Naim solstice price

The other thing that makes top flight carts less important to me is I've prioritised improvements in accordance to the Linn LP hierarchy: TT > Arm > Cart.

TT has Karousel, Keel klone, Khan top-plate, Geddon PSU, Mana support. Short of going Radikal, it's as good as I need it to be.

Arm is ARO, which I've had for close to a quarter century. The only downside is lack of overhang adjustability. But what a sublime sounding thing.

Cart is ML into Dynavector P-75 mk4. Both are affordably priced and don't induce anxiety over handling or buyer's remorse. Both offer kick-ass performance way beyond their asking prices suggest is possible.

 

Im hearing ya! Im on a LP journey that stared a year or 2 back. Living where i do Aro, Armageddon, lp12 are not in great abundance on the 2nd market. Most UK 2nd sellers do not want to deal with overseas for what ever reasons. So one came up here and i jumped on it, heart before head on that one. When funds/wife allows me Im all over it. Got the Kleos SL as i traded up from the helikon Sl which came with setup, I received a very good deal good to be in the Lyra system. the Hana ML is something I really did consider at the time but i was going for gold down a rabbit hole. Hey no regrets whatsoever.

 

I presume you’re shit stirring, Per. It was a limited run now sold. What would be the point?

James, I fell for that Linn nonsense. It was a way to get you to buy an LP12 even if you couldn’t really afford it. Then they had you.

I have a cart and phono stage that cost 5 times the cost of the turntable. If I could spend that money again, I’d do the same.

 

So what was the point?

 

I spent this afternoon listening to a Solstice and comparing it to my Sondek. I thought the Solstice was really good. Seems to me it's a worthy deck. Of course, you can probably do as well for less money if you know what you're doing, but in terms of musical enjoyment I would probably choose it over a top spec Sondek, and it's even cheaper.

 

I've only ever bought two Linn-branded items. OK, maybe three if you count Karousel. I think Naim had me much worse.

 

The theme of this thread was Solstice prices falling. How do you think prices might go if what was sold as a limited edition is now a ‘continued project’?

 

I thought the whole issue was that it was a limited run NOT sold!

Several of the bigger dealers are still advertising that they have them in stock and Naim wouldn't have bought up all the "used" ones to protect prices if they had all been sold.

In my view that particular "genie" isn't going back into any bottle so sales of the remaining stock are likely to be difficult and any further issue would be fairly pointless in the short term.

If Naim's master plan was to get everybody to re-purchase more or less their same system in the new livery following their turntable purchase then I suspect they'll be scratching their heads more than a little at present.

 

If you’d looked up in the air just before entering the building you would have probably seen the last few flying off the shelves.

 

Do you have any evidence that they've done this?

 

I was wondering why they had changed the face once again. The problem is they only ever seem to get uglier. A 1980 NAP250 truly was a thing of beauty. Zero zeerust.

 

Nothing to do with the Solstice of course, but I always have liked the Olive Naim Audio logo, that sort of 3-D effect was always so cool to me, much better than any of the current bits in my opinion. As to sonics, really a bit to be liked in each, Olive or Black box, again, my humble opinion.

 

Well assuming we can believe MidlandsAudioX yes since he confirmed exactly that earlier in the thread.

 

Sorry, I can't find that post. Can you link to it please.

 

Faulty memory it was Midlands Audio Exchange

Page 4. He had one to sell and now seems not to have!

 

Thanks. Not that I care but that is not evidence of what you suggested.

 

Well I certainly took it as such but poster is, of course, free to clarify.

 

I don't think the dealers were persuaded to remove the adverts through Naim buying back the stock. I am also sure that others used to dissuade dealers from offering discounts in the past, so nothing new really.

It's a shame they didn't all sell, even if only to deluded buyers, as it will have put a few folk off developing more new turntables.

An earlier point missed was that if you visit the Linn factory they say that everything is built to order, there's no stock. They might press a few extra subchassis components when making up an order but that's as far as it goes. The lady who assembles most of the Lp12's didn't look under employed.

 

Really?

Linn are well known to build in large batches and sell slowly. That's how the Ekos MK1 to Mk2 upgrade came about. They needed to shift their stock of MK2's before the SE came out!

They may assemble some things to order but some stuff certainly sits for years. My Lingo II 's main board was manufactured two years before it's original date of sale, and it wasn't sold as ex dem or used to the original purchaser.

What these people say and what they do are often two entirely different things.

With SMT electronics it's completely impractical to manufacture a single board to order, they have to be done in batches.

Similarly pressed steel casework and plastic facias.

CNC cases maybe not so much.

So define "made" I suppose.

Assembled to order out of a large stock of prefabricated components?

I'm sure Naim don't do likewise for their top ranges since we're hearing plenty of reports of new orders remaining unfulfilled for months. I've also had to wait for them to manufacture new speaker drivers in the past (back in their rather better days).

Difficult to see how they'd be making the one box stuff to order though.

 

Do we really need more?

They may assemble turntables to order but that is probably more a reflection of low demand and the choices of plinths offered.

But the idea that they only machine individual components as they are needed is idiotic to anyone one who knows the slightest thing about manufacturing. Machine set up is such a disproportionate part of the cost of a production run only a fool would do things that way. A Linn platter only costs £200 and there is no way it would be that cheap if you were setting up for each one.