There have been a number of posts recently about SNAXO’s, asking what speakers they are interned for.
I had thought I understood this, but now I am fairly sure that I don’t…
Maybe a FAQ could help…?
(My) Questions:
I believe that the SNAXO levels (LF, Mid, HF) are internally adjustable, by design, but believe the filter frequencies are fixed, by hardware…?
Do the filter frequencies vary, between SNAXO’s - or are they the same in all cases…?
If filter frequencies vary, what speakers are SNAXO’s matched with - present and past…?
I assume that if the filter frequencies vary, then they could be changed by Naim or a service agent…?
In addition to this, there is the matter of the differences and/or similarities between say a NAXO, and SNAXO and the 2-4, 3-6, 2-4-2 and 3-6-2 variants (and any I have missed).
I do not expect this isn’t a quick thing to answer - and it will probably need @Richard.Dane and/or @NeilS or both …
Go Active remains a ‘hope’ for me - and understanding the (S)NAXO would be a good start…
SNAXOs are specific to certain speakers. In all cases the filter frequencies are fixed but there is some adjustability via PCB mounted pots for levels.
Going back to my days at Naim, the SNAXO 242 in standard form was suitable for most Naim and Linn 2 way speakers. The SNAXO 362 could be ordered for DBL, NBL, or Linn Isobarik.
In my day, so long as you could provide the filter frequencies then Naim could usually make a SNAXO to suit, however this was not always suitable for all speakers.
All SNAXOs allowed a Burndy connection to be powered by multiple trails of a Supercap.
The NAXO was introduced in '77. It was re-engineered into an extruded case in 1980 with some improvements.
There was an improved layout change in 1984 with all components mounted on one main board and the ability to have both outputs from a Hicap power separate parts of the circuit. This became the NAXO 2-4 and 3-6.
In 1995 the NAXO was extensively revised and refined with substantial gains in performance - this was renamed the SNAXO and separated the motherboard into 12 sections which could be fed with independent regulated supplied from a Supercap.
The SNAXO was substantially revised again in 2002 with the new Classic/Reference look and offered improved performance and revised amplifier connection configuration.
There was also a BMR version of the Classic/Reference SNAXO introduced for use with the Ovator S600 and S800. This had mass loaded suspended circuitry.
Generally, we can only offer active crossovers for other brand speakers if demand is sufficient to warrant it, as it requires R&D input and a new test sequence to be modified/written.
A few we have done in the past include:
Linn Isobarik
Linn Sara
Linn Kan
And more recently some of the Kudos range.
