Early Naim Speaker Mystery

Posted by: syd on 25 November 2003

Can anyone shed any light on a pair of Naim 2 way speakers I caught sight of in Russ Andrews Edinburgh dealers when I demoed my first Naim sistem in March 1987? They were a fairly large pair of rectangular stand mounts as I recall and they were very ordinary looking and the only thing that caught my eye was the Naim badge on the grills. They were well used with quite a few scuffs on the case and I assume were a good few years old then, or very heavily abused.

I asked the chap doing the demo about them and, if memory serves me well, he said that only a few had been made as demonstrators but never put into production. I got the impression that he didn't like them much but unfortunately I never heard them. What made me think about them was coming across the receipt for the system I bought that day.

So has anyone else come across these speakers or can a moderator tell me about them?

Yours in Music

Syd

Posted on: 26 November 2003 by Frank Abela

errr....Paul, given that the 502 had a power amp in it, wouldn't it have been active?

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Posted on: 26 November 2003 by domfjbrown

quote:
Originally posted by Dave Robb:
I had an even greater respect -- I used them for the next twenty-five years.

What did you replace them with, John?

How long can a speaker last before it needs maintenance? My Rega Ela 1s are fairly old (bought 2nd hand for £50) and I KNOW I need new tweeters (even though they sound fine; they look a bit pants) - but what about caps etc on the x-overs?

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Posted on: 26 November 2003 by syd

Thanks for all the replies and info. I had not realised just how many models of speaker Naim had manufactured in the early days. Are their others and more amp models hidden away in the dim and distant past. It would be nice to see a book written about the history of Naim in tribute to Julian. Mind you please don't have it written by Ken Kessler and cost £60.00.

Yours in Music

Syd

Posted on: 26 November 2003 by Craig B

I recognise that pic as being from an epay auction of a few years back. Mr. NASG may have downloaded it from my pic site as I linked to it here some time ago. What the heck I'll return the favour anyway...

BTW, I stopped myself short of jumping upon the bidding bandwagon for fear of ending up with yet another unsupported vintage loudspeaker that may or may not work as advertised and/or last very much longer.

In hindsight, I wonder whether TGI (Morduant-Short's former owner) are still able to supply spare bass/mids as many thousands of Carnivals (was it?) were sold so equipped.

Craig