Bargains on ebay?

[The Barbarian]

One thing for sure i aint proud to be British these days.

[Mr Kipling]

Sharps gone back in the box, Andre'?

[The Barbarian]

Yeh still prefer the ones i use..

[Barry]

The cartridge was/is a cheap ceramic jobbo. I thought the name far more imaginative than the offerings of today. Imagine an Ortofon 2M Redhead

Then again having thought about it that would mean there would be a 2M Blue rinse Redhead for the youngsters, Blue rinse for the old fogeys

I would need the Grecian 2000 model!

If you think today's cartridges are lacking an imaginative name, then this is made up by the fanciful names given to other products; especially so-called audiophile cables.

Personally, I like the names given to older equipment such as Ortofon (from the Greek orthos = "pure, or correct" + phonos = "sound") and Stentorian (Stentor, a character in Greek mythology, was the herald for the Greek forces in the Trojan war, who's voice was said to be as powerful as that of 50 men).

And of course the forerunner of QUAD (a rather perfunctory quartermaster-style appellation: “Quality Unit Amplifier, Domestic) was the delightfully named “Acoustical Manufacturing Company”.

Were I to design any audio gear, I think I might name it “Calliope” (In Greek mythology, Calliope (Καλλιόπη ="beautiful-voiced") was the muse of epic poetry, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and is believed to be Homer's muse for the Iliad and the Odyssey.). Unfortunately “Orpheus” has already been used.

Does anyone know the origin of the names Linn and NAIM?

[Barry]

Looking at those "British made" capacitors reminds me, I did some gardening work for an elderly lady in Falmouth... We somehow got onto the subject or electronics & she revealed that she'd worked for "AH Hunt capacitors" in London as a young lass and had kept some of the foils as a souvenir which she duly showed me.

Pretty cool I thought & a shame we no longer manufacture on large scale.

Those AH Hunt capacitors you mention had a lousy reputation for quality. Unfortunately Quad used them in their Quad II power amps (and quite possibly in the earlier Quad I and Q.U.A.D. designs) as the DC blocking capacitors to the grid of the KT66 valves.

[istari_knight]

Those AH Hunt capacitors you mention had a lousy reputation for quality..

That's British for you

[The Barbarian]

They had two factories one in London, the other Wrexham.. They were taken over in the late 60's by Erie

Try find a picture of the Green Hunts polyester caps & a green Erie polyester cap, i think they were called 'M312'..

[Marco]

Does anyone know the origin of the names Linn and NAIM?

Hi Barry,

In terms of Linn, I'm pretty sure it comes from the fact that the original factory in Glasgow was situated near Linn Park: https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5132

I used to know where the name 'Naim' originated from, but have forgotten. I could probably find out, though!

Marco.

[Macca]

According to 'The Unofficial Naim FAQ Website':

The late Julian Vereker - the company founder - couldn't think of a name so chose Name and then changed the spelling arbitrarily to Naim. It doesn't stand for anything.

[Marco]

Yeah, that was it!

Marco.