Has there been a comparative review anywhere of the ARO with its recent successor found on the Solstice?
I have seen comments along the lines that the ‘new’ ARO is ‘too heavy’ for the LP12’s suspension, which seems odd as they look superficially pretty similar.
My apologies if this topic has been aired elsewhere, and please direct me to it - thanks.
Apart from being fitted to the limited edition Solstice, the ARO2 is not presently being sold as a separate item.
As James says, any comparison is somewhat difficult, if not entirely moot due to the ARO2 being only available on the Solstice.
As James wrote Solstice production is done and dusted which is perplexing because the deck and arm combo are fantastic!!
What a strange situation. I sort of ‘get’ that the Solstice was intended as a limited edition turntable - never to be repeated, and all that.
But it does seem very odd to go to the trouble of re-designing a tonearm more or less from scratch, then simply abandoning the concept entirely.
Perhaps Naim regard vinyl replay (and CD, perhaps, too) as rather ‘last Century’, and think that we should all be concentrating on streaming now? I hope not.
It wasn’t just the tonearm Graham the turntable like the ARO 2 was designed chiefly by Roy George. Imagine the time that must have gone into it. I see it as his parting gesture to Naim.
However I can’t help but feel that the decision makers at Naim ‘missed a trick’ with this turntable not leaving a door open to build more and/or breaking the package down as separates. I spoke to Jas Gould and Colin their sales rep on Saturday evening about this exact topic. Jas told me that there’s another guy closely associated with the company who has changed the cartridge/ phono stage to the same as those that I use and he’s equally blown away with the sound. Oh well!!
Still listed as a product too. I do find that a bit odd, though understandable they don’t wish to advertise it as effectively discontinued. I wonder what the trigger to revise/remove the listing will be, all units sold? And how would they know that, feedback from dealers?
A negative post, for which I’m not proud, but also I’m a confused Naim adherent.
I don’t believe for one moment that Naim would commit resources to releasing five new products (turntable, arm, cartridge, phono stage, power supply) unless they thought there would be sales potential beyond the initial batch. My guess, given that Naim seem to have found product launches particularly badly delayed for a few years, is that it’s another thing just waiting in the queue.
I find the whole thing very odd, and confusing. Looked at from outside, it seems to reflect muddled thinking and does not present a coherent picture.
But it will have no effect on me, as I have no interest in the Solstice or its constituent parts. My lovely old LP12 will soldier on for a few more years, with its new plinth and cartridge.
As a happy Solstice owner I was disappointed to hear it had been discontinued after 500. The special edition thing never made any sense to me. I get that covid messed up the manufacturing and delivery but I think Naim made a mistake abandoning it. Solstice is an exceptional turntable and arm combo in the greatest tradition of Naim sources. Vinyl is a huge market, I would have loved to see a whole ecosystem of phono products. A missed opportunity in my opinion.
Oh, Naim could have easily adapted the ARO2 to the LP12.
Is vinyl really a huge market at that level? I’m not convinced. Maybe at the level of budget turntables of which there now seems to be an abundance out there. If that’s the case I really wonder if there was a huge return on investment for Naim given that a bulk of the work was “outsourced” to clearaudio who were the main drivers of producing a limited number, if I’m not mistaken. If that constraint was lifted then perhaps Naim would have happily continued
Don’t forget clearaudio are involved with this as well. Who is to say the relationship didn’t sour for some reason (manufacturing issues, failure to meet delivery deadlines etc) and that is why there is no sign of more units?
What cart/phono do you use Cohen? I have tried my rega aphelion 2 (fitting issues) and Lyra Delos and am back with the supplied cart for now
Dynavector XV1t with Superline/ Supercap Ryder. Both the magnet to bias bolt and copper washers between cartridge and tonearm headshell have been endorsed by Naim so fitting most cartridges shouldn’t be an issue.
I’ve also changed all cables bar the tonearm cable with very good effect. One that forum rules won’t let me discuss included. Varyat has changed to a Lyra arm cable and wrote that it was an improvement over the Clearaudio designed and manufactured supplied one. So plenty can be done to improve the original “package” if desired.
With all mods in place my Solstice costs more or less the same as a Klimax LP12 and is, shall we say, a worthy competitor to that excellent turntable.
We don’t know, but ClearAudio released a super turntable /Solstice Competitor of their own a few months later.
ClearAudio do work with other companies such as Linn/Marantz -so I would expect relations to be professional and amicable
Who knows what Naim will do next but I’m sure there would be a big market for an Aro2 with arm boards for Linn, Vertere, Michell, Avid etc.
Ah, yes sorry you changed your avatar so I did not make the connection!
I have decided to go back to the basics and run my system with the power line lights and standard cables/cart for a few months to get a benchmark before plying around any more. Knowing me I will be tinkering again within a week😉
Fair enough. Happy listening!
Considering that Naim sold out the Solstice SE in a matter of days I would say there is a market for high end turntables. Unfortunately when it was discontinued dealers had little interest in stocking a demo turntable that was not available to sell. What’s the point?
I say that Solstice is a missed opportunity because it sounds so good. Vinyl has become my primary source, surpassing my ND555 with two power supplies. Naim is capable of building one of the best turntables, its a shame they won’t capitalize on this.
Ok fair enough a niche market. Maybe they can convince the main players to continue to produce more if it is worth their while and they want to. Who knows?
Vinyl is no longer used mainly because I have other priorities in life. Even the recently serviced cds3 and xps2 gets very little time. Streaming is so much more convenient and I find it great. Half of my CDs are ripped to the SSD in the Auralic and most of the time good enough for me. Maybe this will change if I decide to upgrade the LP12 one last time but maybe not. I will possibly entertain a new cartridge as a retirement present to myself, since I have some great stuff on vinyl. Let’s see