Quick question, can anyone tell me where the C102 is made - same place as the Atom?
Finding it quite hard to get the detail and I have found conflicting opinions and they’re never worth trusting - so where is it made?
I don’t mean assembled / designed / and yes I know that not everything inside the Atoms and other Salisbury kit for instance, is made in the UK - that just wouldn’t be possible - so is the C102 made in the same place as Mu-so1 and 2?
I am looking to change to all UK manufactured Hi-Fi products - because I can. Apologies if this has already been answered somewhere…
As Richard mentioned we saw many products being made in front of our very eyes. The CI series was designed in Salisbury but they have limited space, so some series are outsourced. They still have the Naim warranty and service. It would be a much happier situation, if it was all UK.
My best advice, is buy the best sounding system for your ears, if its a Naim one from China or another OEM with the same back up.
Although it’s feasible to manufacture this product type in the UK, in reality most of the parts end up imported from Asia and the retail price would end up very uncompetitive. When opening up a CI102 that is a lot of electronics for the money.
Naim’s dedicated UK production facilities are used for more specialist products (like New Classic series) where it requires a higher skill level to assemble it and at a price/volume/performance point that allows us to do that.
For many years I felt that UK hifi was the best sounding, and often looking, not liking much what I read, heard or saw from other countries, though I think that for some time now there has been a much greater choice of reasonable or good stuff made and designed elsewhere. At the end of the day anyone can choose to buy only UK made if they prefer, though it certainly limits choice and might cost more. Whilst I dob’t feel compelled to buy British, and for many things I don’t, my hifi system is all British designed and made though through decisions made purely on sound and value for money.
The decision is not based purely on sound quality, and some here may find that strange. Whilst I understand that narrowing the choice to UK manufactured products these days may limit the value for money compared to sonic capabilities, I believe the gulf is not night and day. My conscience knowing the provenance of the product will easily fill the gap!
I also am somewhat selective above certain price points I expect/require things to be made (or not made) in certain countries. Reasons can be technical, political, or something else entirely.
There are a variety of reasons a consumer feels this way and the validity isn’t for others to pass judgement on. For the CI stuff, I really feel that it’s crossed the price threshold where I’d start asking whether it is manufactured and QAed in-house. I’d probably want to asses whether it was mostly a snap together and screw down rapid assembly or something more involved. Even then, there are certain manufacturing locations I just wouldn’t consider as a consumer.