The Cute Little Synthesis Naïf Nimis Integrated Amplifier
Article by Eli Rochlin

  I like to remember when life was simpler and the Good Guys wore white hats and always won, while the Bad Guys wore black hats and always lost. Happily, the Good Guys have not forgotten the simpler things in life, but this time, the colors are anything but plain vanilla White. My particular flavor is dark aqua and cream, and generates fifteen watts into a six ohm load using two 12AX7 and four 6BQ5/EL 84 tubes in a pentode configuration. The Nimis Amplifier is available in a host of colors as seen above. Upon fist seeing it my wonderful wife exclaimed "It's Cute!" Whew! what a relief - separates that even a wife can love. The amp is compact, covered in luxurious auto finish enamel, and look like a model of a modern office building.

Simplicity is the keynote and form is as beautiful as the function. Inputs comprise gold plated CD, Video, Tuner, Aux. and Tape Out. The two channels are individually controlled and selected by rotary switches (inner knobs on front top), as are the volume controls (outer front knobs). Speaker outputs are hefty gold plated knurled knobs, accommodating twisted wires or banana plugs. A small baton switch on the rear of the chassis is the on/off switch. As Albert Einstein once said "Things should be made a simple as possible, but not simpler". What more can you ask? Sorry, no treble, bass, mid-range, hall effects, balance or remote controls. This is a hands-on amp that will deliver, but will not compromise for the shortcomings of the rest of your gear.

The Nimis needs good clean input and seems to have a romance going with my speakers. My inputs are a Sony ES Series CD Player, and a Yamaha Receiver used as the F.M. radio. The speaker output goes to 12" Tannoys Dual-Concentric (Gold Series circa 1969-70). The gear is not sophisticated, but is reasonably clean. The Music is Superb. Four months of intermittent playing has resulted in very solid bass through mid and upper ranges. Clean and smooth seems to be the best description of this combination. The amp improves with a little running in time and smoothes out after a few weeks. It was fun running through vocals, piano, violin, organ, and large orchestral pieces. The Nimis seemed not to mind any of this mix and took all in stride. Pushing the volume controls to the halfway mark produces ample room volumes. Two-thirds up pushes the volume way up and the smoothness it still there, as if the unit was on overdrive, begging to pushed some more. Soft is good.... louder just seems better! Bass continues to be solid all the way and the unit displays no stress.

Ella Fitzgerald and Diane Schuur are in your room... and luscious. Widors' Toccata from the Fifth Symphony is breathtaking, as is Rubenstein playing Chopin. Dallas doing "The Planets" is warm, delicate where it must be, and ripping where it needs to be. Santana and the Gypsie Kings are slick and earthy. I'm so thankful my neighbors are hard of hearing.

O.K., this is not your usual techie equipment review. There are no graphs, frequency charts, or even the mention of distortion figures at however many watts or whatever. This is an "everyman's" review of a charming, unpretentious, now go and do your best work amplifier done in the finest Italian Tradition. Cute, yes, functional, yes, good sound, yes, powerful enough for my higher sensitivity Tannoy speakers, yes. So what are you waiting for? Need an amp for your listening and visual pleasures? Grab one of these.

P.S. The instruction manual is brief and fun to read. It could have been written by my old landlord in Brooklyn, who I remember and love dearly. Well, it's almost English, but utterly charming.

The Nimis Amplifier by Art in Music Products
Produced in Italy by FASE s.n.c.

Synethsis
Via Vanvitelli 16
62010 Morrovalle (MC)
Italy

Voice: 0039 0733 567474
Fax: 0039 0733 567154 
Website: www.synthesis.co.it