I have been motivated by watching from number of the video clips from Burning Amp, Amp Camp by DIY Audio. As a keen builder and sometimes designer of electronic circuits I am keen to build a good quality pre amp to partner my existing Naim, NAP 300 power amp.
I have tried a few commercial pre amps to partner the NAP 300, one a transformer coupled valve design and a solid state design but neither seem to drive the NAP 300 in the way that the Naim Pre-amp I borrowed seemed to. The valve one gave a lack of control in the bass and solid state one made the amp sound ‘flat’, lacking dynamics in the music.
I cannot afford to buy a Naim Pre amp and power supply, but I would be interested in building a quality pre amp without the source switching facilities which would function as the Naim Pre I have tried.
Can anyone recommend a pre amp design which might perform similarly to the current Naim products please?
I am happy to scratch build or from kit.
Thank you for your assistance.
I have tried a few commercial pre amps to partner the NAP 300, one a transformer coupled valve design and a solid state design but neither seem to drive the NAP 300 in the way that the Naim Pre-amp I borrowed seemed to. The valve one gave a lack of control in the bass and solid state one made the amp sound ‘flat’, lacking dynamics in the music.
I cannot afford to buy a Naim Pre amp and power supply, but I would be interested in building a quality pre amp without the source switching facilities which would function as the Naim Pre I have tried.
Can anyone recommend a pre amp design which might perform similarly to the current Naim products please?
I am happy to scratch build or from kit.
Thank you for your assistance.
My local dealer lent me a NAC 282 with HiCap power supply, I have also previously tried a NAC N272 streamer pre-amp. They both seemed to bring the NAP 300 'to life'.
Before you jump off the deep end for $$$$ I'd buy one of those 5532 op amp mixer kits from e-bay. You may find your needs covered in the $5 range, and if not you've wasted $5 and an educational few months. You'll need a metal case to keep the RF interferance out, input filter caps, power supply choke in case, internal splitter to make analog ground, wall transformer power (16 to 30 vdc) supply, but that is what makes it DIY.
I bought a $15 RA-88a riaa equipped mixer kit in a flea market, studied the circuit and faults (hum, hiss) and this forum, spent a year & $25 modifying it and have a wonderful sounding system. The case and pots were worth more than $15 even if I had thrown the board away. BTW some op amps are quiet enough now you can leave 4 inputs turned up to level at the same time without undue hiss or noise. I'm using ST33078, other options are NJM2068, NJM4580, LM4562, more expensive AD & burr brown parts. NE5532 was out of stock the day I was buying, and it is not popular commercially because it is a current hog. But 2 IC's won't stress a wall transformer sized for a race car set or a hedge trimmer battery. Put in phosphor bronze sockets so you can change op amps. Beware the faster slew rate op amps require feedback resistor capacitor bypass and local PS disk caps to avoid oscillating. I had to add those to my existing board which used hissy 4558 op amps. 4558 is okay in graphic equalizers, but hiss too much at 50x gain in RIAA circuits.
164102-improving-disco-mixer-mid-fi- performance.html
If I put the diyaudio infront of that it comes up 403 forbidden, so cut & paste it yourself.
Have fund learning & building.
I bought a $15 RA-88a riaa equipped mixer kit in a flea market, studied the circuit and faults (hum, hiss) and this forum, spent a year & $25 modifying it and have a wonderful sounding system. The case and pots were worth more than $15 even if I had thrown the board away. BTW some op amps are quiet enough now you can leave 4 inputs turned up to level at the same time without undue hiss or noise. I'm using ST33078, other options are NJM2068, NJM4580, LM4562, more expensive AD & burr brown parts. NE5532 was out of stock the day I was buying, and it is not popular commercially because it is a current hog. But 2 IC's won't stress a wall transformer sized for a race car set or a hedge trimmer battery. Put in phosphor bronze sockets so you can change op amps. Beware the faster slew rate op amps require feedback resistor capacitor bypass and local PS disk caps to avoid oscillating. I had to add those to my existing board which used hissy 4558 op amps. 4558 is okay in graphic equalizers, but hiss too much at 50x gain in RIAA circuits.
164102-improving-disco-mixer-mid-fi- performance.html
If I put the diyaudio infront of that it comes up 403 forbidden, so cut & paste it yourself.
Have fund learning & building.
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Thank you for your thoughts indianajo. I am absolutely up for an economical DIY challenge.
I have spotted nac 152 clone boards on ebay, I wondered whether trying these with a well designed regulated linera pSU might be worth a try?
I have spotted nac 152 clone boards on ebay, I wondered whether trying these with a well designed regulated linera pSU might be worth a try?
This sums up 99% of the available preamps. If you liked the Naim why not clone it? I cannot think of a more economical way to go about it as Naim's preamps do not use any expensive parts.
Definitely do not waste any time with Chinese kits and imitations.
Just to give you another alternative try the ESP P88 preamp with the P05 power supply. Better quality than many commercial preamps. The suggested op amps work well although I am using it with the OPA1688 (unfortunately not available in DIP package). Buy the PCBs from Rod Elliott and you get access to the construction articles and have a very good chance of everything working. Buy a good potentiometer for the volume control like the Alps RK27 Blue Velvet.
High Quality Audio Preamp
High Quality Audio Preamp
Here’s a great DIY preamp that sounds world-class. Check out the user reviews. Not expensive to make and no exotic parts. Plus, it can drive a 0dB gain amp like F4 to
AKSA's Lender Preamp with 40Vpp Ouput GB
Technical details:
AKSA's Lender Preamp with 40Vpp Output
AKSA's Lender Preamp with 40Vpp Ouput GB
Technical details:
AKSA's Lender Preamp with 40Vpp Output
Thanks for the ideas, I will do some follow up reading on these suggestions.
'Analogue _sa', I like the idea of cloning a Naim circuit, I would feel more confident putting lots of energy into something which is likely to 'sound right' but do you know of any reliable schematics?
'Analogue _sa', I like the idea of cloning a Naim circuit, I would feel more confident putting lots of energy into something which is likely to 'sound right' but do you know of any reliable schematics?
Not sure why you are so enamored with Naim preamps. Many designs here on DIYA are simpler and perform and sound better. Here is one with 5 actives, nothing expensive or fancy. Look at the performance possible driving 20Vpp into 7k ohm load. Textbook perfect harmonic distortion profile and zero mains hum.
As far as preamp gain modules go, Sam Groner's composite super op-amp circuit seems unbeatable. In his related paper, Sam shows a spectrum plot where the circuit is driving 7.7VRMS in to an 600 Ohm load at 10kHz. Yet, ALL harmonics remain somewhere below -180dB!
Did you not say you have had that preamp in your system? Nothing is more reliable than taking the circuit down yourself. With reasonably good pictures this can also work well over the net as past experience shows 🙂
Many years ago i owned a NAP250 which was quite nice and a matching preamp which left me seriously underwhelmed. They have perhaps improved but the insistence on using the horror tantalum caps leaves me a bit prejudiced.
Hi XRKaudio, I definitely don't subscribe to the Naimies view that a Naim power amp must have a 'magic' Naim pre amp. I have spent the last six months trying to think of ways of avoiding the expense and space required for a matching Naim pre amp. It's just that the two pres I have tried seemed to be lacking.
I'm happy to give an alternative a go, but it would be good to have some confidence that my chosen pre will be a good match.
I'm happy to give an alternative a go, but it would be good to have some confidence that my chosen pre will be a good match.
Hi analog_sa I did borrow a NAC 282 from a dealer, purposely to listen to "the intended" combination. I wouldn't have the cheek to open it up and trace out the circuit.
As lawyers say "possession is 90% of reverse engineering" 🙂
It will be very interesting how well you like the first preamp you build. If you are looking for a specific sound i see a longish journey ahead. Nothing wrong with that of course.
It will be very interesting how well you like the first preamp you build. If you are looking for a specific sound i see a longish journey ahead. Nothing wrong with that of course.
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