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Naim solstice price

Mr Pig said:
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.
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Er… this hypothesis of yours might have carried some weight 25 years ago but since the advent of CAM even small high end engineering businesses produce limited run components as and when needed. Go to any high end engineering company and ask them if you don’t believe me… by the way this is in my field of work so be careful with one of your usual baseless replies.
 
I'm about as small as you can get and I try to make stock of parts in as large a batch as I dare. It has a very dramatic effect on efficiency, productivity and, most importantly, on final quality. I think it is absurd to suggest that Linn does not keep significant stock of most Sondek components.
 
Prices are set by the buyer or his absence. Linn's pricing would only be ludicrous if nobody bought the stuff. Blame the ludicrous customer. Having just forked out for a Karousel, you can blame me too ;-)
 
Actually, in fairness, the Karousel might be one of the best VFM things they've done in recent history. The original Cirkus upgrade was about £275 over 30 years ago now. I was well unimpressed when I got mine since to my ear it made bugger all difference. I already had the laminated armboard, which made a big difference, but I'm guessing most upgraders didn't so attributed all of the improvement to the bearing, forgetting that the subchassis and armboard had also changed.
 
Lingo 2 and Ekos 1 were a long time ago, those issues are probably why they don't keep stocks of finished items now. Yes there were some piles of the bits they buy in but since they make the casework and brackets that hold it all together they just run them off when needed. It has to be seen to be believed, they are obsessive about quality control. I saw them making Majik subchassis I think, and they just rounded up the order to give a few spare, certainly not a big batch. The line for surface mount was amazing, they probably could make 20 different boards in succession but I doubt that they do, they're even checked by computer and then any defects fixed by hand. I would say they make the boards for several days assembly of orders already received at a time plus a few spares. Not to say that dealers don't have stocks, bit as far as the factory is concerned they are orders like any other.

Surely new ideas and turntable designs benefit us all. Amazing how so many slag off Linn's upgrades when in practice they mean you don't have to trade in the turntable every time you want an improvement. This is where the Solstice isn't attractive to me, £16k for a new TT or half that to upgrade the one I have. Would have liked to see it sell out though.
 
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