Which nait?

Posted by: Lars on 14 August 2001

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Lars

I am aware of that there are other nait's (3R and 5), but I'm interested in which of above three amps you prefer.

Rgds

Lars

It Kan be done!

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Tony L

Don't know, I have not compared them. I do however have a very late Mk 1 (green light, rev 7 mainboard) that sounds stunningly good, and has a damn good go at driving the Kan IIs in the main system. It sounds big, punchy, and is great fun to listen to, and only starts to become unstuck on very busy or aggressive music when a slight loss of grip in the top end becomes apparent. I am sure mine has never been back to Naim for a recapping, so I suspect that this will be a factor as even if it was one of the very last ones made it still has to be 14 years old. I plan to get it serviced quite soon. When I eventually manage to track down a nice new style Nait 2 I will be able to check out the sonic differences.

Tony.

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Lars

Tony,

I've never listened to a nait 1, but I listened to a new style nait 2 with Proac Tablette III speakers and it was great, even though the front end was a rather cheap NAD CD player.

Rgds,

Lars

It Kan be done!

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Pete, Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know

Hi,

I have a Nait 1 that used to drive my ELS57s better than a Quad 33-303, I had a 4 channel PSU in it for a while till it died and had to be sent for a service, but it still has a home in the kitchen in my second system, and just for the hell of it I connect it to my Arcs and it does a passable job driving them. Thats why it gets my vote, its a cracker of an amp.

pete

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Tony L

quote:
I have a Nait 1 that used to drive my ELS57s better than a Quad 33-303

Aha, memories… the main problem with the Quad is the preamp. The 303 is actually a pretty good power amp, and at one stage there was a bit of a craze for partnering them with Meridian or Crimson preamps (cheap at the time but relatively competent). I remember hooking my old 303 up to a Teac 3340 4 track open reel recorder / mixing desk into a friends Heybrook HB2s, and it really sounded remarkably good. The 303 is bloody robust too, I had stupidly just plonked it down on the carpet for the duration of the session, and was monitoring quite loud throughout, when I came to pack the 303 up later I nearly lost the skin off my fingers it was so bloody hot. The 33 is a really cool looking preamp, I would rate it as a design classic, but it does sound totally dynamically challenged, it is soft and warm with a slow and ill-defined bass. I have a feeling that Quad power amps have been getting progressively worse since the excellent valve 2s, and that they have yet to make a great pre.

Its not the first time I have heard that the Nait 1 is a really good match for Quad 57s, now if I had the space….

Tony.

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Alex S.

You need to buy a NAC52/NAP500 immediately.

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Joe Petrik

Tony,

quote:
Its not the first time I have heard that the Nait 1 is a really good match for Quad 57s, now if I had the space...

I've tried both amps with the 57s. The Nait 1 works, but the Nait 2 sings. If the Nait 2 came with a configurable phono stage, like the Nait 3, I wonder if I every would have upgraded past the kit I had in 1989 -- LP12/Ittok/K9/Nait 2/Quad ESLs.

Joe

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Martin Payne

Joe,

the box for my NAIT 2 says 'NAIT2MM' on the side.

Sort of suggests that MC may also be an option. Sounds interesting if it can!!

cheers, Martin

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Joe Petrik

Martin,

quote:
the box for my NAIT 2 says 'NAIT2MM' on the side. Sort of suggests that MC may also be an option.

I'm pretty sure that the Nait 1 and 2 were MM input only, the logic likely being that if you upgraded to a decent MC cartridge, you'd probably want, say, at least a 42.5/110 or 32.5/110.

Maybe the MM is short for "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" as in "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Nait."

Joe

Posted on: 14 August 2001 by Lars

Alex,

I guess this is your way of saying: Welcome to the Forum.

Cheers

Lars

It Kan be done!