The Perth store told me their Soltice was sold, with a Linn coming in as a trade. I must admit, I was surprised at their floor stock. A fair amount of Naim and Focal. So Busisoft were putting it out there.
And it seemed the staff were pretty tuned into Naim as well. It was my first visit, having been a Surrounds customer of the esteemed Mr Sproul. All in all an interesting experience.
Yes, I heard the same too…!
Still order-able online though it seems…
Did you hear the story of the guy in Sweden wanting one and contacting Dan at the store…and considering getting on a plane to come and fetch…?! He’d still be Quids in and can have a short holiday as a bonus…!
Yes, Andrew is a good guy hey. I purchased the very first Mu-so Gen1 to land in WA from him back when it was launched….I liked Surrounds, but I just always felt their true customer base was somewhere else….
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Yes Surrounds are lucky to have Andrew. Way back in the day he was actually my client at Vince Ross. Vince and I were both happy to get him on board for his “gap” year post Uni. I was quite amazed to discover him still Naiming away in 2013 when I resumed my hifi addiction after an extended time.
I found Dan at ATA pretty good too.
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I seem to remember somebody telling me at one of the Surrounds Naim evenings that Andrew was a 6-Pack Olive owner…! I never got round to talking to him about it though…
I drop him a line every now and then…I’m kinda hoping that if ATA fades away as the prominent Naim dealership, which presumably they will considering the link to Busisoft, then whatever (if) future distribution there is here going forwards, things will flip back a bit more back to Surrounds and Andrew in particular……
SC
Ah the six pack. I don’t know what Andrew actually runs at home. By a weird coincidence we both had 6 cyliner Alfa 147s.
The best I every got to was a mere 3 x 250s on my prehistoric Briks. I had visions of reviving my youthful hifi disease and plugging 3 x 250s into my lowly S400s back in 2013 when I got started again, but Naim had other plans and never delivered the promised S400 active crossover. And I couldn’t have afforded to either.
That sounds familiar….Im still waiting for the Upscaler Board that was promised for the DVD5 I purchased……! 
There must be something in that…! Punishment, if nothing else….!
I can’t remember what the Jeremy Clarkson line was, but something about every car fan should own an Alfa at least once in their lifetime….and also enjoy the pleasure of standing roadside by their inevitable faltering Italian passion….!
Well I am a Italian car semi-tragic. I have had two Fiats, a Lancia and two Alfas. The first Alfa was a 1981 GTV, (which was rather trying), but the 2005 147 GTA was really great. Nothing broke except for the things I mangled, and as a package it was great. The understeer was pretty awesome, ( shoehorning a heavy 6 cylinder engine up front may not have helped), and the kick through the steering when you tramped it coming out of a corner was disconcerting. I think one of the Top Gear guys described it as “mad”.
But much more fun than my current ride, an Opel Astra GTC Turbo.
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I’ve had 3 Alfas and agree with Clarkson, they’re a must if you love cars.
The margin in the UK for dealers is also 40% give or take a couple points. When I was in the trade we had this big dealer price book for every brand we stocked. It was pretty simple. UK brands all had a 30-40% dealer markup on RRP. Japanese brands closer to 15-20%. Anything else fell somewhere in the middle. Naim and Linn were bang on 40% back then (mid 90s).
And it seemed fair. Back then the only way to buy was via dealers. They had to do a lot of work for each sale and even then not a single dealer was rolling in cash.
The big difference outside of the UK is that there is the distributor sitting in the middle and they also need a cut. Any less than 40% and it’s not worth the dealers’ time. Sales of these items are far less frequent than $100 Bluetooth speakers and require a lot more effort. I think the fundamental issue is the old manufacturer to distributor to dealer to customer model has outlived it’s usefulness. It seems like pulling a cart with an ox in the age of the Tesla.
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I couldn’t agree more I don’t begrudge my dealer making a margin but it’s doubled once you add the distributors cut. It’s an additional cost to the consumer it’s always the dealer that’s got to reduce his cut to make a sale.
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Manufacturers and distributors do this too, not just dealers, and Naim are no exception. Any business can and will reduce their margin when they need to shift more stock, regardless of where they sit in the supply chain.
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Two Alfa’s for me. GT previously and now a 159Ti. I often use them as an analogy when people ask what my stereo is worth, being too much to say in relation to my new-for-old insurance replacement policy, but reasonably modest when the huge depreciation is taken into account.
Maybe ATA are watching:). I just took a look and pricing and it all looks like our normal. A reasonable Focal Utopia discount, but New Classic back to $15K NZ (about 7.5K UK, which would probably still fund a trip to Cornwall or thereabouts).
Edit. about 7.2K GBP
Really…?
Still AU$8,100 for New Classic listed here…
Jesus, NZ$15k….You really do pay through the nose there….As you rightly say, that’s a trip back….! 
If you toggle the AUD/NZD tag at the top of their web page you will see that the Australian pricing is all clearance pricing at 40% off for Naim, but in NZ, they are only advertising discounts on some Focal products plus the Muso range. But I understand that the NZ retailer will almost match the Australian prices.
Yes indeed. However, the consolation is that I’m not in the market for a New Classic at either price. NZ cheese, timber or wine prices in AU is another story though.
OK that would reverse it. Anyone in UK want an awesome holiday in NZ? Buy a NC and it will fund your trip…Actually it wouldn’t, but it might sell the trip to TOH anyway.
A2A have had this sale for what, almost a month now ?
And still showing only a handful of items as “sold out”
how much inventory did they have ?
Very, very attractive prices and still most Naim/Focal items are up for sale.
Cost of living / Mortgage stress holding people back I assume…… no matter how good of a deal can be had.
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I’d like to jump on a train and seize this opportunity of the ongoing sale. I’m torn between the old NDX-2/SN3 and the new Classic NSC222/NAP250. I mainly listen to jazz and classic rock. I’ve tried both combos in-store and found that I preferred the older system. Sadly, I don’t have budget for power supply in either.
I’d love to hear your opinions and experiences.
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Welcome 100Harbour
I recently purchased the NDX2 , it’s excellent with the SN3 and to me a great value combination , so not really interested in going further up the naim streamer tree
However I do need to qualify this combo as I use an XPS 2 with the NDX2 and a HICAPDR with the SN3
Yes the power supplies give the combo a bit more grunt and round it out a bit but it does sound really good as the 2 box combo
I think you will find good deals going the NDX2 and SN3 . To me a bit of a sweet spot in the naim range
Don’t rush the purchase , see if you can audition both systems further
Cheers
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