Naim To Share Manufacturing

My suggestion for the next time: Use LASA in Italy. They have Darran prices too and are very precise and responsive.

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I think that is the way forward, either Italy or Germany seem to have good service centres. I only wish Naim would publish that list of approved centres.

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Sorry bruss, I really didn’t intend to suggest anyone was an idiot

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That OK. I take the point and didn’t take it personally, but I do think our joint responses on here is free customer feedback for Naim and should be considered in their deliberations.

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But maybe manufacture in Slovakia could help minimise increases in cost? (Though alternatively if ongoing prices follow from recent prices then it could be maximising profit.)

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An investment company maximising profit :thinking: :rofl:

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Reading this thread has prompted me to play Dylan’s Infidels LP.

“Well, my shoes, they come from Singapore
My flashlight’s from Taiwan
My tablecloth’s from Malaysia
My belt buckle’s from the Amazon
You know, this shirt I wear comes from the Philippines
And the car I drive is a Chevrolet
It was put together down in Argentina
By a guy making thirty cents a day

……

Well, it’s sundown on the union
And what’s made in the USA
Sure was a good idea
Until greed got in the way.

……

Well, you know lots of people are complaining that there is no work
I say, “Why you say that for
When nothing you got is US made?”
They don’t make nothing here no more
You know, capitalism is above the law
I say, “It don’t count 'less it sells”
When it costs too much to build it at home
You just build it cheaper someplace else”

Bob Dylan- Sundown On The Union written in 1983, 40 years ago now!

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Or James McMurtry’s “We Can’t Make It Here Anymore”

There’s a Vietnam vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
The flag on his wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing and both hands free

… No one’s paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget’s just stretched so thin
And now there’ s more coming back from the Mideast war
We can’t make it here anymore

… And that big ol’ building was the textile mill
That fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
‘Cause we can’ t make it here anymore

… You see those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They’re just gonna sit there 'til they rot
'Cause there’s nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks

… Empty storefronts around the square
There’s a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don’t come down here unless you’re looking to score
We can’t make it here anymore

… The bar’s still open but man it’ s slow
The tip jar’s light and the register’ s low
The bartender don’t have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day

… Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won’t pay for a roof, won’t pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself, Mr. CEO
See how far $5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one your stores
I bet you can’t make it here anymore

… There’s a high school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that

… If she comes up pregnant what’ll she do
Forget the career and forget about school
Can she live on faith? Live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it’s way too late to just say no
You can’t make it here anymore

… Now I’m stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
'Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can’t make it here anymore

… Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I’m in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No, I hate the men sent the jobs away

… I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They’ve never known want, they’ll never know need
Their sh*t don’t stink and their kids won’t bleed
Their kids won’t bleed in their damn little war
And we can’t make it here anymore

… Will work for food, will die for oil
Will kill for power, and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks

… So let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat sh*t, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force or join the Corps
If they can’t make it here anymore

… So that’s how it is, that’s what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper, read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind if you’re listening at all
Get out of that limo, look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone, tell us all why

… In Dayton, Ohio or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That’s done closed down, along with the school
And the hospital, and the swimming pool

… Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There’s rats in the alley and trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can’t make it here anymore

quote=“Skeptikal, post:1, topic:27222, full:true”]
Word on the street that Naim are to share manufacturing.
Might satisfy servicing demand.
[/quote]

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John Entwhistle’s Made in Japan from his 1973 album Rigor mortis sets in (50 years ago now!):

I went down to my tailor to get myself a suit made to measure
It’s been a long, long time since I looked like a gentlemen of leisure
He spent an awful lot of time on my inside leg
You don’t get that kind of treatment when you buy stuff off the peg
When I finally picked it up and saw the label inside
I saw a sight that made my mouth gape open wide

It said “Made in Japan”
Made in Japan
There ain’t nothing made here in this country anymore*
It’s either made in Japan, Hong Kong or Singapore
Made in Japan

I went along to the showroom to buy myself a secondhand car
I didn’t have much money so I knew I wouldn’t get very far
The salesman said, "How much do intend to spend?
You only get what you pay for in the end"
He said, "You can’t afford a Bentley or a Cadillac
But take a look at this motor I’ve got out the back"

It was made in Japan
Made in Japan
There ain’t nothing made here in this country anymore
It’s either made in Japan, Hong Kong or Singapore
Made in Japan

Me and my girl last week we went to church and got wed
I didn’t buy the car so I decided I’d get married instead
We went to Miami for the honeymoon
I couldn’t wait to get her in the hotel room
But when she came out of the bathroom, my knees turned to jelly
When I saw what she had tattooed just below her belly

It said “Made in Japan”
Made in Japan
There ain’t nothing made here in this country anymore
It’s either made in Japan, Hong Kong or Singapore
Made in Japan

The countries where made of course change with time…

I was reading of review of the Canor DAC in HFN and the reviewer mentioned that Canor is also a long standing sub-contractor for Pro-Ject and that the high-tech production facilities at Canor’s Slovakian plant are perfectly placed for Pro-Ject’s higher-end electronics. I wonder if it’s Canor who will be providing these facilities?

A bit of a sad day in some ways. Understandable that Naim do need to expand and certainly the very healthy order book shows demand is strong but there was always something nice about the products being made in the factory in Salisbury. The same thing that appeals to me with my source manufactured in Glasgow and my speakers made in County Durham.

At the end of the day, a strong company with high quality products that provide a lot of pleasure to a lot of people is a good thing. I just feel a bit of what made Naim, Naim, has been lost.

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Seems like Slovakia is in many ways ahead of the game in terms of technology…….

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Interesting Thanks for sharing Richard. Is it SVI? One of their bases is in Slovakia. They’re a big deal:

Maybe HEM use SVI for their PCB manufacture? Hem are Polish. They design and manufacture audio music making electronics - the Ferrum branded HYPSOS Hybrid Power System and Mytek amongst others (Yes I know about the Mytek/HEM battle going on right now :slight_smile: ):

I wonder if Hem use the Slovakian company SVI? Who knows…just musing because it’s a very interesting thread. All conjecture…sorry about that…

I know what you mean @gthack. :+1: .

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Please don’t post commercial links here in the Hifi Corner. Thanks.

Martin guitars, Taylor and others have their lower cost guitars made in Mexico to keep costs down and prices affordable. I wonder if Naim might end up with Muso from China, Uniti from Slovakia and the high cost items from Salisbury. I know that’s not the current plan but…

The Mexican guitars I have bought over the years have been excellent by the way. It obviously can work. It’s up to Naim to make sure quality is maintained. Past performance suggests they will…

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I must say that whilst I understand the rationale behind the decision to look at additional production capacity to meet demand I feel that it is a move in the wrong direction.

My two other passions (apart from music) are Rolex/Patek watches & Bespoke tailoring and I have been fortunate enough to be able to indulge both of these on many occasions.

If you think the waiting lists for Naim products are long try ordering a new Rolex Daytona or a SS Patek Nautilus. If you are lucky enough to be accepted by an AD onto the waiting list you will be looking at 3-5 years before you have the watch on your wrist.

With this in mind do you think that Rolex/Patek have ever considered moving out of Switzerland…not for one second, and I heard that from Thierry Stern himself when my wife and I were invited to visit the factory (if you can call it that) in 2017.

Looking at bespoke tailoring, Huntsman (now owned by a former hedge fund manager) introduced a ‘cheaper’ service than full bespoke call Bespoke 100. The idea being that you would be measured on Savile Row then this information would be transmitted to a factory in China and your new suit sent back to London for a fitting and any alterations.

I commented to my then client manager that whilst this would save me c.£2k, I wouldn’t be interested as I feel I am buying into the craftsmanship developed over hundreds of years when I buy full bespoke.

He commented that nearly all of his other clients agreed. Just looked at the Huntsman website and it looks like Bespoke 100 has been quietly moved.

Moving onto Naim my thoughts are that it’s ok saying that the staff working in Slovakia are trained, managed etc. by Naim staff the reality is that if a product (with exception of the Muso’s which are well known to be made in China) at the Naim factory then can it really be a true Naim just like the Huntsman suit made in China can’t really claim to be a bespoke Huntsman garment.

@Richard.Dane Do we know when this production for the 200 series is going to begin in Slovakia or has it already started?

As I am seriously temped by the new range as I have been planning to upgrade from my Nova for a while I think I’d much prefer a sticker on the back saying ‘Designed and Made in the UK’.

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I only buy British apart from my German car, my Swiss speakers, my Korean TV, my Chinese IPhone, my Japanese cinema system and most of my clothes, wine and cheese. But apart from those…

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I drive up and down Southampton Road on a regular basis and the amount of recent development down there seems exponential. Over recent years have increasingly got the feeling of the Naim site being somewhat swallowed up by what was going on around it, leaving no space to grow.

In terms of skilled resource, Naim must also be increasingly being affected by shortage of trained and competent electronics bods added to a double whammy of increasing numbers of old guard retirees with valuable know-how and experience, post pandemic. Just like much of the rest of the UK electronics industry in fact and a real problem at the moment.

So - on the whole, not surprised to hear this. Done carefully, it could all work out very well in the longer term as long as the core values, dedication to supporting old products and retaining know how and the ‘Naim way’ is nurtured back at the Salisbury site.

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Not really comparable imo, the waitlist situation suits both PP & Rolex as that helps drive demand. (a lot of watch buyers are buying as an investment even when they say they aren’t.)
I’m not sure any hifi fans would wait a year let alone 3-5, they would simply look at alternatives.

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I don’t know exactly but I do know work on the project has been ongoing for some time, and, as I say, a number of samples have been at the Naim factory in Salisbury for evaluation and listening tests.