Neil McBride's HiFi Pages

Added Feb 2006: This web site is constructed using text from old emails and newsgroup articles that I wrote in the early-mid 1990s. I threw the site together one day about 10 years ago in a very low tech way. Since then I have added updates here and there, but there hasn't been much change for the last 5 years or so. And it is still as retro as ever! That said, the pages still appear to be useful to people, based on the emails I still get. So they may as well remain here. I think the reason they have been popular over the years, is that they encouraged people to have a bit of fun tweaking some old Naim preamps, so getting (in my opinion) a high level of performance out of them for little money. This sort of tweaking is all over the place now, with Naim stuff being a popular subject for DIY forums. If you are interested in this sort of stuff, here is a very useful site you should visit:

http://www.acoustica.org.uk/t/naim/preamps.html

...and I'd also like to mention Les Wolstenholme's Avondale Audio site as Les has contributed a huge amount over the years to the subject of Naim tweaks:

http://www.avondaleaudio.com

OK, subjects you might want to have a look at....

Tweaking Naim preamps (now with some layouts!)

Building preamp power supplies (updated Sept 1997)

Secondhand buyers guide to Naim gear

Building a turntable power supply (Sept 1997)

Going active

Other ramblings

What Julian Vereker thought.... (March 1998)

Some schematics for the 42/62 preamp circuits (Aug 2001)

Some schematics for 2 way Naxo circuits (Aug 2001)

Building some `Naim-style' power amps (Aug 2001)

Disclaimer: Please note that all this stuff reflects MY opinions, which may be wrong (but hopefully not libellous). Feel free to email me (N.M.McBride 'at' open.ac.uk) as I'm always keen to hear how people get with the tweaks. Apologies in advance if I don't answer immediately... life seems a lot more busy than it used to be!