Pre-amp Heirachy

Posted by: Gromit on 18 April 2001

Just came from the Naim home page. In most of the product lists, components are normally listed from highest in the heirachy to lowest. Noticed that for the list of Pre-amps, the new 112 is listed above the 102. Anyone has any ideas if this was meant to be or is the 112 meant to be above the 102 in terms of sound quality.

Has anyone done a comparison between the 112 and 102?

Posted on: 18 April 2001 by Laxton
.....would be 112,102,82,52 from lowest to highest. Hope this helps.

Regards
Laxton

Posted on: 20 April 2001 by Tony L
quote:
112 just means it's a later model than a 102. They started at 12 and went up to 92 then 102 as they ran out of that configuration of numbers.

Naim's numbering system is actually pretty straight forward. All the preamps are two channel, hence the 2 at the end, the first one or two digits indicate the order in which it was developed. For example the NAC 12 was the first two channel preamp Naim made, and the 102 was the tenth. The 2 at the end is pretty much superfluous until they produce a mixing desk or some Dolby / THX surround sound monster.

The power amp numbering indicates the units total RMS output into 4 Ohms. E.g. the 250 is 2 channels of 125 watts into 4 Ohms, a 140 is 2x70 watts, and the mono 135 delivers 135 watts. Simple stuff, though why they chose 4 rather than the normal 8 Ohm load is beyond me.

Tony.

Posted on: 20 April 2001 by ken c
tony:

quote:
The power amp numbering indicates the units total RMS output into 4 Ohms. E.g. the 250 is 2 channels of 125 watts into 4 Ohms, a 140 is 2x70 watts, and the mono 135 delivers 135 watts. Simple stuff, though why they chose 4 rather than the normal 8 Ohm load is beyond me.

interesting. i was aware of the pre-amp convention, but not the power amp one. how does the 500 fit into this naiming scheme? presumably assume 2 channel, then 250 watts into 4 ohms??

enjoy...

ken

Posted on: 20 April 2001 by Tony L
quote:
how does the 500 fit into this naiming scheme? presumably assume 2 channel, then 250 watts into 4 ohms??

Bingo.

Tony.