Building a system around Naim NAC-32 & NAP-160

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Long, long ago, I acquired an old Naim NAC-32 and NAP-160 to form the basis of my first separates system. I suppose you could say they were to blame for my yearning for "proper hi-fi". I even had them serviced by Naim, who spruced up the components in exchange for a modest fee. Then the children were born, and the system went into storage to avoid small fingers doing untold damage. It's now time to bring the system back. And the advantage of being older and wiser is that I have a bit more money to upgrade to the "proper hi-fi" that I've always wanted. After all these years (or maybe because of them) I retain a soft spot for my original, Naim components. So my question to you out there is: can I create a fantastic-sounding system around this old Naim amplification or is it better to start anew?

I want a hi-fi with CD and streaming music (possibly adding a turntable later), and I have a budget of around £5k for everything (including cabling, stands etc.). I listen to mostly rock (think U2, Dream Theater) and electronica (like Depeche Mode) so a well-defined meaty bottom end is more important to me than oodles of treble information. I was thinking of building a Naim-based system, upgrading the existing amplifiers with a Flat-Cap 2x, adding a CD5x and Sonos ZP90 as the sources, and... I have no idea about the speakers. But then my head was turned by the prospect of a Cyrus-based system also. And I've just read the blog posting about the NaimUniti... What do you all advise?

 

[chebby]

From what I have listened to lately and from (bad) memories of a friend's NAC32/NAP250 + Saras system in the 1980s then I would advise to go for...

Naim Nait XS (£1250), Naim CD5X (£1590), Naim FlatCap 2X (£575) and Rega RS3 floorstanding speakers (£690ish)

That comes to about £4100 leaving £900 (plus what you can get selling the old Naim gear) for some cables and the Sonos ZP90 (NAC-A5 speaker cable is £14 a metre so not too much of a slice from the budget) and the CD5X will come with a Naim cable free. (Woohoo!)

I am confident this will out-perform the old 32/160 and you won't need to bodge around with DIN -> phono cable conversions as all the newer Naim gear have DIN and Phono inputs.

The Nait XS has power-amp in /pre-amp out so you can add a power amp later if you want (but I doubt you will need it).

At least with the new stuff it is all covered by warranties for up to 5 years.

 

[Anonymous]

With that sort of money to spend I would buy new or new range second hand Naim amplification. My main concern is your going to waste money on two sources of digital music when you only need one. Wait till the Naim DAC comes out (which I gather is soon) and buy that and a Squeezebox. That's going to be far better. The squeezebox duet is pretty easy to hide if you are worried about cosmetics.

A thousand pounds or so (maybe a bit more) will get you a decent spec LP12 second hand in immaculate condition as your vinyl source and Naim and Linn work well together.

This is the route I would go. Please think carefully though about getting a cd player. If you want to stream music may as well get the Naim DAC and not waste your money on providing two ways of playing the same digital music.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks chebby and FolsomBlues for your advice. I guess you're right - this is a chance for a fresh hi-fi start.

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:

Naim Nait XS (£1250), Naim CD5X (£1590), Naim FlatCap 2X (£575) and Rega RS3 floorstanding speakers (£690ish)

That comes to about £4100 leaving £900 (plus what you can get selling the old Naim gear) for some cables and the Sonos ZP90 (NAC-A5 speaker cable is £14 a metre so not too much of a slice from the budget) and the CD5X will come with a Naim cable free. (Woohoo!)

I agree with Chebby! Nait XS is simply GREAT!! I got it couple of months ago and I simply adore it! Looking forward to buy CD5X and FlatCap very soon...