Most of the Olive or CB amps are sweetspots IMO. Say a 72/HC/250 is just great, timeless design, service every 12-15 year and your done. Will take phonocards. Later 202/200 available below new SN3 price. Add Napsc & Hicap, perhaps a *82 preamp. Used SN2 often half price of SN3 Early Nait XS fine too Nait 2 are crazy prices so good investment. In fact it depends on your other setup and budget.
You know what I mean, when you see a huge rack full of like brand gear it just rings of fanboy. When you see a big rack full of mix n match hodge podge gear you go, man that must sound pretty good cause it looks like hell. Lol I've already stated I put brands together and also mix n match. I'm sure a complete Naim system sounds great but I don't currently have a longing to hear it. I'm pretty satisfied at this point. I think I removed the gear from my profile because I didn't want to be robbed someday.
I initially did a lot of mix and match, and it's definitely enjoyable trading things out and hearing the interesting differences. Tube pre with a SS amp, and such. There is a definite lure to that side of this varied hobby. I don't think that we'd be able to rob you tho, from knowing your City, Age, and gear setup. Not that we wouldn't try ...
There are lots of good, legitimate reasons to have a unified system, and it has nothing to do with image. Naim systems are designed to work well together, but you wouldn't know anything about that. Other brands are like that too. And if you have no longing to hear a Naim system, then why are you trolling a Naim-specific thread with BS "fanboy" comments, and assessments about Naim kits based on nothing but obvious ignorance about the brand. You don't have to put your gear in your profile but SH asked a long time ago for members not to engage in critical discussions or judgements about gear if they don't list their own gear for reference.
I have a 5SI driving 83db Spendors with no issues. Herb Reichart loved it too (Stereophile review can be found online).
I like to swap older relatively inexpensive amps in and out, and recently bought a Nait 3R for about $500. Because of all the warnings about speaker cables with older Naim gear I bought new Witchhat N2 cables for a significant fraction of the amp price to hook it to my 80th Anniversary Dentons. It sounds pretty great.
Hello everyone,i am looking to buy new amplifier for my hifi system and right now i have a good offer for this two models,SUPERNAIT 3 and PM KI RUBY. Does anyone compared these two amps? Any thoughts which one is better,more musical,better build and sound quality etc... i have Micro Utopia BE,and QED speaker and audio cables. I dont like "dry" sound, a litlle warm sound is more pleasent to my ears Any advice about these 2 models is helpfull. Thank you
I've never heard of the PM amp, but I have a Supernait2 and it's excellent. The Supernait3 is even better apparently.
I've had a lot of gear over 40 years of audiophile/music loving, mostly expensive, high end stuff. Have enjoyed most of it, and have settled on Naim. There is a unique sound/presentation/flavor this equipment presents. You either connect with it fully, or you don't. For me, I find it extremely engaging, musical and non fatiguing. The fact that it's very well made, serviceable (mostly) for a lifetime and retains it's value fairly well, are all plusses. If you're serious about sound reproduction in the home, you should at least experience a well sorted Naim set up once. You will know if it's for you.
I dream of acquiring a (serviced) chrome-bumper Nait someday, to drive Graham/Chartwell LS3/5A's. (See Art Dudley's LS3/5A review in Stereophile.) Swish, three points, no net!
Hello all, One question about the lenght of the speaker cable. I have 3m each speaker of ewa ls-v, running a naim nait xs. There's any difference, if I use 3.5m,4m or 5m? Thank you Nacho.
I don't know what ewa ls-v is, so assuming it works well with Naim those lengths shouldn't make much if any difference, as long as both channels are the same length. However, generally Naim recommends at least 3.5m but that is more guidance for the classic amps, and less important for a Nait XS.
Just upgraded my Nait XS for an xs 3. The phono stage (Marantz TT front end) is fantastic. The amp upgrade (more power) is notable and provides a vice like control. Goes loud with no hardening/ shrillness. Bass is cleaner and extended. Wow. My record collection just got a new lease of life.
The only Naim equipment I've personally owned was the Julian Vereker voiced original Nait. The only "upgrades" I made was to replace the original smooth volume knob with the later sculptered one and the red LED to the later green. Fed with a LP12 / Ittok / K9, using Naim NAC A4 into a beautifully rosewood pair of Linn Kans I had many happy hours listening to this combination. My friend had te, same source and bought both the amp and speakers from me. He enjoyed this combination for many years and every time I heard his system it put a smile on my face. No, not particularly accurate, but it made music fun to listen to. I thought the simplicity and practically of the design was brilliant and liked the "chrome bumper" finish. Interesting that those original Naits are considered very desirable and selling for around four times the original purchase cost, which I think was £187. The Nait may have been the only Naim equipment I owned, but I was a Naim dealer for around 12 years and in that time I cannot recall a single failure and dealing with the manufacturer was always a pleasure. Owners were very loyal, so Naim ticked a number of boxes for many people. To answer your question, I went the Linn amplifier route. From having to deal with unhappy owners of very highly recommended (and full colour page advertised!) alternative products, they could learn a lot from Naim's reliability and professional service. If that gives Naim a mystique, then it is fully deserved. In memory of Julian, here is the Naim advert for the Nait. I've still got a poster of this somewhere. I had the pleasure of hearing and choosing a record (I played a Linn cut record which sounds amazing) on Julian's personal system, which at that stage was a "six pack". His pre-amp didn't have a volume knob, but simply a flick mute switch! For anyone interested, I hand cued track two of this album Renée - Reaching For The Sky
I'd forgotten that I also had a Naim SNAPS which I modified to power my Sony Walkman Pro - it sounded better than with the Sony supply! Stupidly I sold it to a friend as a favour for him to improve his NAC 42 / Nap 110 combination driving Linn Kans via a LP12 / Ittok / K9. I bumped into him again last summer, 26 years after installing the SNAPS (and giving his Sondek a service). I presume he has had his Naim equipment re-capped, but apart from a new drive belt, cartridge and several styli, he still runs exactly the same system, the turntable not serviced since I tweaked it in 1993! I believe his Naim pre / power dates from the early eighties, has never let him down and is still regularly used for several hours most days. Those Salisbury amps have certainly stood the test of time: another part of the Naim mystique?
