim has really reminded me that they do have a very particular sound, and for me at least, it just works. There’s a drive and involvement there that I’ve really missed.

Anyway, I’m very happy to be back in the Naimsphere.

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Great to read about your path back to Naim as a grey haired old enthusiastic from the eighties I have never really strayed from the live sound and involvement that Naim offers.

Only in times of things like house purchases etc have I been without and deleted with Mission and AR for example. But nothing beats the passion for the original shoe boxes and the fact the philosophy on upgrades let’s you further in to the music

Welcome back and enjoy

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How is the Technics 1500 going?

I must admit I do like the look of it . (The first job of a turntable is to sound good, the second is to look good)

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Welcome back.

I’d say there is not much that the forum enjoys more than the story of a lost sheep returning to the fold!

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Good to hear you’re enjoying Naim again.

If you want a more valve like sound without loosing rhythm and timing, then the old bolt down Naim gear provides that. Doesn’t have the clarity of 72/HC/140 though. The 72 into a bolt down 160 would give you a mix of the two and do work well together.

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That 72/Hi/140 is crying out for a 90s vintage LP12. Just saying…

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Agree :+1:

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Same experience here.

From day one way back, a dealer visit, listening to LP12/Nait 2/Royd shoebox - I was hooked.

Sold my Valve setup with no regrets.

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Welcome back Clarkeboy

Certainly there is a ‘Naim sound’ that is addictive

I’ve also recently returned to Naim and am loving it

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Glad you’re back in the Naim family! Since the early 1990’s I’ve owned quite a bit of their chrome bumper gear as well as a few olive pieces. (CB - Nait 1; Hicap; Nac 42, 42.5, 32.5; Nap 110, 160, 250, 135; Nat 101 Snaps/ Olive - CDi; Nait 2, Nait 3; Hicap; Nac 62, 72; Nap 140, 250; NAT 01, 02, 03).

In the late 1990’s I sold off all my audio gear for a Bose Wave radio and did not get back into the hobby until 2002. Since that time I’ve purchased a Naim 42.5/Hicap/110; the 110 needs a major service, but the 42.5 Hicap still sounds great with a few of my tube monoblock amplifiers.

I have a few two channel systems other than Naim, but still have a CDi and Nait 2 that I use with a pair of KEF Reference Series model 101 bookshelf speakers. And I just put a system together in my study: Streaming gear, Naim Nait 50 and a pair of Linn Kan 1’s which sounds quite good!

There’s just something about Naim’s PRT that sets them apart from everyone else; a sense of realism to the music that is palpable.

Are you enjoying your SL1500? In 1975 my parents bought me my first audio system as a birthday gift. A Technics SL1500 TT and Marantz 2230 receiver (I still have the 2230 fifty one years later), along with a pair of Infinity 1001A loudspeakers. I really discovered music with that system and it still holds many fond memories for me of all the great bands we had back then. :+1:

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Welcome back and I’m another ‘been there’ guy. Before a big jump to olive from chrome bumper I had a short break from Naim, bought Luxman valve amp just to see if Naim really is my thing. (and my friend had promised to get it if not my cuppa tea) Very much like you the sound is objectively good and beautiful, but that system hardly gets me hooked, most of the time I would rather just read without any music playing. So Naim is the thing – that presentation of music is one of a kind.

Fully agree with murmur either bolt down or chrome bumper gears were purely for vinyl which would be great for LP12.

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I love it but I must admit that I should have gone for the SL-1300 instead, although this is rather large difference in price. Don’t get me wrong that I don’t like the SL1500 but I moved away from its internal phono stage very quickly (had a Vincent phone for a while) and wished I went in another direction.

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Nah…I like Techics and I’ll stick with it. Slightly more industrial looking than the finesse of the LP12 but I like the sound. Lessons were learnt. If it sounds good, don’t change it!

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Fair enough!

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There are some happy Technics users on this forum, and I like the look of both the 1300 and 1500 .

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Reading that comment made me wonder why you’d said that. Through modifications the sound of the LP12 has definitely changed and drifted towards more of a digital (accurate?) sound. I wonder which mod led the change. The Keel (and Kore) perhaps? Is it really better?

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Personally I couldn’t stand the LP12 and actually owned a Xerxes, although I now own the much improved modern LP12. However, a Cirkus/Ittok/Lingo was the classic partner for the OPs amps. It was that synergy that I was alluding to.

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Different iterations of LP12 is defo relate to sonic characters preferred by different time and generations (and maybe technological advancements as well). For example 70s-80s was for fun apparently, and latest iteration is for precision. A 90s LP12, for example likely having Ekos, Cirkus and Lingo wouldn’t sound as precise as latest, but better than 80s’ without losing much fun. It’s very similar to differences between chrome bumper and olive which implicates a certain kind of synergy.

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Not Cirkus,Pre -Cirkus was always the preferred in a Naim system,I would say.

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