suzywong
Wot, no electrons?
yeah, I thought the same thing. I'd actually heard those f'ugly speakers the previous year at the NAS (in the same room, no less) driven by 3 NAP500s.
Hifi News Review of Naim Statement
- Thread starter John Channing
- Start date
yeah, I thought the same thing. I'd actually heard those f'ugly speakers the previous year at the NAS (in the same room, no less) driven by 3 NAP500s.
westsea
Retirement present
Extract from Telegraph 30th April
Wine tastes better if we think its expensive, according to a new study.
Consumers were found to rate cheap wine more highly if they thought it had a higher price tag.
Experts found that preconceived beliefs created a placebo effect so strong that it changed the chemistry of the brain.
Is there an analogy here??
Wine tastes better if we think its expensive, according to a new study.
Consumers were found to rate cheap wine more highly if they thought it had a higher price tag.
Experts found that preconceived beliefs created a placebo effect so strong that it changed the chemistry of the brain.
Is there an analogy here??
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
Wonder why it sounds so good then?
Shuggie
Trade: Ammonite Audio
Not in this case, I believe. When I heard the Statements last year, I fully expected to have my face removed by a bright, hard and aggressive sound; however the experience was one of complete captivation. My pre-conceived bias was the opposite of the actual experience.
Good luck to Naim - they have gone out on a limb with this, even commissioning their own output transistors. That there is clearly a market out there to make the exercise a commercial success is one up for them and a lesson to the naysayers and doom-mongers here. There is a parallel with the Living Voice Vox Olympians, which have sold in sufficient numbers to justify that company's design beliefs and (considerable) investment.
TPA
Trade: Tiger Paw
Tony L
Administrator
I'll probably regret asking this, but what's the competition like at that price? Is there any? All the stuff I think of as all but unaffordable high-end, e.g. Nagra, McIntosh, Krell, Classe, Audio Research, Mark Levinson etc is a heck of a lot cheaper unless the market has changed a lot since I was last paying attention (I live in vintage audio-land!).
suzywong
Wot, no electrons?
Do you think extremely rich and not overly bright people should be protected from spending their money on this type of product?
I think you will find technical performance as an amplifier is of modest importance to the function of products like this. It primarily needs to be perceived as the best by the criteria used by a potential purchasers and not the criteria of you or I. This means marketing and the product having features to support that marketing.
Why? What is wrong with charging a high price if the customer is prepared to pay a high price.
What does genuinely superior amplifier mean?
Tony L
Administrator
Crikey. I would like some huge Westlake speakers though.
PS You'd think someone dealing at that price level of kit could afford a proper working website!
suzywong
Wot, no electrons?
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
There's a very strong analogy yes!! And not just at the elevated prices we're talking here... cables is an area where it seems to apply universally.
Alan Sircom
I dü werds, me
Rivals at this level include ASI, Boulder, CH Precision, Constellation, D'Agostino, DarTZeel, Goldmund, FM Acoustics, LAMM, Soulution, VAC, Vitus, and Ypsilon. There are more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Some of these make the Statement look cheap.
A surprising number are Swiss. Who'd have thought the Swiss would know something about expensive precision goods?
suzywong
Wot, no electrons?
It's always been a mystery to me why spending significants amounts of dosh on cars or exotic holidays is seen as OK, and elicits oohs and aahs, yea maybe even wows, from people, but spend similar amounts of dosh on hifi ic considered bad form.
( on a lighter note, Sky have just shown a clip of Roman Abramovich, head in his hands, looking miserable....Come on Roman, cheer up, Chelski are only a couple of minutes away from willing the Prem. Made me laugh, anyway)
(That's better Roman, all smiles now...he could even afford to buy Statement with this years winnings)
( on a lighter note, Sky have just shown a clip of Roman Abramovich, head in his hands, looking miserable....Come on Roman, cheer up, Chelski are only a couple of minutes away from willing the Prem. Made me laugh, anyway)
(That's better Roman, all smiles now...he could even afford to buy Statement with this years winnings)
russel
./_dazed_and_confused
Hi fi transistor commissioning process in full.
"Hello, can we have some matched transistors with our name on?"
"Yes, it will cost you £x"
suzywong
Wot, no electrons?
Good job they're not "space qualified" otherwise they'd cost even more
Shuggie
Trade: Ammonite Audio
I'm not so cynical, and am happy to believe that this involved a great deal more than just matching devices.
Mike Reed
pfm Member
That's interesting, as I asked the same question on an earlier post. Four of those names I've actually heard of; Boulder, A.N. (Japan), Wavac and Goldmund. The Naim makes a British entry into the superfi bracket, but most of the others seem to be valved amplification. Interesting again !
Can someone remind me of the Statement prices? I think the trio is around £150K, with each piece more or less similarly priced. This was info. picked up last year, though.
I can dimly remember the NAC 52 + 52PS making 1990 music sound better than before albeit at the time this new preamp seemed rather expensive but it sure did make the music sound good. Are we returning to a source first era when it comes to apportioning system expenditure or not?
337alant
Negatively Biased
Naim have always matched output transistors and most of their amps have transistors with their own Logo on them.
Look at the pictures on Martins Acoustica site appart from the Sankens they all have the Naim logo
http://www.acoustica.org.uk/t/naim/power_amps.html
http://www.acoustica.org.uk/t/naim/poweramp_pix/NAP300amp.jpg
What Russel said is probably true, but why not if you are buying enough of them and it saves you a lot of time trying to match them for the assembly team.
Alan