Gromit's music centre...

[Marco]

I've never truly loved Naim amps, and am most certainly not a died-in-the-wool fanboi as I am with JF's Exposures (or now Mr Sony's finest too). However, I've always liked them and in ways they have a musical presentation which, whilst not always a smooth ride, makes it such fun.

Better than NVA?

Marco.

[Tim]

Better than NVA?

Oi you

[jandl100]

naughty naughty, Marco!

--- no spanking, Tim, you'll only encourage him.

[jandl100]

I've only ever heard 3 Naim components in my system - a Nait 3 amp and a CD3 cdp, and about 15-20 (?) years ago a CDS2 cdp.

Luckily they were all on dem, not purchased!

Oh, and that godawful NACA5 cable - I agree with you on that one, Richard.

None of them were my cuppa char by a long way.

[The Barbarian]

Only ever owned one Naim amp NAC32/SNAPS/NAP160.. Was long time er go tho.. the Pre & Power were early bolt up cases..

[Gromit]

Oh, and that godawful NACA5 cable - I agree with you on that one, Richard.

None of them were my cuppa char by a long way.

Yes my first experience of NACA5 was definitely of the 'eh?' variety. I was using a Naim amp at the time so it should've worked perfectly, and it was the correct length. It did some things good - it accentuated leading edge and made the amp sound faster, but it just killed any sort of musical differentiation stone-dead for me. Later on, I had Exposure cable (similar to NACA4) and it worked significantly better and now Talk 3 works fine.

Avondale Black Link is no longer available it seems, but Witch Hat Audio (which is run by an ex-Naim guy) do their own cable which is apparently virtually the same electrical properties as NACA5 but much more user-friendly. May try and get hold of some of that.

The 42.5/110 is a much sweeter combination than any previous Naims I've owned, even making piano music sound totally listenable (and enjoyable) which is very important to me. With the 110 having had a full service recently I'm going to give it a couple of weeks until it's totally run-in then it'll be time to unleash the Exposure XV and 770ES again.

[DSJR]

Naim A5 works a treat with older, fuller toned valve gear like my Quad II's, it really does. The ONLY thing I have against it is the price today, which is ridiculous.

Naim amps have evolved from the musical 'valvey' quality of a bolt-up 250, to a harder hitting 'PA style' quality of most CB models (135 and Nait 1 excepted), to a slightly 'looser' style in the Olive range, especially when new if not twenty years down the line. The current stuff that I've heard is much better in the midrange, but 'hard clipping' and subjective bandwidth limiting from mid bass to mid treble (in my experience compared to other amps) still dates the basic design, despite more modern construction of the boards - to me at any rate.

WHEN NEW, the 42/110 was a harsh snappy terrier of a combination. 'Sweetness' didn't come into it in ANY form Richard. Yours may have been serviced to within an inch of its life and thirty odd years of use may have tamed it, but please believe me. the 42/110 (the 'point five pre is largely irrelevant here) in the first years of life was horribly scrappy and harsh unless the harshness woke up tired old speakers! Adding a High Cap to the 42.5 would bring a tad more bass in, but that was all.

The Nait 3 and related 92/90 were limp wristed and rather tame in all honesty I remember. Sold because they were 'Naim' but not because of any real ability IME. Maybe a beefed up supply and sorting the pre section may improve things, but why bother when better can be had on the used market for less...

[Gromit]

Dave - very interesting what you say about the 42/110 back-in-the-day. This one's taken me slightly by surprise as I'm listening to stuff which I wouldn't let my old 72/HC/180 anywhere near as that little pile just stamped all over it with hobnail boots. Sure, I wouldn't describe this 42.5/110 as soft or sweet in itself, but it is a darn sight more listenable than I first thought it would be, and that's through Sapphire 1's which aren't exactly shrinking violets. Maybe the Talk 3 speaker cable is helping things along? Who knows.

[DSJR]

The Talk 3 had only one real problem - the garish blue coloured jacket. I use the fig-8 version of the Talk 4, the dirty-beige suiting our décor - cough...

I loved the 180, but fairly recent exchanges with current owners seem to indicate that when it goes off as ALL old Naim power amps will, it goes off big-time and gets really nasty. When new, a 180 would see off a six month old 250 left on 24/7 in terms of that 'musical something' that cannot really be put into words, but can probably be measured if truth be told, at least where Naim is concerned

I should have kept the bolt-up 250 I had, as it was delightful in the best ways. Modern preamps could have taken the sonics to a much higher level. Still, that was thirty years ago for me now (that long?) and much water has flowed and flooded under and over the bridge since...

[istari_knight]

I should have kept the bolt-up 250 I had, as it was delightful in the best ways. Modern preamps could have taken the sonics to a much higher level. Still, that was thirty years ago for me now (that long?) and much water has flowed and flooded under and over the bridge since...

I can sympathise Dave, I sold my bolt down 32/160 for a silly low price

Also had the bolt down NAC12... Now there's a surprising little preamp !