I’m not impressed. I’ve wanted to audition a SuperLine and so far have been told I cannot. Not sure how Naim expects to sell me one if I can’t audition it.
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You’ll have to trust your British friends on the other threads. I’m lucky my dealer has been associated with Naim since the early 90s and at that stage I think was the distributor. I’ve been their customer since 95 and he’s always seem to get whatever it is I’m after to audition. That may change now as he also thinks Naim have made a mistake, if he wasn’t a dealer anymore I’d stop upgrading altogether.
Getting something to demo was mostly not an issue before Vervent bought the distributor. Apparently there’s a new sheriff in town and doesn’t like loaning out his bullets.
Last year with the prior distributor they sent me a b-stock NDX2 to audition. I ended up keeping it.
See that’s the difference no one is going to spend this kind of money without a proper audition. Hope Naim HQ is reading this, it’s seems the same mistake has been made in the US as here.
Naim HQ answers to Vervent. Ugh.
Just as well I suppose. I don’t know that I have the budget for a SuperLine. OTOH: there’s nothing compelling me to save for one either.
I find your post interesting as I understand Distributors typically do Not deal directly with consumers. It’s pretty much like that across the board in the US, with an occasional expectation. As an example one can’t just call say The Sound Organization and try to borrow ProAc speakers, or Rega Turn table they’ll give you a dealers name to work with. In the US dealers are far and few between and getting a dealer to buy a piece of gear to bring in for a customer demo is a rare occurrence since so many consumers will shop a dealer and then buy online.
Looks like Vervent was bought out by Alpha Group recently last year. ( another bean counters )
Yes but the dealers have to deal with the distributor who I believe sets the rules.
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Oh man, as Swiper would say. Where to start @Pete_the_painter ?
Yes, Chris is still the NZ distributor, and a lovely chap and very experienced and respected in the Naim family 
He has a Statement system…
Yes, prices in NZ are hinged off the US dollar. Heavens now why, the gear comes from the home country 
Price increases are all over the place. The SN3 is an eye watering 25% more than what the SN2 was. Bizarrely, in the US the SN3 is cheaper than what the SN2 was, so someone is having a laugh on us 
All the new Uniti’s and streamers are up 10 to 15%.
The 555 PS is a whopping $17,250 here In the UK it is £7,000, or $14,000 at the exchange rate, and our GST is less than VAT. Something doesn’t fit there.
I do worry about Naim pricing themselves out of the market here.
Demo’s are a big problem, with limited choice meaning no dealer demos of anything other than standard stock above the lower end of the classic range level. I had to buy my NDX2, SN2 and power supplies blind. I have an arrangement with my excellent dealer to home demo and return items, though I’ve kept everything I’ve demoed 
I’ve only dealer demoed my old UQ2, Nova and both pairs of speakers.
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Yes, seems we are on the end of some gouging. Why aren’t Powelines standard for buyers outside the UK, it’s not good enough to say that different countries have different connections etc because they still have to supply a compliant power plug anyway. You pay less for 555PS and our dollar is normally stronger.
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They’ve just done that for me.
This is what annoys me, why don’t they do business with the British pound? The products would be cheaper, and then they would sell more - no brainer really.
@Richard.Dane I’m intrigued why the cost of Naim in Australia and NZ are related to the US dollar rather than GBP? Surely the distributor works directly with HQ in Salisbury.
If it’s true that the prices relate to the dollar than why is the SN3 more expensive than the SN2 in NZ, whereas the 3 is significantly cheaper than the 2 in the US?
If Naim is to keep its international customers it seems sensible to have a fair and transparent pricing policy, linked to the GBP rather than USD.
Could you please ask Naim to shed some light on this as the pricing seems to be somewhat random. If one is being unkind one could conclude that the price is simply as much as the distributors think they can get away with without killing the market, rather than being simple and fair.
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I don’t know for sure, Nigel. At a guess it may be to try to remove some currency fluctuations and pricing instability; Naim, like many others generally uses the US$ for most purchasing, so maybe someone thought it best to use it across the board. But that’s just my guess, only Naim would be able to say for sure.
As for local retail pricing, that is always down to the distributor. Obviously Naim would be concerned and would take issue if the price is deemed to be unfair or unjustifiable.
I think there’s a huge problem with the new Aus distributor, they’re also agents for many other brands and I’ve noticed that Naims profile has dropped dramatically. It’s only my opinion but it seems it’s shared by others here.
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Pete, they’re new so probably fairest to give them a chance first. When distributorship changes there’s always a period of uncertainty and also it’s quite usual for there to be initially a drop in visibility as loyalties are staked and dealers change. Hopefully any new distributor has a solid 5 year plan going forward to have the brand in a much better place than it was prior to them taking it on.
Thank you Richard. I have sent my questions directly to Naim in the hope of an answer. Prices may be high but the strategy should be clear and fair. Otherwise the conclusion that people are being gouged is inevitable, and that doesn’t make for happy customers.
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Thank you for coming to our aid. We all love this brand and our gear, most would be happy to continue to upgrade but when pricing gets that lopsided you begin to question things.
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It’s $NZ 17,250, which is $AUD 16,500.
The prices are all over the place. Just checked with a Melbourne dealer and it’s $15,800.00. Sorry @Richard.Dane, please retract the $18k comment ( I’ll delete it as it’s misleading). Although there’s seem to a big difference in price on some sites.
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