Naim Chrome Bumper

The case in the photo looks white or light grey. Might just be the photograph though.

Yeah, just strong light shining on the case.

Also comes in black :wink:

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Good to re-read this thread and see even more of the lovely CB kit still in use.

Such a classic and instantly recognisable design :sunglasses:

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The 42.5 was my first Naim pre-amp. Bought in North America and rewired for Europe on return. It did sterling service until I upgraded back in the early 2000s to an Olive 82.

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Still using the CB Nait 2 which I bought used about 20 years ago. Been thinking about sending it in for a refresh one of these days.

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Interesting looking speakers - what are they ?

James

They are the JM Reynaud Silver Bliss speakers. Replaced a set of Harbeth P3ESR’s and I’m really happy with them.

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Glorious

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Cheers Sandy - they look good. I remember your pictures with the Harbeths, a Rega and occasionaly Green boots… :sunglasses:

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I also remember the picture with the mountain through the window I guess you have moved house.

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My office system: CB Nait2 fed from Aries Mini and Echo Dot into some newly acquired Spendor S3/5R2s. Bliss.

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Excellent combination. I also have a Nait 2 and Spendor 2/3R2 speakers fed by a Bluesound Node 2 and an old Dual turntable in my study at the moment. For listening at lower volumes in the evening, this can be very seductive and I sometimes discover that I am still listening in the small hours without realising how late it is.

At the moment the Spendors are the constant and the amp is rotated every three or four months.

David

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What amp do you rotate the Nait with?

At the moment, it is being rotated with a NAC42/NAP110 system, a Rega Brio-R/Rega DAC combo and a recapped NAD3020B, all of which have their merits. I am trying to work out which combination of amps and speakers work best with my sources in my study and our much larger living room, where an NDX/282/HCDR/250.2 currently resides.

I also have an older Denon integrated amp (which is still very good) and a couple of AV receivers, all of which are boxed up in the loft for time being.

Correction to my post above: Spendor 3/5R2 speakers are the constant in the study. Spendor 2/3e speakers are use in the living room.

We recently had a party while a pair of Wharfedale 10.1 speakers were being used in the living room. A drunken friend of mine took one of the Wharfedales and an expensive lamp with him when he fell over. The lamp seems to have survived unscathed, while the Wharfedale speaker now has a faint scratch and an almost invisible nick on one edge. I am glad the Wharfedale took the brunt of the damage and not the Spendors. Sadly, he also managed to leave some permanent marks in the parquet floor.

David

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Bloodstains I hope. I wouldn’t allow anyone near my precious Gales while under the influence :crazy_face:

Since it was obvious that booze would be involved, I made the effort to swap the Wharfedales into the living room system just as a precaution. With hindsight, that was obviously a wise move.

Keeping pets and children away from hifi equipment is a bigger challenge in the long term than coping with the occasional drunk.

Marks, wear and tear on a parquet floor are inevitable, so I have accepted it as unfortunately having happened sooner rather than later. The floor will have to be treated one day, so I hope the marks are not so deep that they cannot be removed when that big job looms (and I am not looking forward to emptying the living room so that the floor can be refurbished).

What do the Rega and Nad offer over the Naim?

Hard to say without more time to compare them and I am not confident of my ability to describe the differences adequately.

Despite that, I would say the Rega Brio-R and DAC have the convenience of a remote control, more powerful and better control of bass and an MM phono stage that cannot be described as thin. I bought the Brio-R new two years ago, the Rega DAC I bought used and I believe it is about six years old.

The NAD3020B I have had since I bought it new to replace a Nait that was stolen when I was a student. I used the NAD for many years and then it was kept in storage for more than a decade. Despite the fact that still sounded OK, I had it recapped two years ago. I admit to a large portion of nostalgia bias, but it also sounds very good with perhaps a little less control of the bass than the Rega Brio-R. It has an integrated MM/MC phono stage, which goes well with an old Dual turntable with a Sure V15/III system and a Rega RP6 with Exact cartridge. I have not tried the MC stage (yet). If I ever try an MC cartridge, then it would probably make sense to use a separate phono stage.

The combination of NAC42 (recapped by Class A last year) and NAP110 (probably never serviced) is my current favourite. It sounds more musical and lively (more PRaT?) than the Rega and NAD amps, but the MM phono stage sounds a little thinner than the other two.

The Nait2 has probably never been serviced and sounds very similar to the 42/110 combination, but with less lower end bass.

As sources, I use the turntables mentioned above, Tidal and my own FLAC files on a Synology NAS via a Bluesound Node 2, a TEAC H300 CD player (with optical out into the Rega DAC) and an old Sony CD player via RCA.

To be honest, I could happily live with any of them as first, second or third systems.

Three of them will be used in two studies and a recreation/games room for casual and late-night listening… The 42/110 system will probably live in my study, the Rega system in my wife’s study and the NAD and Nait2 will take it in turns in the recreation room.

I might have the Nait2 and NAP110 serviced some time in the future. I am also trying to resist the temptation of a recently serviced ONIX OA 21s. I really like older shoebox-sized amps that were slightly too expensive for me when I was a student.

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Just catching up with this fascinating thread. As a regular visitor to Salisbury, I’d like to know about the Salt Lane part of the company’s history:

Was 11 Salt Lane Naim’s original home?
When did they move out?
House numbers are in short supply in Salt Lane - was it the building next to the Salvation Army (opposite the car park) that Woolley and Wallis now use?

Mark