Lovely set up!
The lift-off cloche covers would be ideal here, though ensure they have cutouts at rear for cable routing
I suggest including a cutout to clear the tonearm wand, to avoid clobbering it when setting the cover down over the table. I have that on my cover, and that’s what Stereo Squares does for their covers.
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Having nothing to do with the Solstice, or Naim, I reluctantly decided last weekend to forgo my preorder commitment so my dealer can find a more deserving home. As my order was his second to last allotment (this from the day after Naim announced) and not originally planned to show Stateside until late this year, it’s most likely still a few months from arriving.
Unfortunately, a few things transpired last weekend that made it clear I was forcing the issue with taking possession of this collectible. The first happened while listening to my cdp, when my youngest, who is nearly 5, walked directly up to my RP8 - which is now slightly below his face - and proceeded to intently stare at the tonearm / cartridge for a good 10-15s while I calmly waited to swoop in and collect him at the first instance of any arm movement. All was good. But clearly this was a harbinger of what might one day happen when the Solstice takes the place of the RP8, the latter of course can always be moved to a wall shelf.
The second event followed the next day when I opened Radiohead’s Kid A Mnesia which I had been patiently waiting for a few months. As is typical of so many recent (i.e., last few years) modern pressings, I had to wash all three records right out of the sleeves to clear all the crap clinging to the grooves. On side 2 of Kid A I discovered a deep gouge a full 1 cm across the grooves! Unbelievable! I played side 1 of Kid A and there was still an abundance of pops and clicks even after being cleaned. Upon close inspection there were numerous fine scratches and what appeared to be some sort of residue imprinted on the surface. Oh give me a break. Amnesiac’s turn next. Won’t fit on the spindle. Flip it, won’t fit that way either. This has become an all too frequent problem lately. I never had this issue before the last couple of years TBH. Being a bit frustrated at this point on a brand new $50 record I decided to push Amnesiac all the way down. Played ok, but certainly not the quietest. No where near a flat pressing as the Tonearm bobbed up and down like a ship tossed about in a storm. Tried to get if off. Wouldn’t budge. Had to pull the whole platter off to pry the vinyl’s grip from the spindle. Good decision! The recoil force was so strong the Rega’s subplatter popped out and separated off from the two belts. A bit of oil lost in the process! F#&*!
So it was at this point that a (brutally) honest self and I had a conversation regarding the merits of spending $20K on a TT package for a house with a young curious boy and a record collection dwarfed by my CD collection. Why spend a pretty considerable sum on something only at physical risk that would force me to buy overpriced vinyl to flesh out a collection not worthy of the Solstice? I envy those who have a considerable vinyl collection when the average pressings were well made. Not me; most are fine, but more and more are crap.
And so I concluded my decision to purchase a Solstice in the first place was ill-founded and short sighted, with a heaping dose of poor parenting as a liability thrown in to boot. Socrates loomed large in my mind; an angry me scolding my curious son for breaking the Aro II because he saw his dad use it. Know thyself. Sure do and I’m not going down that road. Glad I figured it out before wasting the investment and reducing the functioning count of the 500!
My dealer was very understanding and said no worries; he would be able to move my reservation on with no issues. I told him I still wanted to improve my source, so ordered an XPS-DR for my CDX2, which as luck would have it already resided with the North American distributor and should be here this week! So looking forward to having my first PSU for a Naim source. Happy Ending after all!
Footnote: received a replacement for Kid A Mnesia yesterday from my local record store. No gouges or Earth like precession of the records. Still lots of free floating pieces stuck in the grooves, Amnesiac had the same labels as Kid A - so yes, for a bit thought they gave me two Kid A’s and zero Amnesiac, and side 1 of Kid A had a fair amount of surface noise, unfortunately. Also, the third disc won’t fit on the spindle. Sigh, still an improvement from the last one, and now the wife can add the Clearaudio vinyl LP drill as a gift for the stocking this Christmas.
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A classic case of ‘life’s what happens when you’re busy making plans’; enjoy your PS upgrade!
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Thanks!
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Amnesiac’s turn next. Won’t fit on the spindle. Flip it, won’t fit that way either. This has become an all too frequent problem lately. I never had this issue before the last couple of years TBH. Being a bit frustrated at this point on a brand new $50 record I decided to push Amnesiac all the way down. Played ok, but certainly not the quietest. No where near a flat pressing as the Tonearm bobbed up and down like a ship tossed about in a storm. Tried to get if off. Wouldn’t budge. Had to pull the whole platter off to pry the vinyl’s grip from the spindle. Good decision! The recoil force was so strong the Rega’s subplatter popped out and separated off from the two belts. A bit of oil lost in the process! F#&*!
Think there’s another thread for you here 
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I think it’s perfectly reasonable for there to be some unsold units available for dealers still to sell. Some customers will be more cautious and wait until they can hear one before deciding to buy
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Has a photo of the Clearaudio LP drill that’s included in the SSE been posted in this gargantuan thread? That bad boy will come in handy…… now I want to clean & drill my records 
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As someone else pointed out (although I can’t find the post), a drill bit is not the ideal shape for creating a circular hole by hand. A reamer would be much better.
A drill bit turned by hand into an existing hole, especially one that is only just a little smaller in diameter than the bit, will tend to catch on one side and create a hole that is not circular and not centred.
A reamer is much better suited to this job as it’s more like a file and teases out the hole diameter.
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Nah…I’ve been using the Clearaudio drill for years and have never had that problem. Not one time. It works perfectly well. With a reamer you take the chance of making the hole too big, and then it will be harder to center the record.
Edit: just to add. The Clearaudio drill bit is very high quality and really quite sharp, and it has kept the sharp edge over all these years.
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Another superb review of Solstice, from the Netherlands.
The conclusion reads:
“I’ve heard many good top-end record players that are also coherent and compelling like the Naim Solstice System, but can’t remember any as downright musical”
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The picture of the Naim/ Solstice/ Kudos is very nice in that review.
Picture from Hifi.Nl, review of the Solstice
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Is it an original Naim picture, with the stones?
People back in the day thought Julian V was crazy to pay so much to get those stones set up like that for a photo shoot.
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Nearly spat my tea over my monitor there
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And Stonehenge is at 13km from Salisbury. It inspired perhaps the Statement.
Yes, Stonehenge was one of several design inspirations for Statement. And, of course, for the Solstice name. The site gets a dedicated mention in the book that comes with Solstice Special Edition.
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Ah ok, i wasn’t sure it was a reality. And didn’t knew, until today, that Salisbury is so close .
That picture of stone henge looks like early mans attempt to make a turntable support until they learned that low mass was the way to go? 
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The best turntables are high mass…