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The end for Naim and Focal?

You want to sit in your homes, not being involved in what is going on around the Glob. Your economical situation is tough and you need to save money.

Naim made in China is the best solution for you.

Even from Israel, as a kid I admired the British industry. Great cars, Stereo, great music, airplanes.

It seems that something is deeply wrong at your place.

Maybe a Jewish prime minister will save you.

Arye
 
Gerard124 said:
What spin will Mick P give this one?
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Gerard

There is absolutely no need for spin, the present highly successful policy of market penetration and adapting to customer needs will continue because it works. If it ain't broke, no one wastes money in trying to fix it.

As regards to putting production in China, the trend is now to bring work from the Far East back to the UK due to our enhanced global competitiveness.

No need for anyone to lose any sleep.

Regards

Mick
 
ariegur said:
You want to sit in your homes, not being involved in what is going on around the Glob. Your economical situation is tough and you need to save money.

Naim made in China is the best solution for you.

Even from Israel, as a kid I admired the British industry. Great cars, Stereo, great music, airplanes.

It seems that something is deeply wrong at your place.

Maybe a Jewish prime minister will save you.

Arye
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Best post for a while I am sad to say. I will be sorry to see Naim go the way of so many great British names but they do seem to have become less relevant in my little world over the past few years. More power to Rega, Sugden, Harbeth and other stalwarts if Naim do bail out.
 
Mick P said:
There is absolutely no need for spin ...

As regards to putting production in China, the trend is now to bring work from the Far East back to the UK due to our enhanced global competitiveness.
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Really?!!
 
Life doesn't end.....there must still be room for new companies to find useful niches. Just think of how well DCS has done; look to France and observe how Diavelet stormed the market with great technology and looks. Growth and inventiveness is always possible.
As for the distant pessimism of our colleague Ariegur, remember that the Uk is still the sixth strongest economy in the world. Not so bad for a failure; although I agree that we need to do a lot better, and can.

BTW: the productivity and wages of any part of North and West Europe makes China look what it really is, a seriously undeveloped country with a generally pitiful standard of living. It's just a massive population that makes the economy so large. At some point it will have to modernise the culture, including political liberalisation, and watch what happens then....China is no example to us, none at all. Unless you fancy a dictatorship and the lack of even basic health care for hundreds of millions of people.
 
Klyde said:
Suppose they dinosaured themselves. Will this be the end of the recapping-thing?
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Naim are a very successful company in an industry where the competition is dropping off like fleas on a mangy dog.

The policy of recapping helps Naim equipment sound good and keeps sales high, so I respectfully suggest that they are far from being dinosaurs.
 
Tony L said:
A huge number. Sadly very few established UK audio companies left, i.e. those that are still UK owned and still design & manufacture their kit here. I can think of Sugden, Harbeth, Rega, Michell and SME off the top of my head. Not sure about Spendor, Tannoy, ATC, Arcam and a few others, I think several use foreign manufacture. Most that have survived intact seem to be fairly small, niche market and very tightly focused on their own specific area.
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Not sure on Tannoy but Spendor, ATC, Linn, Cyrus and Meridian are still UK owned, designed and manufactured, Arcam are also still UK owned and designed, some of their kit is UK built (FMJ range) but much of the AV and budget kit is Chinese built. Pretty sure Creek operate like Arcam too, the evolution range is Chinese built but the rest is still UK built.
 
Pffff

Same issue as a lot of UK audio manufacturers.

THE IDIOTS PRICED THEMSELVES OUT OF A MARKET!

They should have worked out the problem, moved production to PRC or somesuch and continued as the brand of the man in the street rather than becoming the brand of the multi millionaire with more money than sense. Straange how few millionaires bought into the brand but plenty of us normal folk USED TO!
 
Mick P said:
Yes really.

Thanks to cheap foreign workers coming in under EU regs, our manufacturing base is regaining its competiveness. Try watching Newsnight, the topic comes up quite regular.

Mick
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Isn't Dyson bringing some of its manufacturing back to the UK? However, I think we're only becoming more competitive because the Chinese are getting more expensive.
 
Straange how few millionaires bought into the brand but plenty of us normal folk USED TO!
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valid point and one I've come across frequently over the years - especially from new and short-lived dealers. There is a perception that there is a pool of super-rich hi-fi buyers out there all lining up to be tapped. The reality is that gear tends to be bought by music lovers who often make considerable sacrifices in order to afford stuff.

Take the p*ss out of them at your peril...
 
Naim was never cheap but was somehow good value. Its been over-priced by a factor of at least two for at least two decades. Will this move bring it more in to line or just line deeper and more pockets? I wonder.
 
Alex S said:
Naim was never cheap but was somehow good value. Its been over-priced by a factor of at least two for at least two decades. Will this move bring it more in to line or just line deeper and more pockets? I wonder.
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Their new amp has a projected selling price of $200,000... QED
 
This would never have happened if they'd made Nigel Farage King. Ever since the Chinese refused to take opium in exchange for silk the world has gone to pot.
 
Mick P said:
Gerard

There is absolutely no need for spin, the present highly successful policy of market penetration and adapting to customer needs will continue because it works. If it ain't broke, no one wastes money in trying to fix it.

As regards to putting production in China, the trend is now to bring work from the Far East back to the UK due to our enhanced global competitiveness.

No need for anyone to lose any sleep.

Regards

Mick
Click to expand...

Do we live in the same world? I've worked 20 years in Asia / China (with great regret).... The UK (and most of the EU) dead for CE production.
 
In fairness there is a small group of super affluent music lovers - just not too many of them!

There is a much bigger group of super affluent "designer gear" purchasers who claim to be in the know about quality but really aren't.

Even so both groups combined aren't sufficient customer base for a viable reasonable manufacturer.

Even though I think the reliability of their Chinese made products is crap, Audiolab probably have the correct strategy to survive. If they could just make the stuff reliable they would be on to a total winner.

If someone can take the Naim designs, make them more cheaply to acceptable quality and with reasonable reliability and support then I might well be in.
 
The whole thing means nothing to me. I like the bomber chic of the CB and the plethora of menders of such items means they will see me out. This idea that we in the west should be making ordinary things to sell is a bit odd. That is a low value activity.
 
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