Naim amplifiers

[Yorkrise]

Dear all

I need to draw on your expertise

I’m thinking of adding a Naim amp to the collection . I don’t know anything about Naim!

What is best ? I’m going to be buying second hand -

Naim nac202 + nap250.2 or
Naim nac 62 + 250 chrome bumper ( which was my teenage dream and has a lot of appeal)

Which power supply ? Do I need a snaps or a hi cap in due course? Should I do the Avondale mods?

I understand I need a snaic - does substitution for another 4 pin din cable make a worthwhile difference?

How will the sound compare to say (a) sugden A48 or (b) audio research reference valve pre / power . I kind of know this is a dumb question but if you have any opinions let me know. Speakers are various but include a tannoy Berkeleys, harbeth shl5+ and Yamaha ns1000s.

Many thanks in advance ,

[Andy831]

Sorry it's such a long time ago that I owned or have heard a Naim amp I would not like to comment on the heirachy.

I do remember having a 72 / 140 combo I liked a lot, I tried a 82 / 135 monoblock pair which was quite powerful and could drive any speaker I threw at it, but I also had a Nait 1 and then a Nait 2 which I personally found to be the sweet spot of all the Naim stuff I tried, Regarding power supplies and cables, I remember having them but cannot for the life of me recall which ones.

Every one of Les's amps I have heard have been excellent, although I never did back to back comparisons with Naim equivalents.

My memory suggests you need to match speakers carefully with Naim amps, which can be a bit forward and strident, I had Credo's IBL's and Linn Sara's on my set up, the Sara's with the Nait 2 was a really good pairing to my ears.

I have never heard any of the modern iterations of Naims kit.

Andy

[Pigmy Pony]

Sorry it's such a long time ago that I owned or have heard a Naim amp I would not like to comment on the heirachy.

I do remember having a 72 / 140 combo I liked a lot, I tried a 82 / 135 monoblock pair which was quite powerful and could drive any speaker I threw at it, but I also had a Nait 1 and then a Nait 2 which I personally found to be the sweet spot of all the Naim stuff I tried, Regarding power supplies and cables, I remember having them but cannot for the life of me recall which ones.

Every one of Les's amps I have heard have been excellent, although I never did back to back comparisons with Naim equivalents.

My memory suggests you need to match speakers carefully with Naim amps, which can be a bit forward and strident, I had Credo's IBL's and Linn Sara's on my set up, the Sara's with the Nait 2 was a really good pairing to my ears.

I have never heard any of the modern iterations of Naims kit.

Andy

Since the Naim Audio/Focal merger, I'd assume them to be a good match.

At last year's NW Audio show I heard Focal's Scala Utopia Evo's driven by Naim's "Statement" gear. It sounded great, but then it should do at £200k or so

[Macca]

If the old 'chrome bumper' Naim was a teenage dream I'd go with that - plus I think it's better looking than the modern versions.

Forget the power supplies which IMO are a rip-off. An almost empty box with a little toroid and a couple of capacitors. What's that supposed to do? And any DIN cables will do, the SNAIC is unnecessary.

Sugden A48 belongs in a museum, Audio Research is expensive and has reliability question marks.

Either Naim option you're considering will work fine with any of your speakers (good selection of speakers btw).

[Enossification]

I remember back in 1979 buying a Naim NAC42/NAP 110 with a SNAPS. Big pride of ownership at the time but I never thought it broke the mould when it came to sound. I was at the time using it with IMF Super Compact speakers. Good but not quite good enough.

[Barry]

Is the "chrome bumper" version, which had separate top, bottom and side panels, or is it the later version which had a single 'wrap around' extruded outer case?

The first version is the one which caused all the fuss over its sound, but the internal construction was nothing to write home about, whereas the version with the wrap around sleeve, was better built with much neater wiring and ostensibly used star earthing.

[Macca]

Is the "chrome bumper" version, which had separate top, bottom and side panels, or is it the later version which had a single 'wrap around' extruded outer case?

The first version is the one which caused all the fuss over its sound, but the internal construction was nothing to write home about, whereas the version with the wrap around sleeve, was better built with much neater wiring and ostensibly used star earthing.

chrome bumper is the early styling - I think the wrap around case type you mean is known as 'olive'.

[Barry]

I've done a little digging and there are two versions of the 'chrome bumper' design. The first debut version is known as the 'bolt together' version, as the top, bottom and side panels were separate, with the front edges displaying a raw aluminium 'chrome' finish.

Later versions had a single extruded aluminium outer sleeve, which is what I meant by the 'wrap around sleeve', again with the front edge having the 'chrome' finish.

Internally there were differences in the layout and design of the PCBs, as well as how the output transistors were heat sinked. Also the early versions used Cannon LNE mains connectors.

I have no real experience of these Naim 250 amplifiers apart from listening to a couple at two separate audio dealers. My interest at that time was to audition solid state amplifiers that could happily drive Quad ESL-57 speakers.

[Macca]

I've done a little digging and there are two versions of the 'chrome bumper' design. The first debut version is known as the 'bolt together' version, as the top, bottom and side panels were separate, with the front edges displaying a raw aluminium 'chrome' finish.

Later versions had a single extruded aluminium outer sleeve, which is what I meant by the 'wrap around sleeve', again with the front edge having the 'chrome' finish.

Internally there were differences in the layout and design of the PCBs, as well as how the output transistors were heat sinked. Also the early versions used Cannon LNE mains connectors.

I have no real experience of these Naim 250 amplifiers apart from listening to a couple at two separate audio dealers. My interest at that time was to audition solid state amplifiers that could happily drive Quad ESL-57 speakers.

That's these ones I think.



'Olive' is apparently the styling that comes after that one which I'm not keen on.

[stuartm1962]

Would echo this exactly. Chrome bumper models are excellent, power supplies of questionable benefit. Audio Research are excellent until they go wrong. Had a power supply go on one and Absolute Sounds wanted £1400 to repair it, so scrapped it.