tonysmith
pfm Member
They also told me they sold four from the Brighton store, including mine.
I love it more and more with each passing day.
Naim Solstice officially unveiled . . .
- Thread starter Bob Edwards
- Start date
They also told me they sold four from the Brighton store, including mine.
I love it more and more with each passing day.
Back then for a 'flat earth' hi-fi manufacturer it was outlandish and way more than Linn or Naim had charged for anything before. I really was not confident that the market would support it. I was wrong.
Further to the conversation, the shop owner explained why they had sold so many so quickly. They had a list of customers who were maxed out. Guys for whom money was not an issue, who were Linn fans and who already had all of Linn's best stuff and had nowhere to go. You're talking about an addiction here, a frustration and a desire to spend. So when Linn bring out this new product, they just buy it. Performance is not very important, price is irrelevant. It's just a fix.
This is why Linn and Naim produce stratospherically expensive products today. Naim brought out the NAP500 about a year or so after the CD12 and it was the first mega-priced Naim product. I suspect they'd seen what happened with the CD12 and smelled the gravy. It doesn't matter how big a price tag they hang on the products, there are people who will buy them. In fact many will buy them because they are so expensive. Value and performance don't really come into it. The perception of quality and exclusivity are what sells.
This thread is so frustrating. Why do so many of you want to see this product fail? What is it about Naim (a company that let's not forget has one the Queen's award for export) that irks you all so much? If you don't like their products don't buy them but why crap all over what maybe someone else's audio Nirvana (especially when you've never ever heard it) and what is a success story in the UK business world even if it is not longer owned by British interests? I have my own thoughts as to why you all do this, but would be good to hear it from the horse's (or in one case pig's) mouth.
david ellwood
Kirabosi Kognoscente
I’m looking forward to hearing one. I think it’s great that after all these years Naim have put their monicker on a record player. I personally think it’s very competitively priced.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
My problem with Naim along with some other manufacturers is that it is overpriced. I owned Naim. It was well built and had some good attributes but it was flawed. Was it worth the money? IMO, no, not really.This mystified me at the time. Such large price surges for upgrades, to try to correct some of the flaws? I thought it decent, well built, mid end equipment that was rivalled by other mid level equipment that was better value. It does have a sound profile that can be impressive with certain speakers and music(ATC springs to mind), but I found it fell short with orchestral classical. It became hard and constricted on certain passages and that made me feel uneasy. It troubles me that Naim and others charge such high prices gear when it doesn’t really merit it IMO. I know some love it and I respect that.
JezmondTutu
pfm Member
Good to hear Tony. So you also have a LP12?
It took me twenty years to realize this. It's as if the products are deliberately designed to sound slightly wrong so that it annoys you and you buy the 'fix'. It's a strange business model it is surprising it works!
david ellwood
Kirabosi Kognoscente
So Del, Mr Pig agrees with you!
That should tell you something…
That should tell you something…
Sorry Del, but you can't say something is overpriced when many are happy to pay that price. The old adage something is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it holds true here and just because you believe it to be overpriced and flawed doesn't mean others shouldn't see the value in it. I would then go on to ask what made you buy a product that you felt was flawed? Hi-fi is so easy to choose as you just listen to it and if you don't like what you hear you don't buy it. The way some go on about Naim (and Linn) you'd think someone held a gun to their head instead of them having the choice to say "No, it's not for me". The thing I find most amusing though is how the fact they bought equipment they could quite clearly hear before they did so and then decided they didn't like it is not their fault, it's somehow Naim's. That is just sheer lunacy frankly and very amusing to me
Del monaco
Del Monaco
The fact that you don’t tells me more.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
Sorry but I said it. You asked and I was given the product as a gift so I did not buy it so your argument is irrelevant. It was given as a gift at a price that made my eyes water. As it was a loving gift from my wife it would have seemed a bit callous to say I had misgivings so early. So I lived with it, as you do, and I learned it’s pleasures and limitations.Sorry Del, but you can't say something is overpriced when many are happy to pay that price. The old adage something is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it holds true here and just because you believe it to be overpriced and flawed doesn't mean others shouldn't see the value in it. I would then go on to ask what made you buy a product that you felt was flawed? Hi-fi is so easy to choose as you just listen to it and if you don't like what you hear you don't buy it. The way some go on about Naim (and Linn) you'd think someone held a gun to their head instead of them having the choice to say "No, it's not for me". The thing I find most amusing though is how the fact they bought equipment they could quite clearly hear before they did so and then decided they didn't like it is not their fault, it's somehow Naim's. That is just sheer lunacy frankly and very amusing to me
So no lunacy here.Just careful listening and insight I think. As I said in my earlier post it’s really not bad hifi.
Darren L
Egalitarian
Well, you can, everyone is entitled to an opinion for a start and for the most part it's all overpriced, vastly so in a lot of cases, especially if you look at cost vs srp.
raysablade
pfm Member
For me the problem with Naim was that the marketing approach is designed to unsettle you and persuade you to constantly listen for the hole that needs to be plugged. In that respect the Solstice and Statement system I saw on Monday made some sense. It’s the only Naim system I could be happy with
The idea that people who either can’t afford the asking price or just won’t pay it have any magic insight into the consumer mind is laughable.
Like any sensible company naim/linn have a hierarchy of products with a clear upgrade path. It’s a bit like how BMW have a range of models & upgrade options.
Rega? They have a range of turntables with numbers attached, are they also evil? Are the people who buy such things gullible?
Like any sensible company naim/linn have a hierarchy of products with a clear upgrade path. It’s a bit like how BMW have a range of models & upgrade options.
Rega? They have a range of turntables with numbers attached, are they also evil? Are the people who buy such things gullible?
Del monaco
Del Monaco
I had it. I can afford it. I still think Naim is overpriced. Sorry if it’s difficult for some people but that’s my opinion. I have heard it.I have insight. It’s good gear but not special really. But it’s only my opinion so don’t worry. I am allowed to have an opinion I think, especially as I have owned and heard Naim in action.
I have also owned naim, had a full system, don’t anymore. You & I both made a decision to buy naim, no one made us. Opinion is one thing but extrapolating wider nefarious intent on behalf of manufacturers is quite another. You don’t do this, many others seem to though.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
No I didn’t. It was bought for me. Read my post.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
I never bought into Naim. My wife bought the set for me on the recommendation of a Naim loving trader in the early days. As I said it was good but not great. What I have now is more flexible, more agreeable and gives me much greater satisfaction at a fraction of the cost. IMO of course.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
Hell hath no fury like a Naimee scorned.