Naim Solstice officially unveiled . . .

[Mr Pig]

I like things that look nice to me. And also, you should really include the rest of the paragraph you are quoting before you call someone stupid. As I already covered that.

I didn't just mean you. I'm talking about the hundreds of people who've just ordered a very expensive turntable without having any idea what it sounds like. Technically, it's not stupid if it turns out to be a sound investment, people buy ugly paintings for this exact reason, but it's stupid to me because for me, a turntable is for listening to music on.

By releasing these for pre-order before a single buyer or reviewer has had the chance to hear one Naim have just proven beyond doubt that they're all about the money now. Personally, I am no fan of the way Naim are going and I hope this turntable sounds mediocre leaving investors feeling a bit silly.

Hands up who thinks there is no way Clearaudio are going to built a turntable for someone else which sounds which sounds substantially better than their own?

 

[Bairnstorm]

I like it and it looks fair value. Clearaudio make good quality turntables and Naim make good quality kit.

I think Clearaudio's top of the range if they still make it is upwards of £70,000.

 

[flutteringwow]

I didn't just mean you. I'm talking about the hundreds of people who've just ordered a very expensive turntable without having any idea what it sounds like. Technically, it's not stupid if it turns out to be a sound investment, people buy ugly paintings for this exact reason, but it's stupid to me because for me, a turntable is for listening to music on.

By releasing these for pre-order before a single buyer or reviewer has had the chance to hear one Naim have just proven beyond doubt that they're all about the money now. Personally, I am no fan of the way Naim are going and I hope this turntable sounds mediocre leaving investors feeling a bit silly.

Hands up who thinks there is no way Clearaudio are going to built a turntable for someone else which sounds which sounds substantially better than their own?

People buy cars without even sitting in them, it can be crazy what people do. But for some, just the look of something is enough. I think the buyer is probably satisfied with the pedigree of Naim that it will be something pretty damn decent.

I believe Naim would not authorise the manufacturing of a product that hasn't met the standards that they wanted. So I am fairly confident the TT has been made to the standards they requested. People who want the Naim TT are most likely to be Naim devotees, so it wouldnt matter what an equivalent product from Clearaudio sounds like.

I think you seeing this from a narrow perspective, this isn't a mainstream product, its designed and sold to a limited number, there are many aspects why those customers would purchase this. Im not a Naim devotee btw, their prices make me eyes water and their lack of credibility when it comes for example, refusing to repair Muso Gen1's etc is crass, but there products just to sound great to me, so trying to remain balanced.

 

[Bairnstorm]

No doubt Mr Pig won't be buying his wine en primeur.

 

[Suffolk Tony]

Personally, I am no fan of the way Naim are going and I hope this turntable sounds mediocre leaving investors feeling a bit silly.

That says something about you…

 

[pocketkitchen]

I don’t know of any insinuation that hundreds of people have pre-ordered one. Their dealers have ordered them all. Surely there’ll be a few people happy to buy sight unseen but not many I wouldn’t think.

 

[davidsrsb]

Is the need for a tall platter also related to the 'magnetic bearing' do you think? i.e. not just about mass.

This is the only pic of the innards I can find atm:

Definitely not suitable for my tropical climate. Plywood comes apart inside a year

 

[tiggers]

Personally, I am no fan of the way Naim are going and I hope this turntable sounds mediocre leaving investors feeling a bit silly.

I hope it sounds marvellous and makes the purchasers very happy, but then I'm not a mean-spirited smug ****!

 

[jamesd]

I'd be surprised. I doubt there will be a Solstice XS, but I may be wrong. Roy's always wanted to make his own turntable, and I'm sure he was tempted back from 'retirement' by the thought. My worry would be the trickle up. First the special Supercap for the phono stage, then the 555PS for the power supply.

£16k is wearable - ISTR the full spec Linn Klimax LP12 is £17k. My only question mark is choosing carbon as an arm tube - it's a rather non-linear material, depending on how it's been used.

I don't think a company designates something as a "Special Edition" if they have no plans for a Standard Edition

 

[ajm]

I showed this pic to my missus...

She said it looked like a saucepan sitting on top of a hotplate!

 

[davidsrsb]

At last a Naim product that will actually be sensitive to its support. Perhaps Naim will be making a Mana like product next

Edit the unit above would sag

 

[ryder]

I'm talking about the hundreds of people who've just ordered a very expensive turntable without having any idea what it sounds like. Technically, it's not stupid if it turns out to be a sound investment, people buy ugly paintings for this exact reason, but it's stupid to me because for me, a turntable is for listening to music on.

As Flutteringwow had suggested, people can do crazy things but to these people it's perfectly sane. I have seen people who have costly grand pianos in the lounge but no one in the house plays the piano. Oh well, perhaps just striking the notes for fun. People may buy this Naim's exquisite design more for looks than sound quality although majority will want great sound from the deck. Who knows if there's someone who buys the Naim just to display it on a shelf or enclosed glass door displays, you would never know. People can do whatever they want with their money.

 

[Tigerjones]

I showed this pic to my missus...

She said it looked like a saucepan sitting on top of a hotplate!

She has a point. Looks ugly to me but I doubt I'm the intended market.

 

[sideshowbob]

She has a point. Looks ugly to me but I doubt I'm the intended market.

It's not for peasants like us.

 

[Tantris]

Looks like demand is off the scale

I'd quite like to listen to it, and to see what it actually looks like. I'm not sure about the oversized chromed platter from the photos, but the design looks quite good overall, and I especially like the look of the phono stage and power supply. Hopefully these herald a similar design approach for other components - I've always liked shoebox Naim.

 

[Kirk]

Decent effort from Naim though there's something incongruous about the design of the TT. The boxes next to it remind me of Meridian's design language. Suspect all 500 units will be sold without too much effort. Rumours of a new 272 as well.

 

[Boris the madcap]

Worthy of the Jehovah himself

 

[Mynamemynaim]

I hear that Les W is working on his own version that will correct all the Naim problems and sound fabulous....for a tenth the money

 

[MichaelC]

Whilst I have moved on from Naim I would simply like to say good on Naim for producing this and I hope they do well in marketing/selling this - I think price wise it looks to be an incredibly attractive package and it will be interesting to read the reviews of this in action. This surely is the start of new product lines from Naim in this vein.

 

[GT]

There are hundreds of Naim dealerships across the globe. There are over 200 of their top 500-Series dealerships. I would assume most of them will want one on dem.

You seem to forget the high end turntable market pretty much finished years ago. I would say around 2010 when most people interested in analogue had already bought their last turntable. There has been sales in the budget area and some mid fi turntables sold since to 40-50 year olds, but not a lot else...

Assuming that a lot of Naim owners will be using LP12's, do you think it likely that many of them will be chopping in their LP12's for the new Naim/Clearaudio turntable?