Salisbury's Cream

My entire college life, I've yearned for a nice high fidelity set. From my days in Mobile, Alabama, as an up and coming sophomore to a matured undergraduate, the urge for the holy grail of hi-fi has never been so boiled up. Visits to the local American hi-fi stores in Mobile gave me the idea of how hi-fi can change one's perception of music. Most setups here were however haute coultre fashioned and this greatly discouraged me to further explore (due to budget, etc.) Naturally, from my guitar strumming days, these dear ears were trained or rather influenced by my somewhat unorthodox exposure to the fine tone of vintage American guitars and Marshall amplification. (More on guitars...later)

My listening is tuned to the way of how a live performance sounds. Amphitheaters, stadiums, arenas, clubs, special acoustic halls, residential areas, and what have you. The manner which the natural harmonics of instruments hit you in a live setting is one of the greatest pleasures of music appreciation one can enjoy.

When I came home in '97, it was not until a year later that I indulged in my hi-fi obsessions again (due to the downturn of our region's economy, my budget was once again compromised). I started off with an entry level Audiolab 8000A integrated amp to a Quad series power amp, a Marantz 63 KI Signature CD player, a Meridian 208 CD player, a couple of bookshelf speakers and finally to the Naims. My first Naim amp was the tiny but marvelous Nait 3 integrated amplifier. This little amp rates only 30W (on paper). However, it doesn't sound 30W to my ears at all. Perhaps it should be rephrased as 30 Naim Watts!... a more believable statement. Apart from good engineering practises, the Nait 3 is also extremely musical and rhythmic (all common Naim traits). Overall this was just the beginning into the wide Naim world of hi-fi electronics that moved me on...further and deeper :-)

Torch bearer I was or am.., I swayed to the NAC 72 pre-amp, Hicap power supply , NAP 180 power amp setup which costed me quite a bit. In a nutshell, I've elevated my listening desires to hi-fi separates. How's the improvement you may ask ? Same addiction but to a higher musical level... :-) My system stayed this way for the next couple of years until I had the opportunity to upgrade to their flagship olive series pre-amp which is the NAC 52 with Supercap power supply 2 years ago. The improved supercap power supply from the previous hi-cap makes a huge difference in music quality: dead silent background and huge vitality and dynamics in musical presentation. It's like a nice 'bokeh' from a Leica photo...

All in all, I'm happy and contented till today with my involvement with the Naim brand. It's a no-compromise design and mates very well with my existing NAP 180 power amp which I hope to upgrade one day to their reference monoblocks: the NAP 135s. That'll complete the reference series, for me at least.

Until then, bravo and kudos to Naim Audio, a truly respectable hi-fi maker!