To be quite honest that is the first picture that I have seen that does the new Naim turntable justice it looks superb on a Quadraspire X reference rack if I am not mistaken??
2 Likes
Are those white gloves included? The price makes sense now
I anticipate brisk activity of aftermarket modifications to achieve proper matching!
Give me a couple of grand and I’ll put a nice chrome bumper on all the boxes with my angle grinder.
4 Likes
Sure we can see that, the question is how does it sound?
The owner has a made some initial observations along with set up pictures here:
https://community.naimaudio.com/t/summer-solstice-is-here/18452/13?u=graeme
2 Likes
I am trying to kid myself that the solstice wouldn’t match my Naim stuff better than the walnut plinth I have on my lp12….
1 Like
I wonder if the new TT Power Supply and Phono boxes are designed to sit next to each other or benefit from having separate shelves on a Hi-Fi rack? As for example, my Superline definitely benefits from being away from power supplies and having space around it.
As regards Hi-Fi racks the new boxes look less tall than the current standard Naim boxes so I imagine that they loose that ‘nice’ symmetry one gets when using a Fraim with standard boxes. I also wonder, could it be that in the future all new releases will had a similar dimension and therefore potentially a new set of shorter Fraim legs to enable that ‘nice’ symmetrical look?
Richard
I wouldn’t get to excited, you know the old story sometimes you better be careful what you wish for.
Ha, maybe I should of said “what does it sound like with the cramps playing”, wait for the wise guy“awful’ but one needs to know if it can handle the jandl! What I’m really interested in is the cartridge, glowing report (as you would) a brief description with what 5 hours on it? Are we talking Lyra Atlas level?
Yeah, we’ll just have to wait for opinions to be formed. There’s only one in the wild that we know of at the moment.
To answer some of the questions:
-
The phono stage and power supply boxes are slightly less tall than the Classic series boxes (7cm vs 9 cm box height).
-
The phono stage and power supply can sit comfortably beside each other on the same standard sized equipment shelf with plenty of space between (several cm or more). Haven’t tried the usual power vs brain separation of the phono and ps yet (may try that when the Quadraspire is replaced by the Fraim). May try it later after proper breaking in, but visually would potentially be rather unbalanced.
-
Current styling is somewhat complimentary to the ATOM/NOVA/STAR/CORE, but those boxes are taller still at ~9.5cm.
-
Break-in of the cartridge is still ongoing. Have about 20 hrs on the setup so far and there are noticeable improvements in the sonic quality, reduction of surface noise, tracking ability, etc. as the cantilever assembly “breaks-in”. Expect it will take about 100hrs for the break-in to be complete. Also some rechecking of arm setup necessary (very minor) as the cartridge continues to break-in.
-
The Solstice on start up is very fast (about twice as fast as my Linn LP12) and is extremely steady when going. Rock solid on the strobe for speed. On turn-off you hear a slight, very low-level bell tone.
-
Sonically, will leave that for later after break-in is complete, but suffice it to say that from initial set-up the SSE sounds very, very good and just gets better the more it is used. The most obvious difference is in the low frequencies recovered. Even with so few hours on it, playing the same LP, the base clarity and power is there and very well controlled, not overblown or “wobbly”; makes the LP12 seem like it has absolutely no base when playing the same LP. Overall presentation is different between the LP12 and the Solstice, both are appealing, but the Solstice is still improving and hence that is about all I am willing to say at this time.
-
The white gloves are included and are a must to avoid transfering skin oil onto the highly polished surfaces of the platter/inner platter assembly, high gloss finish of the boxes/plinth and to the Aro. Nice set of tools, level bubbles etc. in the Accessories Box.
-
Seems that the shipping may have been a bit rushed. The Naim True Stereo LP was missing from the Accessories box - Ooops, the proper people within Naim have been informed about this oversight to my knowledge.
-
When I placed my order (also on day one of the release) it was expected that delivery would be in mid-September, early October. So was somewhat of a surprise when the SSE showed up last Tuesday (was informed of the emanate delivery the previous Thursday).
For those who have had to deal with the vagaries of international shipping during this period of COVID, all bets are off on when a shipment will arrive at its destination. I have to deal with this situation on a very regular basis within my industry as we have equipment being shipped and received from all over the world at any given time. I can definitely commiserate with those who have planned things to happen at a given, specific time only to have the shipping and Customs clearance delayed and or (rarely) happen faster than expected and hence disrupt all scheduling and planning. I have had so called express shipments (for which a premium has been paid) take longer to be delivered from overseas then if sent from the same point of origin using “regular” services. Deliveries that are supposed to arrive in 2 to 4 business days have often taken 2 to 4 weeks at various times during the pandemic. I have had local shipments take longer than international shipments. One really has very little control over shipping times during the pandemic it seems. I am sure that the speed at which the SSE arrived in North America and the speed it has made it into dealer and user hands has surprised all involved, especially those of us who have received our units. Hopefully the delivery to all others dealers and end users will happen shortly and will be complete. It is, I feel, worth the wait.
Keep the faith.
24 Likes
Great, and thanks for posting, as we are now getting some user reviews and it all seems promising so far.
Richard
Just one question: are you dissatisfied with your Quadraspire X-Reference racks? Obviously Fraim is the first choice around here, but it does have issues…
very useful post. will wait for the dust to settle before i consider this new Naim spinner
enjoy/ken
No base, or no bass?
HamburgSteinwayB and Geo who both now own A Solstice are different people with different stands and different systems
1 Like
I have no axe to grind, as my TT is not a LP12, but I think the comparison should be between the Solstice and a Klimax LP12. The LP12 that you are making a comparison with is well behind Linn"s best.
3 Likes
The photo of the SSE on the Quadraspire X-Reference is not of my system, that is the second SSE installation in Toronto that I am aware of. I have two huge stacks of of the old-school Quadraspire. It is also a great rack but I have been able to secure a near equal number of full Fraim pieces to try out. A few years ago in another city and system I had the Quadraspire Bamboo X-reference and was mightily impressed by the solidity and improvement that it brought to the sound over the standard Quadraspire with Naim Classic gear at the time. Alas, when moving back, I sold it on to another happy Naim user. In my experience, all racks have issues of some sort. For me, I have pushed things to the limit with the Quadraspire and will be relocating various boxes from my main set-up when the Fraim is installed.
12 Likes
Ooops, Bass, not base, @#$# autocorrection software!