It’s me who’s the snob. My US Fenders are custom shop so are superb.
My son-in-law has a squier strat and it’s an absolute stunning guitar. He has taken it apart and done some measurements and these backed up a well known theory about the sound of a guitar. I don’t want to generate a thread drift but better quality woods and electrics mean a nicer electric guitar. I’d like to think that Slovakian Naim will be just as good as anything which can be built in Salisbury. Let’s see how this pans out.
On a business trip to China I once bought some tennis shoes as I had forgotten to pack mine. By the time the match was over so were the shoes! I don’t think they were genuine Nike
Back in the early 80s I knew Linn had their factory in Glasgow. I knew nothing about Naim and their reputation was for musicality and not quality. And they looked like home-built stuff. My first product from Naim was a headamp sold with a Linn sticker over the Naim name. It didnt work and was filled with silicon so it was impossible to see the problem. No one knew what to do. I found Naims address in a small ad in a hifi-magazine and just mailed the unit back - eventually got new working one with a grumpy letter from one J. Vereker claiming he didn’t make the tantalums.
I don’t live in the UK and didn’t get the sect-like admiration of the Naim brand until late 90s. Before that everything was just one happy flatearth party … Rega, Linn, Edinburgh tuner, Exposure, Naim, Nyquist, modified Ikea Lack, Russ Andrews
As someone who was lusting after a good system in the 70s, in the beginning, Naim was an upstart company that was very definitely not part of the hi-fi establishment. Arguably with Linn, they were disruptors of the cosy status quo of British hi-fi manufacturers. Two companies that were in the vanguard of the movement away from deciding what was the best bit of kit from measurements alone. And I think despite the great falling out, Naim and Linn still share the ethos that listening and deciding what is a good sound trumps measurements. For me, I don’t think them being an English and Scottish company came into it, just that they sounded best.
Fortunately for the health of hi-fi, many other companies around the world follow this lead and we have many fabulous manufacturers making good-sounding kit. For me, Linn TTs, Naim electronics and ATC are the best, I am not right in this, just recognising which companies suit my taste.
Fair enough with some points @DomTomLondon but I feel some dangerous generalisations in what you say and of course generalising is never good. I have lived and worked in the US and find some things were incredibly backward compared to Europe and UK. Appliances for example and even heritage designs in aerospace from the 1970s. However they do maintain other areas which are ahead as you suggest. With regards the argument about being egotistical I have no comment there. One simply takes or leaves a remark from someone
With all this happening it’s probably upsetting and sad for many as all the time I’ve been into hi fi mid seventies we were awash with great British companies and I’ve no doubt we all bought into the close proximity of our manufacturers making us as enthusiast feel like part of that close community.
Indeed it might have been the case that enthusiasts feedback and ideas have indeed kept that feeling strong.
It seems there comes a point when that close proximity is no longer so essential and the companies would move on to conquer the world.
Seems very much like a tight knit community betrayal but realistically we all benefited for it at the time but now the world is tiny and opinions are far more widespread then that tight group mentality is no longer required.
Same with other companies still claiming their British heritage but now owned by Chinese multiples.
We will have to enjoy what we have and take it for what it is then make future decisions when we have to.
From what I read at the time when the first amp came out it most likely was sound quality backed by Naim’s description of their design philosophy - I read adverts and reviews with great interest and it really appealed to me, but I think that was just after I’d changed my Sinclair amp for a Radford, so no money left and would be many years before I would be in the market again.
Actually Naim sticker “Designed and made in England by NAIM AUDIO LTD.” with a serial # is on the side. Says NAG 20. Does anyone know what G stands for?
I hope they wouldn’t, just look how many free adverts there are for things like the full fat Powerline , I would be sceptical unless there masses of happy users
I came thirty years ago, I had just read an article about Naim and how they could and would service just about everything they had made.
Been with them ever since, been up the ladder , down the ladder, fell off it once into Rega’s arms. The Rega got moved on for non audio reasons.
If they were adding a Czech , Slovakian or German factory , I would hope that the corporate culture and standards would be the same as those in the UK.
There has been a feeling of Naim being ‘’ stretched’’ by circumstances outside their control in the last couple of years
Mine had a sticker over the Naim address. Possibly by the dealer, don’t remember what it said (many beers have passed). But it was a NAG-20.
I used it with my first MC (Supex 900 in a Grace 714 arm, a strange unipivot contraption with an armtube made of wood, looked great though!).
When Linn dropped Naim after the LK1 so did the dealer and Naim was not really visible here until maybe 10 years ago (you really had to look before that). I got my fixes from a cooperative UK dealer.
I was going to say that we always think of Rolex being a swiss timepiece but was started in London by Hans Wilsdorf.
One of the finest watchmakers ever was George Daniels he made watches from scratch, he was acknowledged as being one of the finest watchmaker ever. He also invented the co-axial escapment this was a significant improvement over the traditional pallet fork which hasn’t changed for 250 year’s . Omega uses the co axial escapment in all their watches. George Daniels approached Rolex and patek Philippe with his invention they didn’t want to know. The co axial escapment is accurate to 1 second per day metas certified.
A Rolex is only accurate to around 4 seconds per day.
As with all manufacturing you have to improve all the time or fail
Everyone has different reasons and/or gives different weight to their buying decisions. For me buying locally is very important and from a UK owned business. If there is a comparable alternative to Naim I am highly likely to buy that instead of the Naim.
My disappointment with the performance of two Muso units chimes into this but I expect this is an over simplification.
I’m not sure the Fender US verses Mexican build guitars is the same. Unless things have changed, the components put into a Mexican Fender have an inferior/cheaper build quality. Cheaper switch gear, cast metal rather than machined, etc.
In this case Naim is building the identical components in identical 200 boxes. Saying that, it’s possible that the second hand value may drop a bit for EU built devices, but then again if Salisbury is so cramped, perhaps a Slovakian build might even better.
It might even increase the second hand price of pre 2023 gear - who knows, although I’m sure we will all be told over the next 450 entries