Just reading the serial numbers on the Nat 101/snaps and wondering if Naim sold them paired originally,ie consecutive serial numbers?
101 is 33x
Snaps 07xx
Which by my research puts them around 6 years apart
Is there any reason apart from me and my bizarre obsessions to get them closer and possibly match. By that I mean any technical revisions which may improve or degrade the sound due to the
It is my understanding that one of the outputs for Nat 101 was set to 24.5 volts for use with the 101. On my snaps this input is marked with a yellowish dot. Mine has had a green LED from new if this helps whereas a hicap bought at the same time has a red led.
As you’ve probably concluded, the Snaps was around for a few years before the 101 and it was possible to have a Snaps modified to power the 101 as well as your NAC preamp which made a cost effective upgrade route.
Around that time, the Hicap came along which doubtless many people added to their preamp, leaving the Snaps dedicated to the tuner which is now why “mismatched” pairs exist.
You can use any Snaps with a 101 but as mentioned, it needs to be modified to provide a specific output voltage to work as intended. Without this, the tuner will work but the numbers on the measuring jug display will likely be even more adrift from the actual tuned frequency!
During a service it should be possible to have the voltage set (if not already) as it’s only changing a fixed resistor to a variable one and then tweaking to provide the 24.5V output.
From what I remember if the snaps output was not 24.5v the nat101 would work but the tuning dial would show the station slightly off the presumed frequency.
I bought my Nat 101 new from Studio 99 in Swiss Cottage in 1987 and David Davis who was their head salesman there. This was when people were trading in their Snaps for Hi - Caps so there were always Snaps traded in. They modified them back at the factory to be able to supply the correct voltage for the Tuners 24.5v.
As I already bought a Hi - Caps from them in 1985 I’d already traded my Snaps in, I just bought a refurbished one. I had my Snaps serviced by Class A a couple of years ago.
One of the first bits of Naim kit I owned was a Nat 01 and PSU I wrestled with my conscience to hand over around ÂŁ500 for a used but time warp condition set I owned it a month or two and sold it for almost double.
I owned a Naim NAT 101 with a SNAPS power supply back in the early 1990’s. I sent it to NANA in Chicago to have it modified so that it could also be used as a power supply for my Sony Pro Walkman WMD6C portable cassette deck. At the time I was running a Naim 32.5/Hicap/135 setup with some British monitors and a Rega P3. I eventually sold the 101 to Bob Levin (RIP Bob ) at Hawthorne Stereo in Washington State, for $800 US in 1993 dollars (around $1800 present day). It was a great little tuner.
