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Naim Solstice officially unveiled . . .

Tony L said:
Good to hear. I see no reason to believe those entering now with a Project, Rega or SL1200 won’t stay for the duration. The records are always the important bit, and once you have built up a good collection the chances are you’ll want a nice system to play them on later in life (I’m absolutely not saying Project, Rega, Technics etc aren’t, they are all great). I also think many totally misunderstand those they brand ‘hipsters’. Many have a remarkable knowledge of music and record collections many here would kill for.


Here’s “hipster” DJ Donna Leake at home with her truly fabulous record collection and wonderful Quad/Tannoy/Klipsch rig!

I’d certainly argue young people who buy records today have a very serious interest in music and one that will almost certainly remain with them. Streaming is arguably a background music format with far less emotional involvement, but if you get to the point of serious second-hand bin-diving or handing £20+ a throw over the counter (or Bandcamp) for a record chances are you are invested and will keep it long-term. Sadly far too few of this generation will end up on old text-based platforms like pfm, YouTube etc has largely rendered us obsolete, but not vinyl. That is here for a long while yet.
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Interesting that she is feeding that rather nice rig with Technics DD TTs. Says rather a lot for the quality of those TTs!
 
I think the price is irrelevant. If it was half the price, all the above comments would still be made. Similarly, if it were twice the price. I’m sure it wasn’t based on prime cost in any sense.
The PR generated so far has justified it.
I would like to hear one though. I’m not a customer but I am no stranger to that price level.
 
Timcat said:
Interesting that she is feeding that rather nice rig with Technics DD TTs. Says rather a lot for the quality of those TTs!
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The SL1200 is a very, very good turntable IMO. I have a MkI with a 3009 on it sitting on the landing upstairs (landed from the local auction for £35!) and I briefly tried the top-end 1200G and they really are good. Ultimately I prefer my TD-124, but I’d never knock anyone for using a SL1200 MkII (which I assume is what she has). It’s a perfectly decent £1k-level audiophile deck with club-grade robustness, pitch control and instant start. Assuming the arm is in perfect condition it can take a decent cart too, I’d happily use a 2M Black, MP-500 level cart in a perfect condition 1200. It was a high quality audiophile deck in it’s day, and IIRC used to cost about twice the LP12 back in the late ‘70s!
 
david ellwood said:
What turntables do you stock?
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So you haven't done your homework then?

Once Linn had started on stupid prices for the upgrade to their top LP12 model I looked elsewhere and found that I could get a lot more bang for my buck from designers/manufacturers who really knew what they were talking about rather than Linn a tweeker just like Naim. However you do have to walk the walk and have a listen. I didn't believe what was possible from a record player until I went and listened. Left my LP12/Ittok/Troika sounding broken by comparison.

If anyone would have told me that I'd spend so much on HiFi kit before I found pfm I would have told them not to be so daft. However the proof is in the listening. If it wasn't worth it I wouldn't have dreamed of spending so much but it was!

I can't stand the look of that Solstice Naim kit and don't believe that they can pull a rabbit out of the hat. It may have been costly to develop but that doesn't mean that they know what they are doing. I remember persuading my wife to visit Walrus several years ago for a demo of a Brinkmann LaGrange with a 10.5" arm and EMT-ti cart. She took one look and said 'ugly' and that was it! However she likes what I now have!!!

Fun HiFi no?

DV
 
Beobloke said:
I’ve heard this footfall argument many times, so why is my experience in my own listening room exactly the opposite?

The room in question is an upstairs one with floorboards that are a bit springy. Any solid chassis turntables are absolutely fine on top of my rack in there, but my Michell Gyro SE is very footfall sensitive. Equally, when I reviewed the Thorens TD-1601 last year, I pretty much had to hold my breath when it was playing, otherwise the stylus went bouncing merrily across the LP!
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It looks as if the suspension isn't tuned correctly on those two turntables. You should be able to jump up and down right next to the suspended deck and the stylus should remain in perfect contact with the groove with no skipping or jumping out of the groove. That is the whole purpose of turntable suspension. Better implementations can go down to 1.5Hz, but the usual figure for LP12s, Gyrodecks etc is about 3Hz.
 
Stemcor said:
Enhanced power supplies are the obvious route..
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You think? ;0)

G T Audio said:
You should be able to jump up and down right next to the suspended deck and the stylus should remain in perfect contact with the groove ..
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Mmm, not really. The idea is to isolate the deck at audible frequencies, not protect it from footfall, and a bad floor can rock the turntable sideways which not many suspensions will cope with.
 
All this spicy talk compelled me to throw a record on my LP12/ARO! (Kendra Morris's Banshee -- well worth a listen.)

The new ARO looks cool; I'd love to hear one on an LP12 once it's (presumably) released as a standalone item. I live in NYC but will be traipsing around the UK in late September, plague permitting. I'm very curious to have a listen to the Solstice, even though I find it ugly and unlikely to land permanent residence chez moi.

Any dealers in the Salisbury area who might stock this?
 
ryder said:
Not everyone wants or can afford a Rolls Royce so the Rega or any other alternatives are all good.
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Talk about mixing one's metaphors.

Personally, I'd rather a nice record changer.

50s-dj.jpg
 
Mr Pig said:
Mmm, not really. The idea is to isolate the deck at audible frequencies, not protect it from footfall, and a bad floor can rock the turntable sideways which not many suspensions will cope with.
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A well designed turntable suspension system will do both, acoustic feedback and footfall. Seeing as these systems are normally tuned to 3Hz minimium and above, some 1.5Hz and above, if you stand next to a well isolated turntable and stamp your foot on the floor it should have no effect on the operation of the turntable. I have proven this at HiFi shows with suspended floors, the last time was at the Windsor show in 2015.
One proviso: if your floor has that much movement that a well suspended turntable does create footfall problems then you should mount your turntable on a wall shelf.
 
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