Easy for me to remember, as I really only had one system before buying my SU in 2015
Heybrook TT2 > Technics SU-V3 amp > Heybrook HB2 speakers mostly purchased in 1982
1989 Arcam Alpha CD, Arcam Alpha amp, Celestion DL4 speakers
1991 Added Arcam DAC
1992 Linn Intek amp replaced the Arcam and Kans replaced the Celestions
1996 Added Accoustic Energy AE109 speakers but the Kans stayed in their original double box
1997 Dynaudio floorstanders (forget the model) replaced the AE109s
- Sold the lot for a slice of Naim, NAC72, NAP180 and CD3 with the Dyns and sometimes Kans on the end
2012 Sold everything and started a family, should have kept the KansâŠ
- NDS, 555 non DR, 252, 300 Supercap non DR and ATC SCM11
2018 Sold and replaced with NAC72, 2 NAP180, CDX2, 2 HiCap, Snaxo242, SBLs
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Sold and replaced with NAC272, ATC SCM50A
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Added Antipodes EX server
I forgot some amplifier from the past. I also had an Accuphase 400 something. Boring. And then a Audionet integrated. Even more boring.
Nytech LP12 Arc 050 Hitachi tuner Nak cassette deck, the cheapest one at the time
I didnât keep a journal, but overall not a huge number of changes, many incremental, and in terms of timing quite a few I easily peg by relationship to some memorable life event, e.g whether I did it before or after something, or did it or had it when I was living in a particular house, etc. Some dates may be +/- a year.
Iâve had various bits of Naim gear since 2010, the 20 years prior to that were spent solely with a Densen B400 CD and B100 amp that I bought from Alastair at Signals when he was just starting up.
When I arrived there was one of these in the corner of the living room.
It communicated music very well and got me hooked from a young age. When it was disposed of I noticed a second speaker could be connected for stereo.
The replacement was a Hitachi music centre that didnât serve the music nearly so well. It probably played a large part in me deciding to buy my own system, even before leaving the nest for the last time.
That system was bought with my first credit card and Iâd just received my second months salary. It consisted of a Micro Seiki DD24s direct drive TT with an entry level Nagoka cartridge, a Sansui AU217 and mission 700 speakers used without stands, a Sansui cassette deck and NAD 4020A tuner were added over the next couple of years. This system followed me around 4 lodgings and shared houses, finally gaining speaker stands in the last one. I also upgraded the record deck to a Manticore Mantra with a Rega 300 and Goldring Eroica L via some scrounged miniature step up transformers but still into the Sansui.
The next step was a Townshend Rock mk2, this also necessitated a new cartridge as I bent the Eroicaâs cantilever in the process of installing the arm on the Rock. The same friend that supplied the SUTs also used a Rock and was raving about the Dynavector 17D2 and as Iâd been on sick leave for a couple of month with a busted leg (my 750 Honda got in the way of someone turning right into a pub) on full pay but not spending much I could afford one. A Michell iso joined the system soon after too.
And there it stopped, the payout from that accident supplied the deposit for a mortgage (Iâd planned to rebuild my 750 Ducati but sometimes the sensible choice is forced on you, in this case by an eviction notice, the bike was sold in bits, I think I still have some clocks and a clutch lever).
It was 10 years before I could spend on hifi again, firstly with a cartridge exchange but then a Nait5, which I found rather disappointing. The sound was rather small scale and I came to notice a sort of electronic, processed character. This may have been a running in or setup issue but the dealer was offering a no loss exchange if you upgraded within a month so 30 days later I traded it in on a Rega Cursa/Maia combo. This lasted 5 years adding a cheap CD player from Richer Sounds but only because there was too much music I couldnât get on vinyl by then. When the time came to audition some better offerings I was thinking a Rega Saturn but to my surprise I came away with a CD5x instead. The missions were next to bite the dust, theyâd already had replacement driver and when the surrounds perished on the second set the quest for speakers resulted in some Thiel CS1.6s.
The CD5x also convinced me to look again at Naim amps, an audition was arranged in store of a supernait (the one with the DAC) and 202/200 with a PSC both into some dynaudio bookshelf speakers. The supernait had the same electronic glare Iâd disliked about the Nait5 but the separates didnât, it was like when a background noise you hadnât consciously noticed suddenly stopped when the 202/200 were swapped in so they came home on the back of my Moto Guzzi. My wife thought they werenât a big enough upgrade over the Regas so they went back and I borrowed a 282/hi/250 (quite a pile bungeed on the back of the bike), that got approval but I couldnât afford them all at once so the 282 came first, run off a flatcap 2x Iâd bought for the CD5x and using the Rega Maia power amp. My first trip to the dealership to buy a hicap resulted in an exdem superline, the second in a lightly used Aro and it was only on my third attempt in a year an a half that I actually bought a hicap, the 250 had to wait another year. I still use the NAD 4020A.
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Before Naim it was NAD. Had a c162, c272 & c542 in addition to a Sansui TU-217 tuner, Logitech squeezebox and Focal 726v speakers.
How I ended up with Naim? A rack is out of question and we had trouble finding nice living room furniture for our new house that would accommodate all of it, or even the c272.
The Naim unitis promised a reduced boxcount, smaller size than the c272 alone while not being a downgrade. We chose to upgrade the rest of the system at the same time and add a record player.
My first steps into hifi was with a Trio KD-1033 into a Denon receiver driving Pioneer speakers (I think). This was the early â80s. I upgraded this to a Rega Planar 3 (original with the curved arm, bought from Rayleigh HiFi in â82, I think), various cartridges (nad, A&R C77), Nytech CA202 amp (could not afford the 252) and Monitor Audio R252s. This saw me through university and beyond. How I managed to get this to and from my digs in a Fiat 128 I have no idea!! I still have and use the Nytech in my office system. Sounds great.
My first real serious system was based around Linn. I still had the Rega (but upgraded with a RB300 arm) - Genki CD player, Kolektor preamp, LK140 power amp and Tukan speakers. This was ok but I lost my interest in music and then my kids arrived. The system was only really used for telly watching. The Rega was lent to my in-laws (who subsequently gave it away without asking!!!) and I had a few wilderness years as far as music goes.
I wanted to downsize the system and was interested in the idea of music streaming. My first attempt was using a Netgear streamer. Very flakey and not Hi-Fi! The UQ2 came along and I thought this would be ideal for me. I bought my PMC speakers and a UQ2 and have been hooked by Naim ever since. I am now very happy with my SN2, ND5SX2, P8 and Aria. I still have the PMCs. I am listening to and enjoying more music than ever before - thatâs what it is all about 
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I started reading the mags in the mid-80s when, as a young teenager, I was a country mile from being able to afford anything. It was fun to dream though.
Managed to stretch to a Technics CD player in 91, then cassette deck in 92. Plans for amp and speakers were knackered by a combination of undergraduate impecuniousness and the rise of Dolby Pro-Logic taking my eye off the hifi ball. I foolishly (in retrospect) saved up for a Kenwood Pro-Logic receiver without being able to buy decent speakers to go with it. Silly boy.
Once safely in employment, and with DVD as the shiny new kid in town, I couldnât resist a Pioneer DVD player, Denon AV amp and full B&W 5.1 setup. Wonderful fun, but the Technics CD player and tape deck werenât getting much of a look-in at this point.
Then it was time for children, so the hifi piggy bank was needed to keep up with the industryâs (OK, my) obsession with newer TVs and Blu-ray players.
Finally, in 2011, some idle googling led me to the pre-loved hifi catnip of St Albans that is Tom Tom. From then on, apart from maintaining my love for B&W, itâs been Naim all the way. No regrets.
Mark
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2004-2008 Teac Reference 550
2008-2014 Primare dvdi10
By then, I went to an audioshow. And I remember going through several rooms and standing in one and saying to the faithful cousin and companion of these wanderings: I like this sound. (It was the first time I was taken this way).
He replied: Itâs a British brand called Naim. That series is the 500.
And here (belatedly) I met the brand that made the kind of sound I was looking for. The following year I sold Primare and went to get UQ2. (There was no SU available ,that i wanted so much).
Nice thread. I was going through my picture archive and OMG what a long way it was for me to get to Naim. 
I always felt that these strange black/green boxes with the power button on the wrong side, was not for me. Until I heard the Atom and tried it at home. I have been in love with it since. 
My journey in brief: Sony mid set > Technics > Marantz PS-17 with Tannoy TD-8 > Marantz SR-12 with TD-8 full surround > Kenwood L-1000 as dedicated stereo > Aragon Stage One with 2007 and Parasound DAC > Classe CAP-151 > Classe CP-50 with nCore mono amps (self built) > AVM V30 > Esoteric D/AC 7 with nCores on Pioneer S-1EX > Naim Atom on Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 LE.
Probably I forgot some equipment. 
But things have been stable now for the last two years. 
Marantz PS-17 with 5 mono power amps MA-6100
Marantz SR-12 with Technics SL-PS7 CD player and four Tannoy TD-8
Kenwood L-1000 separate stereo setup
Aragon Stage One and 2007 power amp
Classé amp
Esoteric amp
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?? Which is the correct side?
Iâm always bemused by power switches at tge back, where you can never reach it, including to turn on after installingâŠ
Good question, but being right-handed and from The Netherlands, a power button on the left side seemed very strange to me. By now I have learned not to judge a book by its cover. 
Apart from encouraging people to go with Naimâs recommendation to leave gear powered up, it makes sense to have the switch at the back, right next to the ac power input, rather than running wires all the way to the front of the box just for a switch. Given the amount of care Naim take with internal layout and cable routing in general, I canât see them changing this where it can be avoided.
I absolutely agree and I kept my NAP200 on 24/7. With the Atom that is not an issue as it stays âhotâ when in standby mode. But back in the day - some 20 or so years ago - I was a bit more biased when it came to the looks of equipment. That changed when I first heard a good demonstration of Naim at the Munich High End show several years ago. Now I am so happy with the sound that I do not care anymore if and where the power button is placed.
Yes, the new streamers and Unitis are required to have low power standby modes, which Naim achieve by putting a SMPS in. I imagine the main ac power inputs are still routed carefully at the back, but the fancy standby switching I suppose changes the rule book.
This is what I started with⊠yep, mono⊠
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Naim is not alone with the rear mains switch, others doing that not necessarily recommending being left on permanently - while IIRC not all Naim mains switches are at rear.
Whilst I can see the argument of mains switch at back for things left on permanently, it can cause difficulties when it is necessary to power down or turn on if the rear is not readily accessible - which even with gear normally left on can happen from time to time (e.g thunderstorms). I fully accept the argument re keeping mains to just the one corner of the case - I did that myself in one amp assembly decades ago, simply using a rotary switch with an extension to put the knob on the front⊠But rear switches certainly arenât dealbreakers.
But doesnât the 200 have itâs switch on the front like other power amps and power supplies? I have sometimes wondered if Naim are subtly suggesting that preamps and sources should definitely be left on whereas itâs not quite so critical for power amps.
ATCâs recommendation for the power amp packs on my active speakers is to switch them on for half an hour before serious listening. Although they then have the switch on the back and near the floor.
Roger