The story
Founded by Julian Vereker in 1973.1
Naim began when Julian Vereker started Naim Audio Visual in 1969 and created a sound-to-light box that he hired out to film production companies. He designed his own power amplifier. The company Naim Audio was incorporated in 1973.
The convention at the time – dating back to audio pioneer Edgar Villchur – It was believed that the loudspeakers determined the sound of a hi-fi system, and amplifiers were simply a means to drive the speakers.
Amplifiers
The first product Naim put on the market was the NAP160 power amplifier; it was followed by the NAC12 pre-amplifier.
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 NAP500 in 2000.
The Naim NAIT, its first integrated amplifier, has been called "one of the most controversial and famous integrated amps in the history of HiFi".
In 2024, Naim introduced new products specifically designed for the Integration market: CI-NAP 108, CI-NAP 101, and CI-Uniti 102. These products include power amplifiers and streaming amplifiers, which are designed to complement Focal loudspeakers.
In October 2024, Naim engineers developed custom electronics for the DIVA UTOPIA, Focal's first active, wireless, and connected speaker.
The electronics feature class AB amplification, delivering 400 watts of power, and a new Naim Pulse Platform active module for high-resolution music streaming.
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R&D
In 1983, Guy Lamotte was hired as a designer. He completed the development of 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 pre-amplification (NAC42 and 32), the NAXO active crossover and the ARO uni-pivot tonearm (developed jointly with David Beck). Lamotte privately worked on a prototype electrostatic speaker design. It was brought into the Naim fold in 1987, after the Linn/Naim partnership ended. Roy George, who joined in 1985 and was appointed Technical Director of Naim in 2000, has been credited with designing many of Naim's products.
In 2019, the parent company Vervent Audio Group expected to invest more than 8% of its sales revenue in research and development.
Following
The company, and its products such as the NAIT, NAC52 pre-amplifier, the ARO uni-pivot tonearm and the SBL (Separate Box Loudspeaker) have assumed cult status among devotees.
After Vereker
The company was headed by Vereker until his death in 2000, when Paul Stephenson, then Sales Director, became Managing Director until 2015. The company saw turnover increase from £6m to £20m and began digital streaming. Former R&D Director Trevor Wilson was managing director from 2015 to 2018. The business was then led by Charlie Henderson as managing director between 2018 and 2021, and by 2021 turnover had increased to £39 million, yielding profit before tax of nearly £5 million.
In 2022, Cedric Magnaud took over as the site director, and the brand's turnover reached 41.8 million pounds.
From Wikipedia’s article on Naim Audio, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4