Bulgari are a concession - so it’s their staff - but Selfridges VERY closely control the type of staff that the brands put in there. The criteria are pretty simple - a friendly, knowledgable and enthusiastic human being that will go the extra mile to delight the customer - sounds easy. Isn’t!
I’ve tried very hard to love PMC - I owned a pair of FACT12 - never really did it for me.
I’ve also been encouraged many times to hear Bryston - and have done so a few times - again, not a flicker from me.
I do hear that they work well together - and I do hear people that love “the Naim sound” really go for it in a big way (eg my Naim dealer - at home - all Bryston/PMC) - but I struggle to see how two wrongs (for me) can make a right (for me)
Oddly, it’s a combination along with the cables between them I enjoy.
My digital front is all naim. The power amp is a significantly modified nu vista 300 power amp. The bass especially is so controlled. A bit unfair perhaps, but when away I used my nap140 to stand in. There was a whole octave at the bottom missing.
On return the MF told me why I love it. And the 20.26s
But I live my front end too.
So, a 72/hcdr driving the MF amp and PMCs.
About 45 years ago in a mammoth audition of many speakers I discovered that transmission lines give the best bass, and I’ve never heard a different design of speaker that is convincing, to my ears. I went from one IMF to another to PMC. I haven’t heard a Naim amp, but the Brystons are pretty neutral (=desirable to me), and have excellent grip on the speakers. One trpe of speaker I’ve not experienced in a hifi context, but find interesting and would like to hear is good horns - but for bass they have to be a silly size so a non-starter.
Maybe you haven’t heard the right PMCs. My favourite PMC speaker is the MB2, and what I’ve got is fairly close: I wasn’t over impressed with the Twenty-26. Fact 12 was OK, and is the lowest of their current models I would consider having.
So long as Naim aren’t planning to ditch their current dealers (and probably this forum with it) I can’t see what the problem is. If that picture posted by @ChrisBell is anything to go by, the real problem is showing the dealers in the new spots is how to set the things up properly so potential customers get to hear them somewhere near their best. Speaking of which, there’s no guarantee that Focal’s speakers will work in all the purchasers rooms so what happens then? Does the dealer suggest another brand of speaker or is the whole lot returned?
I know this is obvious but unless we have sight of sales and profit data we will never know , but Imho if something isn’t profitable it will be unlikely to be kept in production,
It seems that this is the current trend. PMC have opened a posh site in London, showing Atmos. I think it’s a mixing studio, but not sure as the blurb is a bit marketing-speak for me (no offence meant Clare). Their 4th such site after LA, NY and Nashville.
Which Munich show? The last one I went to in 2019, I thought the Naim and Focal system sounded really good. I think much of that may have been down to taking on board some of the criticism of earlier demos and getting some suitable rooms treatments that really made the difference. The Benjamin Clementine track, Winston Churchill’s Boy was the best I’d heard it on that a system, like having him right there in the room with you.