Well let’s look at facts. ANZ gone. Japan gone. US going downhill. The world is shrinking and if they don’t fix it will continue to shrink. If you are counting on the UK alone … well if i remember correctly from last years financial results the UK market dropped substantially as well. In fact one poster indicated he believes these issues exist in the UK also. As a point of fact if your dealer network is vanishing you will sell less product, no matter how great the product is (and Naim’s products are GREAT).
Really this is getting into semantics. These issues are approaching the point of being outrageous. A customer can’t even get the interconnect needed for his new system to function? WHAT? Really it is beginning to feel like that Solstice discussion a few years ago when the turntable advertised to work with a variety of cartridges in fact only worked with the very few cartridges that weighed slightly less than an overloaded Boeing 747. Well Naim finally did the right thing for their customers and created a counterweight that enabled most cartridges to work well. Good job Naim! Now i think same approach of doing right for their dealers and customers is needed now.
It’s a matter of perspective. From where I am sitting Naim is kinda gone. My dealer is fed up because they can’t get what they need to support customers, so they have liquidated what Naim product they had and are done with the brand. You can make it a semantic thing, but in practical terms to us here, Naim is gone. If I want Naim now I have to make a day trip elsewhere, but if I pick a remote dealer to work with how long before they give up too.
It’s not challenged, it has already failed for us. A customer buys a NC333 to use with their 300DR and can’t get the proper cable, even when they know the exact Naim part number needed.
This is how bad it is. What I just described is exactly what my dealer has been trying to resolve, for months. FNA tells my dealer they have to go through their system to order the cable, but the system doesn’t have the part number listed. Then FNA tells my dealer to order it through their Naim rep. There is no Naim sales rep supporting my dealer! This isn’t challenged. It’s already failed!!!
Going to a brick and mortar dealer in the United States is a choice, not a necessity, one can buy from authorized online Naim retailers, try the products at home, and return them if not satisfied. I haven’t bought anything from local dealers in over twenty-five years and my hifi is quite healthy.
The question you should be asking yourself though @feeling_zen is, how long will Naim be supporting your UK dealer ?
As i mentioned in an earlier post, some UK dealers are already walking away from Naim. There will be others that are seriously thinking about doing the same. Don’t forget, dealers do talk to each other and in conversations with my dealer it’s obvious this discussion is going on between UK dealers at the moment.
Every single brand will have pockets of negative experience even domestically.
I don’t have a crystal ball but I also don’t have any sense from my UK dealer that there is a problem. They are well established and every time they have asked Naim on my behalf for help with edge cases, the effort was put in by both Naim and the dealer for a solution.
Ye olde 80/20 rule in action again, Unquestionably, UK dealers are screaming for something to sell, as there’s no wide kit progression/elevation hierarchy any more, which buoyed not only shop sales, but also kept the pre-loved market on high revs too – and the latter has subsided materially (per the comments on many threads). The Business Review comments in Naim’s 2024 accounts makes sobering reading IMHO, talking about recession and over-supplied markets = need for heavy discounts by others to clear inventory, and may be even keep sales going.
…but what about having something to sell as a starter for 10.
That bit I can believe. The product mix is focused purely on price points. You can step on for the price of an Atom. And price points do gradually increase in stages until you get to a 200 series. But if you want separates, that’s an eye watering stepping on point.
I hold out hope the product mix improves over the next 24 months. They’ve chipped away at the range so much over the past decade it now feels disjointed and incomplete.
Indeed it’s now much harder to climb the ladder in manageable steps for most people.
Realistically speaking, I don’t expect any separates below what is already out there. NAC332 is at a similar price point to NAC282-HiCap DR, which was practically the starting point of Classic separates for a couple of years, as SN3 was competing with the NAC202/NAP200 combo in terms of price and performance.
A NAIT212 (or however will be called) is definitely missing to cover the gap of SN3. I do hope that it will have the flexibility of being gradually upgradeable to separates, but let’s see.
Below that, I don’t see much happening in terms of “traditional” HiFi (the 100 series monicer is already given to the CI-Uniti range). Maybe it’s time to embrace the new age or look elsewhere…
And what makes you so sure those online dealers aren’t going to have the exact same problems as the B&M dealers, with failed after sales support and service? I don’t see how it’s a solution. So sure, you can buy from a place like TMR or an authorized online dealer, but they might have the same issues, like getting service arranged for you, or ordering the proper cable to integrate NC and class series components (for example), or otherwise.
I am not encouraged by what I am reading. I will have to get my SN2 recapped/serviced within the next 2 years. I hope it goes well.
I am in Montreal, and will have to deal with Focal-Naim NA (Canada).
I bought my new NC kit from an online dealer at a considerable discount. My 250NC later had a fault. The dealer told me to work through them so I did. After one month I was getting nowhere with them, I think they were getting stonewalled on their side or just not up to task, not sure. So I went through Focal North America’s website and opened a ticket. I was responded to promptly and fairly quickly had a RA with shipping label. 250NC was shipped back. This was during a time when their new ticket system was coming online an they had a bit of a backlog. Through it all they communicated well and at my encouragement they replaced my 250NC with a new amp. They have a process and it appears to be working. Not sure about recapping on older gear though.
Well at least the Canadian service centre is relatively local for you, my CD5si and then my SN3 both had to wing it over there for repairs from the west coast and then back. My dealer handled both transfers for me and both were done free of charge under warranty so it should be okay for you