Are these any different from the standard ones? There are a fe NAP 500 listed on eBay with strange serial numbers. There’s even one OC NAP 500 which was apparently built in 1984 although I’m not sure how would that even be possible.
The date of manufacture is obviously not 1994. I would give Naim a call and ask them if they have any accurate information.
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Either; you’d do it yourself, or you’d pay someone from wiring to do it for you.
If the former, then maybe not so great soldering. If the latter, then you’d probably ask someone who knew what they were doing.
They’d be “off book” so wouldn’t be given regular serial numbers or put through the efacs/prism system as they wouldn’t originate from an order.
S/N P.004 … p for prototype? R&D units were typically 99xxxx numbers.
Staff build was stopped in 2019.
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My S400s are Staff build, absolutely flawless rosewood finish
I’ve had a few employee build items decades ago.
They either had no serial but sometime a short note explaining.
Also sometime a very long serial which indicated a new number system.
Build and sound were the same as original items.
Not sure if it was allowed to build “alternatives”
At various times staff builds had no serial numbers, regular serial numbers, or special serial numbers.
Shirley was pretty hot on ensuring that only “bish” stock cosmetic parts were used - i.e. those that weren’t quite up to A grade for normal production. However… if there were no “bish” parts available you could apply to use a regular production part. No prizes for guessing that somehow I always seemed to find that there was never any suitable “bish” parts for my own kit… ;). Anything that was inside though was always top production grade - performance should not be impaired. And all staff builds had to go through the same tests as production kit at the end of production.
The main thing is knowing the provenance. For example, no way in hades would I want to be doing the soldering on my own kit, and really I want it to be the best it can possibly be, so I would usually ask someone who really knew their onions and offer to pay them to do it in their break times. But if you don’t know the provenance then it could have been anybody who wired it up. Whenever he was asked about staff builds, Paul used to take great glee in saying that it might have been built by Julian, or Roy G, or the other Roy (the cleaner)…
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I only want one if it’s signed by Roy the cleaner. 
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I was disappointed the staff build programme had been scrapped. Really there’s no point in Janet or whoever making one for me, I’d want to make my own and try to make it match the one with the Perspex cover.
In the end it was some employee benefit / hmrc tax thing that killed it, apparently.
Now you just buy one cheap straight from “goods out”.
My NAP 300DR is a former “staff” build. The serial number plates on the amp and PSU are blank.
It did come with a Naim service receipt though, that shows it was serviced and DRed in 2016, so hopefully any dodgy soldering was addressed then!
Internal pic
the service receipt references the number on the “seconds” label on the inside of the back face of the case.
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Sneak in during the night. Nightly produced units sound better.
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I heard they sound darker…
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