Yes, but failure is comparatively rare, so not something to be too concerned about.
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Eoin, it’s fine to write bollocks. Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks. What a great word.
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Yes, I knew the Futurologist who worked at Martlesham when I worked at BT Centre.
Writing in the third person. Now that really is something to get irritated about.
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Whatever happens there will be companies in the UK (and elsewhere) that will be able to service Naim gear even if Naim stops doing that or ceases to exist one day.
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That would make very little business sense I think. How the integration looks/works could change of course, but separation?
Brilliant idea….but my wife thought of it first
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Congratulations for your very fine sense of humor.
Please take a lesson from @JonathanG.
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Who owns Naim, is pretty irrelevant to where its future lies.
Those of us in the Seventies who bought our first HiFi with the money we earnt doing our Saturday jobs, and then over the years refined our system, are a dying breed. Remember when HiFi was almost mass market, with a Comet or Laskeys in every high street? The interest in HiFi has declined. We lost our last remaining HiFi dealer a few months ago, in my medium sized city.
The only younger listeners who perhaps may care about sound quality perfection are those rare beasts who listen to Jazz or Classical. Charly XCX and its ilk, are mastered to sound good on a pair of Apple ear buds. My 30 year old son has no idea who Pink Floyd or Dire Straits are. Rock music which drove the HiFi boom is dead, and in a few years the Rolling stones will be a quaint relic, just like King Oliver and New Orleans Jazz.
One sector that is booming is the personal audio sector IEM’s and Headphones are selling together with HP amps and DACs. My tiny Astell & Kern with a pair of Shure IEM’s is not so far away from my SPL Phonitor and Sennheiser HD800S, in sound quality. Take a look at the Head Fi site.
Just as my small Engineering studio has had to adapt to what prospective clients want over the years. Naim and all the other brands need to make and sell what people want to buy. That is pretty obvious. I am pretty sure the days of the rack of incredibly expensive big boxes, huge speakers and with €12,000 cabling, is coming to the end.
Small European brands can still be competitive, as a couple of recent purchases confirm for quality products. Naim and Focal will return to profit and increase sales if they provide what the market for Audio wants. Sadly this will be different products to what the loyal aging user base wants.
The Unity Atom Headphone amp is very tempting BTW.
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No news in focal.com or naimaudio.com regarding the acquisition, which may be an indicator of slow internal communication.
I really hope communication improves, in my opinion it shows the speed and innovation of a company. It has been lacking in the past, with a few remarkable exceptions.
Good luck to all involved, I am looking forward to new products and exciting times.
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Thanks
Martin
Those sites are directed at the consumer. I think it simply means they don’t consider it relevant to the consumer looking to buy an amp or speakers who the owner of their owner is.
Depends. There is a lot we don’t know about the next two years that is relevant to the consumer and the answer is not obvious despite what some assume.
- Will the Naim brand continue or will future products be Barco branded? As common to absorb know how and manufacturing under your own brand as it is to keep the acquired brand separate. Good will and reputation is absolutely no reliable indicator of brand retention.
- Will be they commit to retaining the forum?
- Will servicing and support change?
- Will regional presence (or lack thereof) change?
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I can imagine a new 500/600 series integrated amp that is easy to use with 2-channel or multi-channel home video systems.
It seems likely that under Barco management most or all new Naim products will be made easy to work with multi-channel home video systems.
If I was in charge of Naim for Barco, I’d start making a small range of excellent Naim branded speakers for 2-channel and for multi-channel home video systems to build on Naim’s history as a unique and brilliant speaker manufacturer.
It is not at all unusual for a company of Barco’s size to have 2 or even 3 or 4 different brands of speakers for sale to different audiences and markets.
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If only for her green credentials and future vision I’m all for the take-over.
Welcome to your new CEO!
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A good and well reasoned argument, the only issue is what does the audio market of tomorrow really want.
Hey FZ, I’m still bitter at HP for burying the Compaq name. That and them then spending a fortune on a new logo that is a green letter box.
Yeah good example. The Compaq name was well known and valuable but they killed it. Oracle bought Sun and killed that too. Just because it makes no sense to kill a brand doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It does in fact happen often. Panasonic bought Sanyo and just stripped it for IP overnight.
You can’t take anything for granted.
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Yup, and then there are the extreme examples of buy great tech to bury it because it is disruptive to a Gorilla. Seen that a few times.
The plus the likes of Quest, always found them to the place some great software goes to die, slowly and painfully.
Will have to hope that this is a benevolent acquisition that can recognise the heritage of the brand and build a future that eclipses the past.