Naim NAC 22 Pre Amplifier / NAP 120 Power Amplifier

Here we have an extremely rare and sought after vintage pairing from British experts Naim Audio. The NAC 22 was originally launched in 1976 with the NAP 120 following in 1978. Both were replaced soon after so ours both date from the late 1970’s and as such aren’t perhaps in the best cosmetic condition possible, but they are working well and the 120 has been recapped so are fully working. . They will be professionally packaged and come with manual, mains cable, SNAIC cable plus our three month warranty.
Naim Say….
We consider the most important circuit in a preamplifier to be the phono input stage. This must be designed to accept the output from a pick-up cartridge without loss of information. To achieve this it is necessary to consider the total output of the cartridge and also the effect of its impedance on the circuit. In our preamplifiers we have employed a new concept. The initial preamplifier stage is linear with a small gain, equalisation being divided into two parts. Complete theoretical and practical stability is attained, with a much wider open loop bandwidth than is normally possible. The resultant overload capability is maintained over the whole audio bandwidth.
Our experience has shown that tone controls and filters do not improve the musical performance with a system of this calibre, even when playing old and dirty records, due partly to the excellent stability and overload margin of the preamplifier and partly to its outstanding transient handling capability.
NAC 22
This is a simple preamplifier designed to meet the basic requirements of the serious audiophile. Facilities consist of volume and balance controls, and selector for the following choice of inputs: magnetic input with RIAA
equalisation, tuner and tape. The tape socket has input/output connections. and the tape monitor switch is fitted with a mute facility. Main preamp output is a separate socket. The NAC 22 has input circuit boards suitable for use with moving magnet, moving iron and other high output magnetic cartridges. Extra boards (type NA 323) are available to convert the preamplifier for use with low output moving coil cartridges.
Internally the NAC 22 comprises a mother board having on it the high level audio circuitry, and two daughter boards, interconnected with gold-plated precision connectors. This allows phono input stages to be interchanged.
The preamplifier has phono sockets for interconnection with pick-up cartridges and locking DIN sockets for all other connections. It also has delayed switch-on circuitry to ensure thump-free turn-on.
Power is supplied from regulated supplies in the 120, or a separate power supply, type NAPS, is available. This ensures hum-free operation and enables correct earthing to be used.
Specifications:
Input Sensitivities: Phono: 2mV, 47k ohms. Tuner, tape 1 and 2, 7SmV, 47k ohms.
Output Levels and Impedances: Tape 75mV, 600 ohms. Mains outputs 1V, 47 ohms.
Overload margins 40dB on all Inputs at all audio frequencies.
Dimensions: 203 (W) x 210 (D) x 89 (H) mm
NAP 120
All Naim Audio equipment has a frequency response to within 1 dB between 20 Hz and 20 kHz.
The purpose of an audio amplifier is to drive loudspeakers without loss of musical information. In our view many commonly accepted parameters have little to do with loss of information and in some instances, such as the
pursuit of large bandwidths or low distortion, unqualified acceptance of them can actually lead to the creation of mechanisms that cause loss of information. Dynamic output impedance, open loop bandwidth, slew rate,
propagation delay and stability margins are only some of the many other factors to which we attach importance, and which must all be brought into positive balance.
To this end our amplifiers not only achieve low harmonic distortion, low noise and wide power bandwidth, but also have a constant dynamic output impedance over the whole audio bandwidth. They are able to drive reactive loads with phase angles of -90° to +90° without any appreciable change in distortion, and are not sensitive to the absolute impedance of the load.
The frequency response of our amplifiers at the bass end is dependent on the gain decoupling capacitor, and the half power bandwidth extends to below 5Hz. At the top end the response is controlled by a passive single pole filter and is 3dB down at 40kHz. The amplifiers do not slew rate limit within this frequency. bandwidth.
The amplifiers will tolerate any load from 0 ohms to infinity without damage or instability since output stages are S.O.A. protected at all times. Prolonged running conditions of high dissipation will cause the amplifier to become quite warm and should the case temperature exceed 70 C the mains supply will be interrupted until the amplifier has cooled down.
The NAP 120 is constructed from aluminium sheet and light extrusions and uses a conventional transformer as a structural member. Connections are on the front.
The NAP 120 has a built-in 24v regulated supply to power Naim Audio preamplifiers.
High quality components have been used throughout, with great attention to detail construction. Enclosed cermet presets and tantalum capacitors are mounted on epoxy glass printed circuit board, and each small signal transistor
is mounted on a pad.
Specifications:
Power output: Continuous: 40w into 8 ohms; Transient: 150 VA; Sensitivity: 0.7V
Impedance: 22 k Ohms
Operating temperature: 0 to 50°c.
Mains supply: 240V
Dimensions: 203 (W) x 230 (D) x 89 (H) mm