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New Naim S1 pre/power

merlin said:
I've been told by a number of Richer staff that it is happening and soon.

I've heard a long term friend and Naim dealer complain about it too and that Dougie Graham is denying it.

Interesting times.
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Well, why not?

Richer Sounds is more dynamic, more sales oriented and less staffed by rude, socially inept, incompetent, snaggletoothed extras from The Wicker Man than most UK hi-fi shops. I think it would be a good thing. The only downside might be the army of equally socially inept, snaggletoothed extras from The Wicker Man that constitute Naim's fan base might get scared having to speak to people who are different to them.

I doubt Richer would take anything apart from the UnitiQute, because their business model precludes big money equipment. It may also be a trade-off to get more Focal speakers in store (whether that's Richer or Naim doing the trading, who knows?).

But this is speculation on speculation. We'll see it when and if it happens. Until then it's idle gossip.
 
Clay B said:
Gentlemen

I had expected the comments to have have started earlier, right after CES so I am surprised it has taken so long. I was fortunate enough to hear the Statement at CES. In my 40 years in the audio hobby I have never heard a more impressive demonstration of the recreation of a musical event than I heard in the Naim room through the Statement and a pair of high-end Focal Utopia speakers. Mind blowingly good and I wasn't the only one who thought so. This was also after having heard many other really impressive systems at the show some, believe it or not, costing much more. No asset stripping on display at CES just a very high level of engineering competence and aerospace quality construction. Coming from a British company I would think you should be proud of what Naim has done.

Like you, I can't come close to paying the sales tax on a Statement but that doesn't mean it isn't impressive and trust me there are customers out there. And frankly, I've heard all of the new very affordable Naim Naits and they are all excellent even if perhaps not everyone's specific cup of tea. I admire Teddy Pardo, Mr. Croft, and Avondale, but do not kid yourself, they and Naim use entirely different business models (not necessarily better or worse just different) and I suspect Naim will be doing well long after these fine gentlemen have taken a well earned retirement. They know where the market is going and they have the engineering and managerial heft to be successful. Enjoy!
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Yes I agree. I haven't listened to these amps (yet) but I'd be interested to compare the sound to other expensive amps like Soulutions, FM Acoustic, daRTZeel, Krell, MBL and so on. I'm not British but I've always bought British amps and speakers because of the sound and build quality. Very happy to see Naim push the boundaries of what is possible and expand the range of options available to its customers. Excellent stuff!
 
I wonder what a re-cap of an S1 system will cost after 8-10 years? Saw the thread on the Naim forum about the cost of re-capping a 500 in the States.. over 7000 USD!!
 
merlin said:
I've been told by a number of Richer staff that it is happening and soon.

I've heard a long term friend and Naim dealer complain about it too and that Dougie Graham is denying it.

Interesting times.
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I can't see the problem with this at all. Cracking idea in fact. I've bought quite of bit of stuff from Richer Sounds over the years (tbs, second systems, low end AV etc) and without exception, the staff have been as helpful, knowledgeable and courteous as they come.

Recently, I bought a £250 Sony AV amp for our new TV and had to give them a call about setting it up, having never had any sort of surround sound before. The chap I got talked me through what to do off the cuff and without even having to go and look anything up - spending ages at it as well. Given the range of stuff they sell, I think that's pretty impressive.
 
The NAP500 has regulated power supplies. It came out in 2000. There are various types of regulated power supplies and variations thereof.
 
Jo Sharp said:
I wonder what a re-cap of an S1 system will cost after 8-10 years? Saw the thread on the Naim forum about the cost of re-capping a 500 in the States.. over 7000 USD!!
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I'm sure you didn't deliberately misrepresent what was posted on the Naim forum. Read it again.
 
bob atherton said:
A tale of two Julians, but poles apart in this case....
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Very true Bob. I don't see a problem with it either though, especially as many of the traditional outlets EE refers to are sadly succumbing to the recession and demise of the "mid-fi" market on British high streets.
 
Suffolk Tony said:
I'm sure you didn't deliberately misrepresent what was posted on the Naim forum. Read it again.
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The article on the Naim forum reports that the engineer takes it upon
himself to completely dismantle the 500 in order to perform a routine
service. He claims to expend 50 hours on the procedure which seems
at first sight to be rather excessive - although I don't know how long
are coffee breaks in the US.

This is akin to having your car totally dismembered for a service and is
likely to be viewed as folks making work for themselves.

In my experience, totally ridiculous and wholly unnecessary.
 
What makes me laugh is that the people with serious wealth are mostly the Alan Sugar's and footballers with dubious taste, and although they may buy this stuff, they'll be playing Kylie and Coldplay. Jeremy Clarkson will get one and play mostly late 70s Fleetwood Mac and Chris de Burgh.
:)

(I'm only joking)
 
2 many boxes said:
Yeah, several vacuum tubes with small metal parts in them (aka light bulbs) and a transformer which was wound with some degree of care, that's much better value for money.

What you pay for is the design. Even the most esoteric designs probably cost no more that £50 - £100 for the components and can be assembled in a couple of hours max.

So if someone actually managed to produce the perfect amplifier with only 3 components, you'd say 'that's not value for money, I want more components'?
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Giving your viewpoint as much respect as it deserves, that's at least partial cock.

The most esoteric designs are packed full of crazy ideas, and expensive components, with all the ease of assembly of a Citroen's suspension system from the mid-1980s. And, because they don't crank out these products as often as a company like Citroen, the unit price goes up

Look at something like an Ayre MX-R and KX-R or the Soulution stuff. Those things are neither easy nor cheap to build. Their chassis are custom made, heavy and packed with components, many of which have an astronomical per-unit cost. I'm fairly sure if Naim is selling these things for £120,000, the BOM is in the low thousands and the assembly time is measured in man-days.

The bigger question is whether those things are necessary. They are necessary to sell high-end products to high-end buyers, so commercially the answer is 'yes'. But, does spending 5000x over the odds per resistor on Vishays or 1000x over the price of a good capacitor for a capacitor with a reputation in the audio world make a difference to the sound quality of the overall system, or are they there to justify the price?
 
I've just started taking on NAP300s for servicing for a fraction of Naim's prices. The amp takes an age to pull apart and put back together even if the power supply doesn't. Like the original mini I don't think the designers thought much about how easy it was to service.

I seriously doubt the 500 took 50 hours to build let alone service.
 
Kraus said:
I didn't realise you service the NAP 500.

How long does it take you - and what are your charges?
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As Mark - an ex-Naim engineer opined, 50 Hours is excessive
and he doubts if it takes this long to build one from scratch.

Do I take it that you own a 500 which needs a service.?

Try me if your post is serious......
 
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