Olive fascia change

Hi-Fi Corner
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Hi can anyone tell me what year the darker shade of olive came in?As they is also a lighter version which I think came first asking as im looking for a Nait2 with darker front , Thank you

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I think it was 1989 with the Nait2 but I’m sure someone else will confirm.

Wiki is your friend here.

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I was told that the fascia colour changed over time - the reason being that the person who mixed the colour at the suppliers died and the formula was lost. Instead of re-formulating though they decided to just take a sample from the end of each batch and then match up as close as they could, so it gradually went from olive green to more like an olive/grey. It’s a lovely story, whether true, partially true, or not true at all…

Of course, Naim offered a fascia match-up service so many units have had their fascias changed over the years.

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1989 was when CB became Olive.

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@Richard.Dane, I love that story and don’t care if it’s true or not, as I have repeated it elsewhere. It always brings about a nostalgic smile in people.

As for when the change happened, judging by what I have seen on that auction site, it was roughly ‘95/‘96, going from a fairly uniform Olive Brown to Olive Grey in its many shades.

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It seems unlikely that there will be any Nait 2s with the later ‘greener Olive’ fascia, as the Nait 2 was discontinued in 1993, when Olive was still the ‘browner Olive’?

I would guess that fascia match-up changes might have been more common with the units with ‘simpler’ fascias (power amps, for example)?

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Nice story Richard, out of the two I prefer the Olive/Grey and when the sun beams across the fascia looks lovely.

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As I may have noted over some time (aka bored the pants off you good people!) I have a number of olive boxes ranging from a 1993 vintage NAT03 up to a 2002 vintage XPS.

They are all of the “grey” Olive hue except for a 1994 vintage NAXO2-4 and a 1996 vintage SNAXO2-4, both of which are distinctly “brown” olive. OTOH my 1994 vintage Flatcap is “grey” olive.

So folks, make of that what you will :slight_smile:

So the burning question of the hour must be: Does the colour of the case have any impact on the SQ? Discuss!

just kidding, really! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

@Richard.Dane just out of interest, is that fascia match-up service still available?

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SW, I don’t think so, as the Olive kit hasn’t been made for getting on for 20 years now. But you could always ask Naim if they have any Olive fascias left…

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