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The end for Naim and Focal?

They've been bought out by private investment companies, chairman is standing down.
 
You can bet the majority of manufacturing will be moved to China, as was the case with Sonus Faber.
 
It's a trend in modern audio....the 'consolidation' of luxury brands so that they can be milked for the Asian market. Sonus Faber, Audio Research, Macintosh, Luxman...and now Naim. The one thing you can be sure of is a more generic product, as an example, Sonus Faber is now a parody of itself, knocking out cheaper ranges at an ever vaster rate, while constantly talking about Italian roots.
Anyone with a realistic outlook realised Naim was going straight down the plughole three years ago. Production in China by the end of this year? A certainty. My guess would be that a few up-market products will be made in Salisbury, if they are very lucky.
 
mudlark said:
Thus went quad and a few others, castle, warfedale etc.
Click to expand...

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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