advertisement


Naim solstice price

Mick P said:
For about £1000 - £1500 max you could buy a really top notch Gerrard 401 which you just add to you Naim system. I cannot see why anyone would pay more than that.
Click to expand...

Because for many of us, a Linn sounds much better. It is all down to what we think sounds best, there is not a right or wrong answer to which is better or worse, it is a personal choice, you have made one, others another, both are equally valid.
 
Last edited:
paulbysea said:
Because for many of us, a Linn sounds much better. It is all down to what we think sounds best, there is not a right or wrong answer to which is better or worse, it is a personal choice, you have made one, others another, both are equally valid.
Click to expand...

Yes you make a fair point. I don't think I will ever get get rid of the Gerrard but I once heard a Linn Ninja with the same amplification and speakers (Naim 52/250/Briks) that I was using many years ago and it was in honesty bloody good.

The point I was trying to make that the TT would have to be earth shattering even at £10k.
 
Mick P said:
Yes you make a fair point. I don't think I will ever get get rid of the Gerrard but I once heard a Linn Ninja with the same amplification and speakers (Naim 52/250/Briks) that I was using many years ago and it was in honesty bloody good.

The point I was trying to make that the TT would have to be earth shattering even at £10k.
Click to expand...

It is bloody good, much better than my aging but with many updates LP12 but not as good as the top-spec LP12.
 
Mick P said:
Yes you make a fair point. I don't think I will ever get get rid of the Gerrard but I once heard a Linn Ninja with the same amplification and speakers (Naim 52/250/Briks) that I was using many years ago and it was in honesty bloody good.

The point I was trying to make that the TT would have to be earth shattering even at £10k.
Click to expand...

It’s hard to argue with you there!

In this rarified world, there are plenty of people happy to spend £5K+ on a cartridge, and for whom it is quite reasonable to treat (say) an £9k table and a £15K table as if they were direct competitors. For most audiophiles, and almost everyone else, this all looks like a delightful fantasy at best.
 
I currently have a P10 with Aphelion and a Brinkmann Bardo wityh Lyra Delos. They sound very different but I would struggle to say which is best. I think, at this level personal preference is more important that absolute qualit which, I feel hits a bit of a ceiling/diminishing returns. I have heard the Solstice at a dealers briefly and it sounded good but did not make any comparisons or spend much time with it. If I had an all Naim system I would definitely audition vs a mid level LP12
 
colasblue said:
In fairness if you're after a used clearaudio product at that sort of price point I think you can do better.
Click to expand...

I think that's the thing to remember, it's just a Clearaudio turntable and it explains a lot. Only people with no understanding or love for the Linn/Naim universe would have designed such a crazy tonearm that doesn't fit on the LP12. Only people with no understanding of flat-earth priorities would design a turntable which has a suspended platter and fixed tonearm.

The masters in France clearly have no idea of what traditional Linn/Naim buyers want and think hi-end is just hi-end. They thought that all they had to do is make the deck huge, shiny and ****y and the sheep would buy it. To flat-earth buyers the Solstice is idiotic. No idea of Naim history and at no point did any of these clowns stop and think:

'Hang on guy. Most Naim users have a record player that looks like.....this?'

Linn_Sondek_LP12.JPG
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Alex S said:
Gosh, those really are nasty aren't they. Footballer decks.
Click to expand...

Isn't that what the Solstice is? Isn't that what they do? Buy a well loved brand and use the hard won fan loyalty to cash in until the well is dry? Isn't that exactly what is happening with Naim today? If the Solstice was not a Naim product, would we even be talking about it?
 
Mr Pig said:
I think that's the thing to remember, it's just a Clearaudio turntable and it explains a lot. Only people with no understanding or love for the Linn/Naim universe would have designed such a crazy tonearm that doesn't fit on the LP12. Only people with no understanding of flat-earth priorities would design a turntable which has a suspended platter and fixed tonearm.

The masters in France clearly have no idea of what traditional Linn/Naim buyers want and think hi-end is just hi-end. They thought that all they had to do is make the deck huge, shiny and ****y and the sheep would buy it. To flat-earth buyers the Solstice is idiotic. No idea of Naim history and at no point did any of these clowns stop and think:

'Hang on guy. Most Naim users have a record player that looks like.....this?'

Linn_Sondek_LP12.JPG
Click to expand...

This is not a snide remark at all, but a genuine proposition: perhaps the "traditional" UK Naim/Linn buyer represents only a small fraction of the modern Naim market, so their concerns and tastes carry little relative weight in designing a new product.
 
gustav_errata said:
This is not a snide remark at all, but a genuine proposition: perhaps the "traditional" UK Naim/Linn buyer represents only a small fraction of the modern Naim market, so their concerns and tastes carry little relative weight in designing a new product.
Click to expand...

It would be interesting to see data on sales of say Nova vs SN2 with a source. I think Naim would do well to look at what is happening with Super integrateds and other one box solutions. Most people (even some supposed Audiophiles) want simplicity and ease of use.
 
it would also be interesting to know if anyone has ditched their Linn (or other high end deck) for the Solstice or indeed if anyone is using the solstice outside of a Naim system
 
gustav_errata said:
Perhaps the "traditional" UK Naim/Linn buyer represents only a small fraction of the modern Naim market, so their concerns and tastes carry little relative weight in designing a new product.
Click to expand...

In theory that makes sense but sales of the Solstice suggest, at least in this case, otherwise.

When you cash in on a well loved brand name there is a crossover between the old guard and new buyers who only know the brand by reputation. They don't know why people loved the brand or what the values were, they only know that a lot of people think the brand is great so it's a safe buy for them. But for a while you have two sets of potential customer. You've got old buyers who have not yet realized that you're not who you used to be and new buyers who never knew in the first place.

In the Solstice we seem to have the remarkable achievement of missing the mark with everyone! We old guy think it's wrong and don't see it as more desirable that an LP12 option. New buyers are of a generation who don't understand why you'd want to spend sixteen grand on a record player. The upshot is that the deck makes sense to very few people and in the grander scheme of things is an indication that, as a company, Naim are fecked.
 
Ryder35 said:
I currently have a P10 with Aphelion and a Brinkmann Bardo wityh Lyra Delos. They sound very different but I would struggle to say which is best. I think, at this level personal preference is more important that absolute qualit which, I feel hits a bit of a ceiling/diminishing returns. I have heard the Solstice at a dealers briefly and it sounded good but did not make any comparisons or spend much time with it. If I had an all Naim system I would definitely audition vs a mid level LP12
Click to expand...

Nice choices, what tonearm do you use on the Bardo?
 
Darren L said:
Nice choices, what tonearm do you use on the Bardo?
Click to expand...

Thanks, I really need to decide on just 1 but they both offer different things. The Bardo is just really lively and punchy, the P10 smooth and refined. I have the 10" brinkmann arm on the Bardo as that was all the budget would stretch to. If I sell the P10 at some point I may upgrade cart and arm.
 
And this is the problem. I worked hard for two weeks and bought a new LP12 for £350. Not sure what my 32.5/110 then HC/250 cost but they were within reach without me feeling absurd.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top