Naim Olive

@Debs I have rewritten my last reply, to be more accurate and hopefully make more sense. :thinking:

I used 7m+ Black NACA 5 for many years and luckily it was never too long = no folding, or at least if it was the odd meter it could be dealt with easily. I have always kept my hi-fi stands a good distance away from the speakers (usually opposite corner/side of the room) with the cable around the ‘perimeter’ and never in between or near the speakers.

When I moved to my current Victorian apartment in 2017, 7m+ was too short, as the cable needed to run around a big bay window so I needed 10m and it also had to be White to ‘blend in’ with the skirting/room.

Sat on my sofa, the fraim is to my right, then the speaker cable goes anti-clockwise around the bay window, behind the TV (no cables touching/close there either), next under a bookcase, then arrives at the iBL’s opposite where I sit.

An additional benefit of this configuration, is that the power cables all go to my left behind the sofa to the plug block, meaning they are well away from the speaker cables and interconnects.

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My Chrome Bumper NAP160 that was rebuilt by naim and put in an Olive case.

If I still had it, would I do that conversion now? NO definitely not!




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Having just got a napsc off the auction site, I decided to get the band back together. Can’t believe the difference that tiny box can make to a 102.

System: 102/napsc/hicap/180/cd3.5/hicap/Credo’s.

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That is one nice little system.

We also have a lot of the Optimum racking.

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Should have said that it’s a second system, most of which has been mothballed for a while. The cdp/hc have been used with Nova.

I recently cobbled together a system for my wife’s office from my spare - picture on one of the other threads - Cd3.5+FC, nat03, Meridian amp and Kans. now with olive Headline and Napsc borrowed from my spare 102.

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Would like to gat a headline for the 102 system. All in good time. Your wife’s office system is a good one. It’s really nice (and a privilege) to have a few spare boxes lying around to play with and see what you can do with them.

I think most of the spare boxes are in use at the moment in our five systems…

Well, that is apart from a NAC102, Hicap, NAXO, Meridian 104,
Meridian M3, Meridian 1500 (doubles as a coffee table in the living room!), and a pair of Atacama speaker stands taking up space in the cloaks cupboard.

Edit: I forgot, there’s a linn Aktiv Brik XO in the loft, an Arcam Alpha 8 CDP on top of a wardrobe, and a clutch of Meridian surround gear (562v, 518, 565, 421) in the study.

Comparisons between our house and an “eighties” hifi shop are not too far away!

BTW, the olive Headlines do appear to suffer from crackly potentiometers with age, so factor in the cost of service/repair. Having said that though, it does drive Senn 650 very nicely.

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Haha, 80’s hifi shop. I know what you mean though, it’s hard to let some of the old stuff go. 5 systems!!! Mrs G might make live in the tent if I did that :rofl: Thanks for the advice about headline. Worth knowing.

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I started out by powering the olive NAHA from a NAPSC1, and then an olive HC. More recently* I bought it a NAPSC2 and swapped out the HC - didn’t think it made much difference, surprisingly.

Even more recently* I bought a NAHA2, which I think is a nice little uplift on the olive. Shame about the colour of the NAHA2 and NAPSC2 boxes though…**

*I blame Boris’s lockdown for these extravagances - well, that my my excuse to SWMBO, and I think I got away with it!

**joining the Dark Side, I am.

@Debs The drawing will be delivered contactless during Saturday. Thank you for your patience. There is no need for any Bat Signal. :bat: :full_moon:

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I found an old low resolution photograph of my 82/CDX2/HiCap/160 and SuperCap - this is just before my second HiCap for the 82 was sold. Then after this I did the logical thing and changed to a 252.

Just to add, that I in use I didn’t have the HiCap on top of the 160, HiCaps were on the lowest shelf.

gcoliveblack

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What are you using the Supercap on, and what are you using the hicap on? I can’t tell from the picture.

I am jealous of your olive 160! That is pretty awesome

@snarfy This is a picture from quite a while back, so my naim system has changed a few times in the years since.

The HiCap was for the 82, before this picture I had 2 HiCaps both for the 82.

The SuperCap arrived before I had sold the the HiCap in the picture - the SuperCap took over power supply duties for the 82. I don’t think the SuperCap is powered up in this picture, because I hadn’t installed it properly yet - it’s just for the photograph.

The 160 was a brilliant power amp. I understand from naim that quite a few owners made the case change from chrome bumper to olive.

I remember my own disbelief when I added a NAPSC to my 102 a few years ago. Certainly one of the most “bang for the buck” items in the Naim upgrade path. Enjoy!

Claude

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Try looking in your nearest belfry…

Always worked for me! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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@Debs not sure if you saw the drawing before I removed it?

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Thought I should post another Olive picture here, to keep on topic.

This photograph was taken about 20 years ago, and before the previous one I posted. Sorry for the low res image but it shows how I dealt with the napsc by putting it up on the window sill.

Having tested it elsewhere, this was definitely the best place for it, well away from the other naim boxes.

My Yamaha KX580 SE Cassette Deck was in use at this time, hence the appearance.

82 / CDX / Yamaha Deck / 160 / 2 x HiCaps

CDX82and2hicaps160

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Sorry Geoff, i’d gone to bed zzzzz :sleeping:

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No worries, Debs. I am considering sending the final version image via admin, as I don’t want everyone to have access to it here, which is why I removed it.

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