Hi all, first post on here and currently don’t have any Naim equipment. I am using a Linn Magik DSi into Fine Audio F501 SP speakers and used Linn amplification for years. I wanted to get opinions of using a Naim power amp between the Magic and the F501s, I was thinking of a Nap 150x? Any thoughts as I have fond memories of my old Nap 160 back in the day. Cheers.
Welcome to the Forum. As you may or may not realise, Naim pre and power amps are designed as two halves of a whole, with the preamp determining the operating conditions of the power amp. Using a Naim power amp with a non Naim preamp is unpredictable, it may work well, or much less so.
The 150 is good but it’s no powerhouse and I’m not sure what you’d gain from its addition. If you want the Naim sound rather than the Linn sound you’d probably be better swapping the DSM for a Naim Nova or a ND5XS2 and Nait XS3, or better depending on budget.
Hi, thanks for the feedback. I’m keen to keep the Linn streamer as it has the added benefit of Space Optimisation, which I need for my room acoustics. Do you think there would be a lack of synergy between the Linn and Naim equipment? I was looking at the 150x mainly based on price, I could probably stretch to a Nap 200 if I found a reasonably priced one.
Cheers
I am wondering what problem you are trying to solve. Is anything missing with the current setup?
I know we are on a Naim Forum, but if it was me and I really wanted to add a power amp to the Majik DSI, I would probably look at e.g. a Majik 2100, just because of the optics.
Hi, thanks for the reply. I was using a Linn c6100, so using 4 channels bi wired into the Fynes. I was using Linn Espeks then but sold them and the amplifier as they were Tri-amped Active and pair together with the cards etc. Now don’t have the level of control and transparency that I had before. Just feel that it’s time to go a different route hence the thoughts on Naim amplification. I’m sure that Naim would work well with the Fyne 501SP.
As @toscana asks above, what are you trying to achieve. The DSI has a 100W amplifier built in. It’s designed as an all so why add a power amp? Is space optimisation really that important? Can issues not be managed with speaker placement and maybe a bit of room treatment? Adding a Naim amp to a Linn all in one just doesn’t make sense. If you want the Naim sound then you are best swapping to a Naim system. If you want better Linn sound, the much more up to date Selekt may be the way to go.
I suppose I’m living in the past as way back in the day I was using a Linn front end ‘LP12’ and speakers with Naim Pre and Power. Perhaps I’m just being naive in thinking that putting a Naim power amp in my current set up would be beneficial. Also the Magic DS seems to work better with an external power amplifier but like you are saying maybe I should just stick with Linn unless I can get a hold of a Naim streamer to trial. Room treatment and speaker placement changes are out of the question.
Another option might be to use the Majik DSi as a streamer only (I am not sure if that is possible) and look for an integrated amp like the NAIT XS or Supernait. But in that case you are wasting the amplifier section of the DSi.
I don’t think that it can be used as purely a streamer, I’m pretty sure that you need the pre section for the Space Optimisation as well. Cheers
It has a line out for use as a source component, so it may well work. It’s worth checking with Linn anyway.
Thank, I will check it out. 
I think coming from an active system to passive could be part of the reason you are missing detail. HH makes a good point about aiming for a Selekt level as you really want the Katalyst DAC and better quality the next level up will bring. You could also try an Akurate 2200, but that might be a bit OTT with a MDSM front end. It is worth noting though that Linns output claims for power tend to be at 4 ohm whilst your speakers are at 8 ohm only getting 50 wpc.
Both Naim and Linn recommend a source first approach, so if you upgrade to Selekt the front end improvements will get you more than a power amp is likely to. The answer lies in a demo though and any Linn dealer would be happy to do that for you.
My parting shot would be that it is best to pick either Naim or Linn and stick to it. There is a lot to be gained from system synergy and a mix and match can have problems that are difficult to resolve. You won’t go wrong with either though.
Agree with others that best to view Naim pre / power as a whole.
However, I’d encourage you to have a go as an experiment to remind you of what you might be missing. Linn and Naim sound very different to my ears despite both companies focussing on the music and not just good sound. My first step was to buy an £400 used Nait 5i for a second system. I decided to compare it to my main £8k Klimax pre and £5k power amp, and thought, ‘hang-on, this is doing some things much better, especially timing on things like rock music’. I then began to buy more Naim amps and narrow down what I liked about them and they’re now used in both my office system and main system. Some folks simply enjoy Linn amps more though so you need to decide for yourself.
I listened to Linn Klimax DSM into Naim Supernait 2, used only as a power amp. It sounded very good. The matching worked.
In the OP case, I would however ignore the 150. A nap 250 dr would be a minimum to really give some benefits over the Magik DSI.
H, thanks for that and appreciate the advice. Nap 250 would be awesome but not affordable just now. May have to see if a can borrow some Naim kit and try some options out.
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