MrPinkEyes
Come on Pooh
Im sure it would be great. Bit of a cock up on release, folks in the US had received the units before UK customers which I found to be hilarious. The corporate strikes again!
Naim Solstice officially unveiled . . .
- Thread starter Bob Edwards
- Start date
tonysmith
pfm Member
Good question, Bob.
Well, the truth is that I put down a deposit on one (without hearing it obviously) and I have been next in line since October.
My dealer said that if I didn’t like it then I could, of course, switch my deposit to another deck.
I still haven’t heard it yet and am keen to hear what the lucky few, who have, think.
The very long thread on the Naim site could be whittled down to single figures for actual user reviews. They are all positive.
Clearly some folk have their own agenda and I know I have to trust my own ears but I’m interested to know what others think.
Nero
Re: Tired
I had a look around one when I dropped in to Cymbiosis last month, but it wasn't plumbed into a system, so didn't get to hear it (I was much more interested in my new Radikal 2). Nicely made and looks very different next to an LP12, and the ARO 2 looks interesting - let's hope that becomes available as a standalone, but pigs might fly.
I would expect all owner-reviews to be positive - after all, they've just dropped 17k on a new deck. But it puzzles me they're not leaping off the stock shelves, and the one that Tony is offering in classifieds is a surefire way of saving 2k if you're in the market!.
I would expect all owner-reviews to be positive - after all, they've just dropped 17k on a new deck. But it puzzles me they're not leaping off the stock shelves, and the one that Tony is offering in classifieds is a surefire way of saving 2k if you're in the market!.
Not trying to be funny but, why would you do that?
daytona600
Registered User
CA make the TT , arm & cartridge , Naim make Phono stage & PSU
Robert M
pfm Member
I'd like one, but only if I was a millionaire or maybe a multi millionaire to justify it.
If I had the money I’d look at an SME20 first, I also quite like concept behind the TT that GT Audio are repping at the moment.
Nagraboy
Ausculta fili
I used to have a book about the EMT turntables and it said one of the early ones (927 or 930?) cost at least as much as a new VW Beetle at the time, so they were never inexpensive. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone builds the ‘ultimate’ idler drive turntable in the next few years and charges 6 figures for it.
Darren L
Egalitarian
There's a few companies building 'new' idler drive tables, Reed make and interesting deck that is user adjustable from idler to belt, though I don't think any of them are 6 figures, certainly 5 though.
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Neil P
pfm Member
If the solstice was less than amazing (for the price) wouldn't they have halted the project during development rather than persevere and take it to market?
I had the feeling their secrecy around this project was very important for them - prior to release, even they had few review testers (impartial ?)
Can you not read the rest of his post? He explains it perfectly well.
They didn't take it to market. It was released as a limited edition and they took orders before anyone had heard it. To me, that's alarm bells ringing right there.
Think about it. You're not going to know what it sounds like until development is pretty much finished. I don't know how it worked but let's speculate. Naim knock on Clearaudio's door and say 'Could you build a turntable for us please? They're going to have to decide who's paying to design it, probably Naim with guidance from Clearaudio, and Clearaudio would stipulate a minimum order. They'll have to tool up/set-up to make the parts and they'll need to sell so many to Naim just to get the cost of the set-up back. So Naim aren't going to know exactly what the end product sounds like until they've committed so much to it that scrapping the venture would be very unappealing.
I'm not saying the deck sounds bad but if it was great the most profitable thing to do is add it to their regular product list and get it into dealers for them to dem it. Naim didn't do that. They wound up the hype machine. Limited edition (Probably the minimum order) and order it in advance. Premium brands do this shit all the time and if you've got the money to burn and are more concerned with the label than the value then fine, go for it. But personally, I suspect that if this deck had been really great it would have been a full production product, and it would have been more expensive.
JezmondTutu
pfm Member
It is a bit odd, granted. But £16k is pocket money to some Naim owners. When a 500 series amp costs £50,000 and that isn’t even top of the range!
I think for most of us, the fun is in the tweaking. So a complete deck like the Solstice lacks that fun part of the hobby. Not to mention it looking like a baboons derrière.
I think for most of us, the fun is in the tweaking. So a complete deck like the Solstice lacks that fun part of the hobby. Not to mention it looking like a baboons derrière.
I suspect that the original intention was it to be a top dog turntable with a price to match but it just didn't work out. In a few years time I don't think anyone will be talking about it any more.
yeti42
pfm Member
Now come on, don’t exaggerate. You can get a 500 and a 552 for £50k and maybe even the taller Fraim shelf to clear the 500 too, though I haven’t checked the latest price rise.