Over where I am down under, Nova has the most significant price jump followed somewhat closely by Atom, over and above the UK price increases. Refer to post 154.
This perhaps suggests most are either going for Atom or Nova over here.
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I would not make too much of dealer margins. At least in the UK. I know exactly what the margins are and while it is considerable, I know first hand that big ticket items don’t exactly fly off shelves at a rate that makes a small shot with 3-4 members of staff wealthy. In fact, even when times are good, it can be a tough business to be in.
Yes a few dealers have some serious systems, but in my experience, they don’t go in for box swapping at all. I’ve not met many dealers who change their system more often than once a decade or longer.
I think what we are discussing here isn’t pricing so much as relative value. These aren’t Mars bars. Cost plus markup is not a model that is likely to apply. A 252, for example could cost $1 to make but if it performs the same as it does now and and is up against the same competition, you’d still charge $12K for it. The market for such a device is limited at any price so if the size of the market and the relative performance of the competition indicates you can charge $12K and make more money than selling not much units more and charging $10, then sure, $12K it is.
I think the big question is, how long can Naim retain any primacy on their fundamentals of engineering and still be relevant? As said, others are doing more innovation. In terms of technical innovation, I think those old but well adhered to fundamentals of amplifier design are yet to be bettered. On the digital side, the opinion is more divided. I’m a huge fan of Naim digital sources. Everything else I hear always bores my pants off. But it doesn’t seem like a majority view.
Innovation in marketing is harder to nail. I don’t think Naim are appreciably worse here. Outside of the UK, so many brands are in the same boat. Small company pared with foreign distributors and shipping costs. I’d really struggle to think of any company even twice Naim’s size that doesn’t ahve similar problems of rip off overseas pricing. As has been said, the reverse is also true of things coming into the UK.
So for me it all comes down to the legacy of those 5% annual increases. It doesn’t take long at all for something to double it’s price that way. With long lifecycles it takes 14 years for a product to double in price. But if we conservatively assume inflation is 2% it should actually take 35 years! We’d all have much more competitively priced gear if Naim would cut that practice out.
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We always come back to first principles. If you think it’s too expensive other stereos are available.
I would agree with Gromit. At least at the integrated level (5si, XS, SN)I think prices are competitive vs Hegel, Rega etc. Cannot comment on separates.
Sorry but when Atom first came out it was £1750 (without HDMI) which is price I paid for it brand new from my Naim dealer
Based on the awesome work by @sihctr, the introductory price of Atom was £1849. So you got a great deal from your dealer may be.
That said, t3 claims the introductory price was £1600. Now, even @crispyduck might get upset. Best not to look back but look forward if you want to avoid possible disappointments.
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Sorry again but there was no discount - that was the price
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Then you should add PSU to dig full potential out and the price is not that friendly anymore
The PSU upgrade on ‘standalone’ units like the Atom etc allows you to move forward and improve SQ without binning what you have already. Or you can just stay as you are.
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A bit !
You can’t upgrade the Unitis with a PSU. Maybe you meant power amp.
Indeed it was £1750 for Atom w/o HDMI. In my table I have only included the price w/ HDMI (£1849) to keep it a bit more condensed. I can add both versions upon popular request! 
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Probably LOL
Agreed, I’m listening to it as I type.
Roger
My data came from the Naim RRP price lists. I should have stated this in my post, but it was already too long. The Atom is not listed in the Feb 2017 price list. The first price list I can find is Feb 2018 where it is priced at £1999 without HDMI. (And every UK review I could find gave a price of at least £1999.) Also the price list is “recommended”: Naim cannot mandate a price any given seller charges. This makes it hard to make a meaningful comparison over time which is why I used the RRP lists.
If you have access to a price list with the Atom at £1750, I’d be grateful for a link.
Roger
Fair point, but I compared my XS2 vs it’s competitors without a PSU and I still preferred it. So sure a PSU will only improve things further.
This brings back memories. I was waiting and waiting for Atom/Star/Nova to come out after it was announced. And then price went up and up because of delays with licensing and what not.
By the time it was in store. It was well over a thousand dollars more than first published. It was my first Naim. So sorry as much as the dealer tried to persuade me, I wasn’t going to pre-order. I needed a good audition before dropping my money on it.
On hindsight it was good because I spent over a year auditioning all sorts of components across all the stores. Collectively, I played for hours with Atom then Star before Nova landed. A word of caution. This inevitably made me spend more cash then originally planned. 
Oi, quiet in the cheap seats!
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