audio amplification be merged into this article . discuss proposed since march 2015 . this article may contain wording that promotes the subject through exaggeration of unnoteworthy facts . please remove or replace such wording . february 2010 naim audio limited type private limited company industry high end audio manufacture founded 4 june 1974 1 headquarters salisbury england united kingdom key people trevor wilson managing director products digital music systems amplifiers cd players and loudspeakers revenue 18 million 1 owner vervent audio group website naimaudio.com founded in 1973 naim audio is a hi fi manufacturer based in wiltshire uk . with a history rooted in engineering and design naim won the prestigious queen s award for enterprise on three occasions most recently for its design of digital music systems . naim designs and engineers a wide range of hi fi products including digital music systems amplifiers and loudspeakers . contents 1 history 1.1 amplifiers 1.2 r & d 1.3 following 2 design characteristics 3 partnerships 4 digital audio 5 ownership 5.1 merger 6 naim label 7 milestones 8 references 9 external links history edit naim began when julian vereker started naim audio visual in 1969 and created a sound to light box which he hired out to film production companies . his disappointment with the sound of professional recording equipment at the time led him to design his own power amplifier . the company naim audio was incorporated in 1973 . 1 2 sailing against the conventional wisdom dating back to audio pioneer edgar villchur that the loudspeakers determined the sound of a hi fi system and that amplifiers were simply a means to an end in moving the speakers vereker set about to put his ideas into practice . 1 amplifiers edit main article naim audio amplifiers the first product naim put on the market was the nap200 power amplifier ; it was soon followed by the nac12 pre amplifier . 1 the two channel nap 250 amplifier launched in 1975 is perhaps naim audio s most well known analogue product as its basic circuit layout was shared by all the company s power amplifiers until the introduction of the flagship nap500 in 2000 . the naim nait its first integrated amplifier one of the most controversial and famous integrated amps in the history of hifi has acquired a legendary status among integrated amplifiers . 3 r & d edit in 1983 guy lamotte was hired as chief designer . he successfully developed the na t01 and nat101 fm tuners and piloted the development of the hi cap power supply and the 5 modifications to the company s burgeoning pre amplification nac42 and 32 and the naxo active crossover . lamotte privately worked on a prototype electrostatic speaker design that attracted media attention . it was brought into the naim fold in 1987 after the linn naim partnership ended . 1 4 roy george who attended southampton university and who was appointed technical director of naim in 1985 is credited with designing many of naim s iconic products . 5 following edit the company and its products such as the nait nac52 pre amplifier the aro uni pivot tonearm and the sbl separate box loudspeaker have also assumed cult status among devotees . 6 7 the company was headed by vereker until his death in 2000 when paul stephenson then sales director became managing director 2000 2015 . 8 design characteristics edit naim has a devoted following gained through a combination of its products performance build quality upgrade and after sales philosophy . in terms of after sales support naim boasts they can service all products ever manufactured by them . 9 typically the electronics incorporate over engineered power supplies to ensure fast and generous current delivery to the audio circuitry . naim also market independent low noise power supplies to give its customers easy and effective upgrade paths for their pre amplifiers and cd players . 1 10 internally the naim design approach can be seen by their use of materials the semiconductors heavy toroidal transformers their obsessive attention to earthing screening and isolation from electronic and mechanical interference 11 through to their preference for xlr connector din connector and the bnc connector for phono as opposed to the rca connector used by almost all other manufacturers . 1 3 10 until 1989 the company s electronics could be readily identified by their heavy black aluminium casing . since their replacement by the olive range the earlier vintages are affectionately known as chrome bumper models 8 electrically the amplifiers are matched and designed to be used together . naim warns against experimentation with other manufacturers components 12 particularly in the case for some high end loudspeaker cables whose l c characteristics were said by naim to present unstable loads to the high current devices used inside naim power amplifiers . 3 as with other brands such as arcam and cyrus the company s instruction manuals state that better and more consistent performance will be achieved if the system is left switched on for long periods . 13 many reviewers have also remarked on equipment sounding significantly better several weeks after being left switched on . 14 15 16 17 partnerships edit page of naim audio company calendar february 1986 with image of founder julian vereker in a parody of a mr kipling advertising slogan during much of the 1970s and 80s naim adopted a symbiotic relationship with linn products and their names were often mentioned in the same breath . at that time a linn sondek lp12 turntable naim electronics and linn loudspeakers was the preferred combination for many a serious audiophile . 2 the two companies had almost the same sales and marketing strategy and shared many of the same retailers dealers . as an upstart company the company s founder was active in marketing and promotion julian vereker himself appeared in the company s advertising . the company s emphasis on selling products through comparative demonstrations in a single speaker environment was a move away from marketing space of the chain electronics stores in favour of small independent retailers in the united kingdom . the two companies diverged during the 1980s at the dawn of digital audio . this was partly due to the convergence of technology but also because naim had significantly fewer dealers than linn . this presented problems for linn dealers trying to sell linn speakers which were specifically designed to work at their best with naim amplification . both naim and linn began broadening their product ranges and started encroaching on each other s historical areas of expertise in 1985 linn launched its lk1 lk2 amplification combination signalling the definitive end of the partnership . naim began making loudspeakers and linn expanded its range of electronic components . in 1987 naim announced that chief designer guy lamotte had been working on a prototype electrostatic speaker design and that a product launch was imminent . however the product never saw the light of day having been axed because of cost escalation . 4 in 1995 naim announced the launch of the armageddon power supply for the lp12 . in 2008 naim partnered bentley in the naim for bentley project an optional upgrade in car sound system which had a degree of customer acceptance that surpassed expectations of both partners . 1 in 2010 naim employed 140 staff . naim s products are exported to more than 40 countries ; half of its 15 million turnover is export . one third of the business was from cd players . 8 in 2011 60 percent of sales went to export markets . 18 digital audio edit during much of the 1980s naim asserted that compact disc was a far inferior medium to the vinyl gramophone record . early discs often lost something in the transfer compared to vinyl and naim continued to design their products in this context . 1 however by 1990 technological advances allowed the production of the naim cds the first cd player considered worthy of the naim brand . the announcement in 1989 that the company was working on a cd player shocked the marketplace . 2 the cds cd player s was unusual for a two box device in that naim put the digital analogue converter into the same box as the transport and audio circuitry whilst keeping the power supply separate . 1 the naim cds has since seen two major revisions now in its cds3 incarnation since its launch in 1991 ; while subsequent lower priced extensions to the line are often used by hi fi reviewers as references at their respective price points . the cd555 which is the money no object flagship priced at 15 000 is heralded by naim as the ultimate cd player . ownership edit at the time of his death julian vereker held half of the share capital of the company . the other half was in the hands of employees including paul stephenson who owned 16 percent . vereker bequeathed his shares to be held in a trust of which stephenson is trustee . 8 merger edit on 19 august 2011 naim and focal jmlab announced a merger of both companies . focal & co. the new entity that will be formed to own the two existing operations will employ 325 people in total at two sites in saint etienne france and salisbury uk . pro forma annual turnover of the new company is 48 million . 19 20 according to a q & a issued by the company both brands will coexist and continue to operate independently . they promise no management changes the same customer focus and experience as before . the industrial logic cited as all about growth not about finding financial synergies with the focus on brand development through greater collaboration on r & d projects . 18 the shareholders of focal & co are those that respectively owned the company prior to the merger namely jacques mahul cm cic and the management of focal and naim suggesting the merger being executed by an exchange of shares for shares in the holding company . no ownership statistics and no valuation were mentioned . 18 naim label edit naim also went into the record business in order to supply compact discs which were both technically and musically good enough to satisfy analogue vinyl disciples . this was to be vereker s personal project . the first cd to appear on the naim edge record label was electric glide by gary boyle one of the company s favourite vinyl demo records . 21 milestones edit 1971 nap 160 first power amplifier discontinued 1986 1973 naim audio limited formed 1974 nac 12 first pre amplifier discontinued 1980 1975 nap 250 power amplifier 1975 naps first pre amplifier power supply discontinued 1978 1977 naxo first electronic crossover for active loudspeaker systems 1980 moved to current premises at southampton road salisbury 1981 linnk moving coil phono pre amplifier manufactured for linn products 1981 nac a4 speaker cable 1983 nait first integrated amplifier discontinued 1988 1984 nap 135 first mono power amplifier discontinued 2002 1984 hi cap pre amplifier power supply 1984 nat 01 first fm tuner discontinued 2002 1985 won the queen s award for export achievement 1986 sbl first in house made loudspeakers discontinued 2002 1989 aro unipivot tone arm 1989 range upgraded and new look olive casing 1990 nac 52 flagship pre amplifier discontinued 2002 replaced by nac 252 1991 cds first cd player discontinued 1998 replaced by cds2 1991 dbl loudspeakers 1992 cdi extended range of cd players 1995 av1 first av processor discontinued 1999 1995 armageddon power supply for linn sondek lp12 turntable 1995 super cap pre amplifier power supply 1995 prefix phono pre amplifier discontinued 2008 2000 5 series 2000 nap 500 power amplifier 2002 range upgraded reference range and new look 2002 nac 552 flagship pre amplifier supplants nac 252 as flagship pre amplifier 2005 n