My first Naim purchase was made to replace an Arcam Alpha CD player, with Arcam Dac and Linn INtek amp into Dynaudio floor standers
I was very happy with the transformation btrought by NAC72, NAP180 and CD3.5, and haven’t looked back since…
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Exposure VII, two VIs and a Dual Regulated IV. It was great and hard to sell and replace with an 82/180. Never regretted it though. This would have been ‘89/90 and have been a happy Naim customer ever since.
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My first amplifier was an original Mission Cyrus 1, with its absolutely wonderful phono stage. That was upgraded(?) to a Pioneer A400X, which was better for listening to CD’s.
Then came the Naim bug. It started with a Nait 5i, then a Nait 5 with Stageline, then a flatcap, the Nait 5 received a 150x power amp. The Nait 5 was then replaced with a 112x. I was quite content with the Stageline 112x, flatcap and 150x.
Then the bug came back with a bite the 112x, 150, and flatcap where gradually replaced with a 202/200 with an unNaimed power supply.
Recently, the 200 was replaced with a 250/2. I would need to spend money I don’t have for box upgrades. I have changed the mains cables for unNaimed ones, and that has made a difference.
My CD life was comparatively short lived, I had a Philips machine that was replaced by a Rega Planet MK1. The Rega fed my Naim 112x for a few years. Then a CD5 was demonstrated to me, and I was hooked, it just had qualities the Rega didn’t, especially with the Flatcap powering it.
I haven’t had a CD player for a good number of years since discovering streaming.
It has been an enjoyable experience, the same hobby for over 40 years, that gets better and better. Just to think, it all started with a rather clunky Fidelity UA8 music system with a BSR record chassis.
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As a newbie on this and all things Naim. My next step will be a Flatcap. How many Nap 90 can you run off the one Nac 92?
Just an idea…
Also, I am using my old B&W, but would like something new. What do other folk use? ProAc, Focal??
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Really bad pix but this is the only one I have of Avalon Eclipse Classic and Krell FPB 250 mono amplifier once I had.
The source was my trusty Krell kps25s. IT’s been serviced and upgraded and still in-use in my office system today.
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I had a Linn active setup with Majik 5100/4100, Linn Kinos pre-amp and Majik DS with Linn Espek front and Linn Ekwal centre and come Mission surrounds. Great for movies and when listening to music in stereo it gave a clean sound with lot’s of detail. However, I didn’t feel the emotion in the music and the grip I wanted. I used the funds from selling the boxes to buy a Naim setup. Still have the Espek and Ekwal speakers which are great speakers.
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My first real speakers were Concertos , I probably a bit closer to Charles Atlas in those days.
My headphones better suit my advancing years 
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Yes I lugged my Concertos to a few demos. It was amazing hearing them on the end of the Naim 3 for the first time.
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1986:
- Pioneer sa508 amp (the one with blue vu leadlights)
- Kenwood CD Player (cdp something, terrible thing btw for a very high price)
- Aiwa Cassette player (with fastest auto reverse)
- Akai Cube speakers
1992:
- NAD 3020PE amp (great little amp)
- Harman/Kardon CD player (HD200)
- Denon Cassette player (DRM800A)
- Rank Arena speakers (3-way and the sounded great)
2006
- Naim Nait 5i
- Naim CDi
- B&W CM1
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My first hi-fi system shouldn’t have been Naim because I had gone into a dealer in 1988 to audition the Arcam Alpha (£129) to go with my Mordaunt Short MS30’s and Systemdek IIX. As I was about to seal the deal on the Arcam my dealer said “Mind if I try something?” and he brought out a Naim Nait 1…
It utterly blew the Arcam into the weeds but I couldn’t afford it so instead of walking out with an amp that day as planned they held on to their demo Nait and I worked extra shifts in my student bar job that summer to get the money to pay for it. I actually went to collect it around the time my A level results came out.
So in fact the first amplifier I ever owned was a Nait 1 and I still have it in the office/gym system. I started with the best and for the past 35 years I have never owned an amplifier by any other company and I doubt I ever will…
I’ve simply never heard anybody else’s amplifiers that move me quite as much. In my experience nothing else comes close to replicating the joy of live music…
The full story is here: Naim Audio, Part One: How I Was Introduced to the Brand and a New Range
JonathanG
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I saved up from my summer job in a clothes shop (oddly which featured over 20 wall-mounted Rogers db101’s throughout for its music system) to buy…
Yamaha AX396 amp (still does parents projector sound)
Sony CDP CE375 multi cd player (connected to my SU but never used)
Wharfedale Valdus 100 bookshelf speakers (in my girlfriends shop)
The Yamaha amp was later replaced by a Yamaha surround amplifier that I since sold.
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Dual 505 soon replaced by
Linn LP12, Ittok and K9
A60 amp
Mission 70 mk11
Nakamichi 680zx
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I purchased a second hand Leak Stereo 20 with varioslope preamp at an affordable price, fed in the first place with a Garrard SP25, with a B&O cartridge. I built some Wharfdale kit speakers in the kitchen much to the annoyance of dad who objected to cupboards full of chipboard dust (which later in life I describe as toxic and would ban from any workshop). Sometime I had heard some Rogers speakers, and I scoured the second hand adds in the local papers and local Hi-Fi shop until eventually I found a pair of Rogers BBC Studio Export Monitors, and they were installed in my system, replacing the Wharfdales.
Via further Leak amplifiers, and Linn, Transcriptors and Mitchel turntables, the hifi development led one way and another to a Naim system that stood the test of time (no upgraditius here), and has lasted to this day.
Current hifi system is the Alphason Sonata turntable, Atlas psu, Alphason HR100 MCS tonearm, Hana SL cartridge, Naim 62 / 140 / HICAP, the mentioned Rogers BBC Studio Export Monitors, a pair of LS3/5a (added as extension speakers in the dining room, needs plugs swapping at the back of the NAC140 so not used much), and recently some additions to add to a second system, usually sourced with the pc via a DAC, that sits on the desk in the bay window of the dining room.
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Yes, I recall starting with a Dual and A60 amplifier. It was my first step really, previous to that I’d only had a formulaic Sansui system (not good) xx
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I started with my student system:
Dual CS505
Creek CAS4040
Heybrook point 5s
Aiwa adf-350
After a few years without hifi I went for:
Majik LP12
Audiolab 8000c
Audiolab 8000px
Kef Q75
Audiolab 8000cd
Then it all went again for a few years before I started building my current system.
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First major system was purchased through the early 90’s and consisted of Linn Intek Integrated, Linn Genki CD, Linn Keilidh Speakers, Project Perspective Turntable, Nagamichi Cassette Deck.
Before that was a Denon Receiver, Mordaunt Short MS10’s and Dual 505 Turntable purchased in the mid to late 80’s.
The System before my Naim journey began was Roksan K3 Integrated and K3 Power, Linn LP12 through my Cyrus Phono Signature & PSX R2. Still have the Linn & Cyrus products and the Project Turntable.
I can’t even remember my first proper system. I did start off in the early 70s with a white plastic 3 in 1. I do remember the speakers use to vibrate around the wooden floors especially come late Saturday night. Late 70s bought my first hi fi a Marantz amp dual turntable and some kind of Canadian speakers. Sometime in the 80s I upgraded everything to NAD before switching to Naim in the mid 90s.
First real system was a Marantz 2230b, Phillips 212 electronic and JBL L26
Before my interest in Naim I owned a Marantz PM66 SE amp partnered with KI63 Mk1 CD into Spendor S3 speakers, an absolute cracking setup a huge bang for buck.
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