New to Naim - Vintage kit aficionado with questions!

yes, you need to plug the amp into the mains. 

sounds like a great system. enjoy!

Brilliant, thanks so much Joe 

I have to say I'm pretty pleased with myself, can't wait to get it wired up 

Having only ever owned Olive gear onwards, I often wonder about (and if truth be known, hanker after) CB kit. After all, that is where it all started.

I suspect however my ears have been 'spoilt' forever by a rather wonderful Classic set up. Would still like to experience a CB system though and I bet it will give the OP great pleasure.

Make sure you connect the 140 to the unpowered output socket on the Hicap that is nearest socket 4. Some of the early Hicaps had two powered sockets, which is why I say the nearest unpowered socket. The 32.5 is the loveliest of the CB preamps, with those two little toggle switches. I used one into a 250 and Kans, fronted by LP12, Ittok and Asak and it was just brilliant. 

nigelb posted:

I often wonder about (and if truth be known, hanker after) CB kit.

me too! ...so i bought a CB Hicap, had it fettled, and it's now winging its way to me in New York City. i've seen a few 32.5s around lately on the secondhand market, as well. hmm. 

CB & Olive are much the same - just a different 'look'. But before CB came the 'bolt together' cases - so the 12 & 22 preamps and 160 & 250 powers amps - and the NAPS power supply - maybe the SNAPS.....?  (I had a CB Snaps - not sure if a bolt together SNAPS existed...?)

Corrections to this appreciated.....

Just make sure you use NACA speaker cables - min 3.5 meters per channel. Ideal length is around 7 meters.

Do not connect Quad ESL speakers to CB amps, unless they've been moded to handle wide impedance swings induced by Quads.

Ian, yes, there was a bolt down SNAPS in the original "shoebox" case style, same size as the NAC12.

[@mention:1566878603942595] - The CB SNAPS came is a shoe box width case, but it was shorter front-to-back, I recall.

Before the SNAPS, there was a NAPS, I think - but no idea what that looked like.....

The NAPS was a dinky little box, bit bigger than cigarette packet. I used a Bolt together SNAPS with my first NAXO. And the early SNAPS were short front to back. True for CB series too. The CB HiCap was full depth.

Ian, yes the CB SNAPS had a much shallower case. Later ones had a tractor wheel knob too, so looked like a HICAP from the front.

The NAPS was just a small metal box. 

A couple of years ago I bought a CB 62/Hicap/250 set from the original owner. I had them serviced by Darren (Naim approved) and added some later cables plus 5m NAPA5 feeding n-Sats. They sound superb in my second system and well worth the relatively modest outlay. All I need now is an n-Sub but they seem rare.

Bob

@bob - I have a Olive 72 & 140, which I bought on e**y, as a back up and/or retro nostalgia thing. Could be a 2nd system one day. Both sound fab, when substituted into my 82/HC/HC/250 set up. 

[@mention:1566878603942595] - That it. Mine was shipped by Naim with a 32 small plain knob on it, but a Tractor Wheel was fitted for me, by my dealer, so it matched my 42 & 110. It got traded in, for my HiCap, a bit later.

Iain 

My first Naim system was a 72/140 bought secondhand from a dealer for £700 in 1993. I got a similar price back for it 7 years later when I upgraded to olive separates and it would probably fetch the same today. Fantastic value although my subsequent upgrades and downgrades were not so cost neutral!

If the 72 & 140 haven't been serviced then it's well worth having it done 

@unfold - i have your bug!

Started with a nac42.5 & nap140, plus some kef speakers (c60s - 4ohm, 200w) from the same era, in mint condition & on stands, for peanuts. I added 2x 4 metre lengths of nac a5 cable to link them up. I was impressed by the sound i must say - the musicality or prat that is often described with naim boxes.

I got the 42.5 because i knew i'd be going hicap when the time (price) was right.

The 42.5 actually needed a new mute/monitor/normal toggle switch & also a new input selector switch (common fault), which i found like-for-like replacements of & fitted myself for very little cost & effort.

I guess i was lucky with the nap as it sounds great as it is.

I ended up getting a snaps-cap (bargain) & the sound quality increased without doubt. That is still my current setup but, the relative low price of CB boxes means i've bought a few extra boxes to mix n match for the best possible sound... eventually.

I'm planning to go axo soon because i came across a naxo2-4 & some pxo-less sbls (mk2) for a good price. (sbl rebuild to do)

That meant another nap140 was required but, sadly the one i got doesn't sound very good compared to my other nap. Even though one sounds good, both are going to naim soon to be serviced as they need to be performing as similar as possible seeing as each nap will be powering each sbl.

And another hicap was also required, for the naxo2-4, which i now have but, if i swap out the snaps-cap for the hicap in my current setup, i feel the snaps-cap sounds better. This doesn't mean the hicap is bad, in fact it was serviced by a reputable shop about 5 years ago. I asked the question on here & a few agreed that the snaps (cap) sounded better to them too than the hicap... in their setup.

I recently got an 'upgraded' nac62 for a bargain, i'm still trying to decide which sounds better - the 42.5 or 62. Once i've decided, the other will probably be sold for more-or-less what i paid for it... probably.

The plan further down the line is to get a turntable but, seeing as i don't right now, i've removed the phono cards. 

Which brings me onto my next quandary i have regarding the nac psu (snaps-cap/hicap). To begin with i thought the dual rail psu was to power each channel (1&2/L&R). However, this is not the case - one rail powers the line-in stage, the 2nd rail the phono stage.

So i'm thinking, seeing as i've no phono cards to power, the extra rail from the psu is redundant for now, so, would a regular snaps be better to power the nac & use the snaps-cap to power the naxo2-4?

Or the hicap might sound better powering the naxo...

I'm keeping it all until the axo is all setup, then i'll swap out the different boxes to get what i think is the best sound, selling on the surplus boxes... or not.