Naim 'Lost' Designs

Hi-Fi Corner
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Wouldn’t it be fascinating to be able to see Naim’s prototype products that were in development but never made it to the marketplace.

I am thinking particularly of the FL-1 electrostatic loudspeaker, designed by Guy Lamotte - who was behind development of the ARO - before he left Naim to return to his native France. It was said to be built like a battleship, based largely on design principles that are exemplified in QUAD ESL57s. I have an old hifi mag somewhere in which a prototype was reviewed.

Or there was a cassette recorder/player that was based upon the NEAL mechanism, which I believe is still used by many UK Police forces to tape interviews of suspects. I am pretty sure that I read that work on the prototypes was dropped when Naim turned R&D efforts to developing the first CD players.

And I am pretty sure that I have seen photos of an early two-box NAT tuner which was capable of receiving AM, as well as FM, broadcasts.

Are there other Naim products that never made it to market?

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I’m not sure that it ever got to the prototype stage but I think there were some plans for a SACD/DVD-A player but then along came streaming.

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The original NAPST for the NAT01 had both FM and AM positions on a switch. The idea was that an AM head unit could be added, but it never came to fruition. It additionally had an aux position; no idea what that was intended to do.

IMG_5748

As to the FL-1, you may find this interesting.

http://jacques.daigneau.free.fr/GL/GL.htm

image

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I remember seeing a 2 x full width case AM / FM tuner at a hi fi show at the Heatrow Hotel which i think was a prototype. They were transmitting their own AM signal from the roof of the hotel.

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That sounds like the NAT301 - just a few pre-production prototypes were made. It was redesigned and became the two-box, FM only NAT01.

NAT301
NAT301800×289 26 KB

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Were you able to listen to that prototype, Richard, and compare it with a production model NAT-01?

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No, I never listened to a NAT301 - that in spite of having one sat on the window sill behind my desk in the office for ages!

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Not sure what to say………in good hands, but not used is the old dilemma of passing on to an unknown or even known person.

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Imagine how much better the football commentary would have been if Naim had done AM!

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So good, perhaps, that it might have affected the results!

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@Richard.Dane do any still exist back at the factory?

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I don’t know. I think there were only three. IIRC the one that was in the office is now owned by James at Tom Tom Audio.

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That’s interesting, as he has a prototype NAP500 too.

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Yes, one of three that used to be used by Julian and were then raffled to all at the factory bar us in sales. They were cosmetically a bit bashed about but a rub down and a new coat of flat black paint (applied in the soak test area, IIRC!) brought at least this one up really nicely.

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And a rather nice 52 prototype with a flip down front panel. Oh, and a pair of DBL prototypes. I wonder if he’s ever fired up a “prototype system”?

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Would love Naim to make a shoe box FM tuner once again, until then a Nat 05 it is!

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I will make you envious, Lindsay, by telling you that I am just about to press into service a NAT-02, which has been sitting in a box for at least 10 years.

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That looks lovely.

Commercial AM transmission is actually capable of far higher fidelity than the UK allows - I could even start talking about AM stereo that the US ran for many years…

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