I sold my beloved Naim 32.5/140 to my friend after 40 years of enjoying music. My children are not interested in highend music.
I still visit my friend to listen to my Naim system. He has upgraded from cheap electronics to Naim and now has become high end listeners.
If I survive, I am going to buy Naim again?
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Hopefully “yes” to both!! I don’t wish to pry, but hopefully the reason you sold the equipment isn’t permanent, and you’ll be in a position to replace it at some point soon.
I love music being part of my life, continuing to discover new, and new to me music. I also love the equipment to play it on, particularly when it sounds and looks as good as Naim CB kit. A CB based system isn’t a huge investment these days (in relative hifi terms at least), and doesn’t need to take up much space, as you know 
All the best!
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The vintage Naim is purely music. Hi-end or not we just don’t care!
Hoping to see you back in team CB : -)
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You hint at something drastic about to happen. Best wishes with it, and hopefully you’ll hava a hifi ststem again and able to listen to music on your own system - whether or not Naim
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Elaborate?
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Naim is great, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a Naim. Just saying..
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Totally sincere question, is there actually ANY gear that sounds as musical PRAT-wise, in true hi-fi. Like TS original 32.5/140 for example. Is there such a manufacturer in the UK today? (I’m outside). Someone that actually have the ears and inspiration to build something truly musical. A lot of gear sounds ”fast” ”dynamic” like a solid core signal cable, but that is not music, that’s just sound effects. Original naim, what else comes close today?
I think a vinyl based full Rega system can sound extraordinarily good for the money today. I think that’s where i’d be going next if i were to be using gear, other than Naim .
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yes, hence my change of brand 
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While I agree that there is simply a lot of gear at all price point that just isn’t very good, I don’t think any of the makers of good gear are lacking is musicality. They sound different as does Naim but there are different types of musicality. I don’t think the definition is a singular absolute.
Put another way, there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
Naim is expensive for sure but one of the pulls to the brand for me are:
- residual value, new product launches aside (once every c15 years) products tend to hold value and are a saleable asset should one need to release funds.
- long term servicing commitments. When my old Arcam CD player had an issue there was no repair option, with Naim they services products from the 80s still I value this…
I did have a mind to change and tried linn and chord, none of which did it for me when compared to Naim - what ever you call it Prat, slam, boogie factor but Naim just demands you to listen and engage where as other brands, whilst technically brilliant, can wash over you.
Each to their own of course and personal preferences definitely come into play.
Gary
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Both of those points are both true but entirely region dependent. In some countries the resale value of 6 month old current Naim is less than 10%. And servicing is, while available globally, presented at varying degrees of turnaround and cost. For countries with no service agent, you’re looking at return shipping to the UK.
If you’re somewhere like the ANZ region, the domestic scene is pretty limited. Yes they have brands like Plinius but overall not a lot. In that context Naim, and the competition, are imported and all equally [too] expensive. But in countries with a really strong and rich domestic hifi heritage like the US and Japan, the cost of imported brands really puts Naim on a back foot because between shipping, customs, and distributor markup, the same units are now competing with domestic brands 2 ranges up.
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You have good point. I did however point out PRAT-wise. Cheers
Yes, good point, well made, I was taking a somewhat narrower UK view….
Gary
yes indeed - a well put together/set up rega system is very good - a while ago the very helpful Ronnie at sound gallery showed/ demoed a modest rega system - p3 brio tho I can’t remember what speakers. I was just lovely combination at quite low prices
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Naim has been the core of my listening for over 30 years now and i have never seen or heard anything with superior sound and price/performance. Naim is not perfect, but they certainly are a great comapny.
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Yup. Was tempted to try the SELEKT dual Organik a while back…Yaaaawn.
I just don’t get it, or it doesn’t get me. One of the two.
G
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I’d agree with both points you have made there for the UK market.
One of the major appeals to me is the maintainability of Naim gear by either Naim, Class A, or a third party. But, I’m not sure how sustainable their servicing arrangements are.
Naim will service whilst they can, and it makes good business sense. When that stops, so will they. Darran at Class A is now in his early 60s. Only he knows how much longer he wants or needs to work. And only Naim will know if they will authorise someone else in the future. The third-party people are also of a certain age, or in some cases, no longer in business. My oldest Naim gear is from the late 80s and has recently been serviced. But this means I’m not going to buy something new. Naim’s serviceability is both their blessing and their curse.
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Same here Graeme, I really wanted to like it but it just didn’t grab me…. Lots of detail and transparency but it just didn’t get my feet tapping!
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To be fair a naim amp, pre amp or power supply is very easy to service, as the parts used are just normal items and just soldered on to what is a big circuit board.
More modern designs that use multi layer boards and stuff thats so close together and small you can hardly see it, then that’s a different ball game altogether.
But just about anyone that has knowledge about things like this can easily replace the caps, etc. If needed going forward.
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