My Naim Story

[John Lee]

I guess it started when I was told that a pair of speakers in the house (bought by my father in the early 70's) were a cut above the rest and should be paired with better equipment than we had at the time, which somprise a Sansui amp and an SR222 turntable. I bought a few mags and began to learn that there was more to hifi than Pioneer et al. which would have been staple fare in Dublin in the late 70's. So I took myself off to Cloney Audio with my father's Dynaco A25's in the boot and demoed a few amps. At my meagre budget the choice consisted of the Nait, Nyteck CA202 and Creek 4040. Alas the Nait was over budget and I settle for the Nytech (mostly because of it's shape) and started the long journey many of you will be familiar with. A Rega P3 and Linn K9 followed but so did 2 small children and I consigned the equipnment to the attic until they were a bit older.

The next addition was a Nait2 and things really improved. This progressed to a Nait 5i and CD5i, Linn speaker cables and a Naim Stageline which I did not realise was required to make the Rega sing. I had missed the omission of phonostages from amps while I was out of the game, so to speak.

I then bought a pair of B&W CM1's (a bit of a mistake) and traded them for a NAC112 and Nap 90 as I found a pair of Neat Mystique II a bargain at €275. Had to send the NAC to Naim almost immediately for a service (surging volume) and soon sold the NAP 90 and bought a 180 & NACA5 cables which made a huge difference.

So I have arrived at the current position: NAC112/NAP180/Flatcap2/CD5i/Rega P3/Linn K9/Stageline/Neat Motive SE2.

Have to say I am almost satisfied as now it's the music I am most interested in and the equipment has take a back seat by doing waht it should be doing and producing a captivating sound............but of course this won't be the end........ther is no end is there? And of course my main fear now is that when I die my wife will sell all of the above for what I told her I paid for it!