CD5 in 2001. Followed not long afterwards by a refurbished Olive HiCap.
A Nova, bought about 2 months ago. Best purchase Iāve made.
NA22/NAP120 back in 1977ish, with a LP12/Grace/Supex and B&W DM6 speakers. Upgraded the amps to 32/160, then added a NAXO and second 160 into active isobarik Sarahs
Well I spent a huge amount of time with Naim gear in the 90ās when I was in the retail trade but never bought any. So unless cables count (I had long runs of NACA4 but on a Linn system because it was cheaper than K20), then my first Naim gear was in 2013 with a UQ2.
And it still gets the most use.
NAC112 and NAP150 into Quad 12L speakers. That was around ten years ago. Back then my sources were Sony CDP-XB930 QS and Rega P3 (2000) with AT95E cartridge and Lehmann Black Cube phonostage.
UnitiCute2 and NAP100, about 6 years ago. First dip into Naim, never looked back.
1982 NAP110 from Grahams HiFi. Used with Musical Fidelity The Preamp and a RP3. Later followed by 32.5 and HiCap. What an adventureā¦
- Iād bought a Crimson 510/520 to replace my Cyrus 1. The 510 had an issue which meant it ran the batteries down (the pre was powered by IIRC a pair of 9v PP9 sized batteries) so it went back to the dealer. I used to walk past Audio Excellence on Cryws road, Cardiff on my way home from college every day and theyād had a used Naim pre-power in the window for a couple of weeks. My Dad lent me some extra cash and my Naim journey started with a CB 42.5 and 140. The 140 stayed in use for a long time, finally being retired in 2007. I still have it, just incase
Went into my audio shop in Portsmouth 3 years ago for an av set up based on a Yamaha receiver. I heard a naim set up playing and now I have a Nova driving the 2 fronts in the sitting room as part of my av and a sound room upstairs with a 272 driving a 250DR from a Core into ATC SCM7s with the new naim mid priced streamer for collection from my dealer next week. The magic of the Naim sound is irresistible.
My journey started c.2000 with CD3.5/Flatcap/72/140. The 72/140 was auditioned against a Musical Fidelity A300 integrated amp (Iād had via pre-loved route a MF Pre-Amp and Dr Thomas amp which was very long in the tooth). The Naim amps, while a tad more expensive than the MF (~Ā£1300 v tad over Ā£1400 IIRC) ādestroyedā the MF - the first lesson of never underestimate Naim watts.
Thereafter, a very nice man at Audio-T kept making me offers I couldnāt refuseā¦with Hi-Cap on the 72, which morphed to a 82 +pre-loved S/Cap/250 , the CD3.5 became a CDX2/XPS (in prep. for a CDS2)ā¦ā¦.and things have changed markedly since then, via the pre-loved route in most cases.
I bought a Nait 2 in 1989 which remains here and was the mainstay of my system for over 20 years . It took the Supernait2 to beat it for me . An amazing little box ! I had it serviced recently at Class A and it still sounds superb. Iām on the lookout now for some small speakers to match for 2nd system .
A CD3 back in the early 90ās.
3 NAC22/NAP120 combos in one thread - I find that surprising as it was really seen as the poor/cheaper relative of the NAC12/NAP160 (was it NAP180?) at the time, I recall. Itās about time Richard Dane did some work on his upcoming masterpiece: A Brief History of Naim. Now that would be a bestseller!
I have been hankering after Naim equipment since the 70ās when I first saw it, I only recently made the plunge buying a Superuniti.
A Nait 5 around 2002 and it didnāt stay. Audio T were running an upgrade offer at the time, if you traded in within a month of purchase theyād give you the full value against anthing of higher value. I bought my Nait 5 without audition, along with NACA5 and a load of cables to connect my tuner, tape deck etc. Iād been using a Sansui AU217 since 1980, the Nait sounded more controlled but the sense of scale was decidedly on the small side and it was no more engaging than the looser sounding Sansui, whatās more a sort of electronic glare gradually became apparent underlaying the music. As the first month came to an end I went back to the shop and auditioned some possible replacements with my existing Mission 700s, an Arcam FMG integrated had more glare than the Nait, the Sugden class A sounded a bit slow and couldnāt control the bass drivers but the Rega Cursa/Maia sounded pretty good to me so the Nait went back and I got them to take back all the cables except the A5 which Iād decided to keep. This was my last hifi purchase on credit but it was in the days of fee free card transfers so I never actually paid any interest on it. About 5 years later I was on the hunt for a decent CD player and was surprised to prefer the CD5x over the Jupiter having concluded Naim was a load of hype based on my Nait encounter. A couple of yeas later following a speaker upgrade (Thiel CS1.6) and based on the success of the CD5x I decided to try Naim amps again. I auditioned the original supernait and 202/200/PSC (using some Dynaudio standmounts), the supernait again seemed to have that glare to it, the sort of thing you donāt conciously notice until it suddenly stops, which it did when the 202/200 was substituted and itās been Naim separates ever since. Maybe if Iād kept the Nait 5 longer it would have run in and lost its glare but the 1 month limit on that trade in offer meant it had to proove itself in that time, the demo supernait having the same character suggests it might not have.
I bought the smallest amp/preamp Naim offers.
NAHA 2.
I was impressed enough to explore further into their catalogue.
Not surprising really. As a student the extra Ā£50 for the 12, plus if I remember correctly, additional costs for MC boards, would have meant no Naim!! Also I used a Sony TC765 R2R and I do not think the 12 had a tape monitor facility. When I could afford it I skipped the 12 and went straight to a 32.
Approaching early retirement in 2015, I decided to get back into music and changed from Cyrus to a Naim Superuniti and have stopped my feet tapping since that day.
Indeed. The whole set-up (NAC22+NAP120) cost about Ā£300 in 1978. What I also implied was that this was really the poor manās Naim in a way (more conventional in its design, I believe, than the NAC12), and Iām surprised that so many have survived - another question is why did it disappear a couple of years later without being replaced?