Question: Olive NAP140 vs. NAP180

Don't biwire with Naim amps. 

And don't bi-amp either - it's a waste.  Better to spend double on a better amp.

The story behind the different shades of olive fascia...  well, I was told by Naim's QA manager that the the original mixture formula held by the fascia supplier was lost (IIRC someone dies taking the formula with them) and rather than reformulate or let Naim know, the colour was matched by the supplier to a piece from the previous batch. Now, if you keep doing that then the shade of olive is bound to gradually change because the match will never be exact.  And so it changed from a fairly brownish shade of olive green to the final greyish shade of olive green, and plenty of shades in between. Naim offered a fascia matching service for many years - or at least right up to the point where their substantial stocks of Olive fascias were finally exhausted.

.... which just leaves 1 and 3.

Q1    From what I've read NAP140 looks like the more common pairing with the NAC72

Q3    F-connectors. (See FAQs on this site).

C.

The 180 has a bigger and better on-board power supply, so an advantage when no hi-cap is used, however a hi-cap is still recommend for the improvements in musical space and sonic depth it brings - and this applies to the 140 even more so.

The 180 is a clean and lean sounding amp, IME sounds wonderful with a 72, especially when use in a smaller than average room and with small stand-mount speakers.

The 140 sonically has a nice endearing warmer sound and sonically pleasant in nature. It has the attraction of being the smaller shoe-box size which can make them more desirable; albeit with higher pre-owned value. Maybe rarer too, so harder to buy a good one pre-owned.

180s tend to be far better value for money, if you don't mind the larger case it is imo the better power amp, tends to be more 180s around pre-owned so easier to buy.

Don't expect a 180 to perform anything like a 250 though, even if they do look the same : )

Debs

Thank you all. I will go ahead with 180, 72 and HiCap for the studies, where I spend most of my time. And save up for two pairs of 135, 82, or even the 52 and a pair of large speakers for the sitting room.

Hi Lutz,

The EPOS ES14 was originally developed with a 32.5/hicap/250, and a wonderfully musical combination they made as well.  Yes, I too had that very system with a Linn LP12 turntable at the time.  The 72 is the slightly improved successor to the 32.5, so a serviced one with a hicap and a NAP180 should be lovely with the ES14.

As for a 52/135 + a large pair of speakers for the sitting room, that is a ridiculous notion.  Oh, hang on a moment.  what's in my system profile???

Enjoy!  FT

When I had my Epos 14's I only had a Nap 150 and Lin Axis TT and to my ears that wasn't enough to do them justice. Unfortunately by the time I had moved up to a 200 the Epos had gone.

Richard Dane posted:

And don't bi-amp either - it's a waste.  Better to spend double on a better amp.

The story behind the different shades of olive fascia...  well, I was told by Naim's QA manager that the the original mixture formula held by the fascia supplier was lost (IIRC someone dies taking the formula with them) and rather than reformulate or let Naim know, the colour was matched by the supplier to a piece from the previous batch. Now, if you keep doing that then the shade of olive is bound to gradually change because the match will never be exact.  And so it changed from a fairly brownish shade of olive green to the final greyish shade of olive green, and plenty of shades in between. Naim offered a fascia matching service for many years - or at least right up to the point where their substantial stocks of Olive fascias were finally exhausted.

Very interesting. I didn't expect that was the reason behind the colour variation.

naim_nymph posted:

The 180 has a bigger and better on-board power supply, so an advantage when no hi-cap is used, however a hi-cap is still recommend for the improvements in musical space and sonic depth it brings - and this applies to the 140 even more so.

The 180 is a clean and lean sounding amp, IME sounds wonderful with a 72, especially when use in a smaller than average room and with small stand-mount speakers.

The 140 sonically has a nice endearing warmer sound and sonically pleasant in nature. It has the attraction of being the smaller shoe-box size which can make them more desirable; albeit with higher pre-owned value. Maybe rarer too, so harder to buy a good one pre-owned.

180s tend to be far better value for money, if you don't mind the larger case it is imo the better power amp, tends to be more 180s around pre-owned so easier to buy.

Don't expect a 180 to perform anything like a 250 though, even if they do look the same : )

Debs

Debs. You have been very helpful, thank you so much.

Foot tapper posted:

Hi Lutz,

The EPOS ES14 was originally developed with a 32.5/hicap/250, and a wonderfully musical combination they made as well.  Yes, I too had that very system with a Linn LP12 turntable at the time.  The 72 is the slightly improved successor to the 32.5, so a serviced one with a hicap and a NAP180 should be lovely with the ES14.

As for a 52/135 + a large pair of speakers for the sitting room, that is a ridiculous notion.  Oh, hang on a moment.  what's in my system profile???

Enjoy!  FT

Sorry FT. I didn’t get it. Why’s that? A friend of mind had the B&W 801 driven by mega mono amps and the sound was jaw dropping, very high definition and powerful yet effortless. My uncle has the 803 driven by mid-priced British mono amps to the bass and USA SE mono 300B to the MF & HF, still sound large. That scale is not what bookshelf speakers or 2-way floorstanders could match, the problem is that speakers like the 801 or 802 need a lot of current to control the bass drivers…..so

I thought I really need to save up for the main system with one pair of 135 just to drive the bass as oppose to totally and forever rely on the small speakers in the studies.

On the other hand, I have started to notice the Naim approach is different from the conventional wisdom, such as to get a power amp higher in the rank instead of going bi-amp with two smaller amps (I remember I’ve read this on hi-fi mags years ago, just didn’t know why). And do not bi-wire from a single power amp (which contravene to the conventional believe). Given the Naim demo I had in Japan was so alive and moving, I will be following the Naim convention as much as possible. Cheers.

Hi Luz

Apologies if my comment was a little obscure.  We have several Naim systems at home, with more in the family.

ref your comment about considering an 82 or a 52 + a pair of 135s and large speakers for your sitting room, that is what we have ended up with (very happily) in our sitting room - a 52/135 + floor standing speakers.  If you click on my avatar picture, the profile will come up on screen for you to see.  Apologies for any confusion caused.  Sometimes attempts at humour don't work on a forum.

Best regards, FT

naim_nymph posted:

The 180 has a bigger and better on-board power supply, so an advantage when no hi-cap is used, however a hi-cap is still recommend for the improvements in musical space and sonic depth it brings - and this applies to the 140 even more so.

The 180 is a clean and lean sounding amp, IME sounds wonderful with a 72, especially when use in a smaller than average room and with small stand-mount speakers.

The 140 sonically has a nice endearing warmer sound and sonically pleasant in nature. It has the attraction of being the smaller shoe-box size which can make them more desirable; albeit with higher pre-owned value. Maybe rarer too, so harder to buy a good one pre-owned.

180s tend to be far better value for money, if you don't mind the larger case it is imo the better power amp, tends to be more 180s around pre-owned so easier to buy.

Don't expect a 180 to perform anything like a 250 though, even if they do look the same : )

Debs

+1 Exactly this. 

Foot tapper posted:

 If you click on my avatar picture, the profile will come up on screen for you to see........  

FT, that's one heck of a 'back-up' system  If you find that you hardly use it, I know a good home........

It would be with lots of Olive friends 

Thanks FT. I was totally confused after looking up what ART Alnico 8.3 Signature is , and thought, what were you talking about? They are rather large floorstanders. LOL

I bought a 140 with 72/hicap new, back in the early nineties. It was a really nice combo with lp12 and linn index speakers. However, I found the bass lacking so my dealer bought over a 180 to try. The difference was so good in every way, especially the bass, that I bought it there and then and he kindly refunded the 140.

Years later I tried a 250 but was disappointed at the rather small step forward it gave in terms of both power and sound quality. Shortly after this I got the opportunity to try a pair of 135's. Now that really was a leap in the right direction, and I subsequently bought them.

Thanks Mr. Happy and everyone, you have been very helpful.