Actually in effect I only bought the deck and arm Bart. I had an agreement with my dealer for them to credit me for the rest of the Solstice package as I bought XV1t/ 300 ps and Superline/ Supercap. The Solstice/ ARO2 actually cost me around £10k GBP so the majority of the money that I’ve spent on my vinyl front end is on those replacements.
Based on the what seems high RRP’s for the recently independently released Solstice Phono/PS (the Equinox is around a £2k cartridge at retail) upgrading shouldn’t break the bank for anyone going forward with the relatively good residuals.
All the upgrades were worthy IMO. The caveat being the tweaks needed.
Sorry, I meant that when the NPX300 is used to power the NSC222 or NAC332, then one of the rails is used for the powered 8 pin DIN. The phono stage receives a dedicated feed like the Superline powered 52/252. IIUC
I am delighted that someone on this thread pointed how silly the line ‘it is sold and intended to be used as a package’ really is. The package includes a phone stage capable of supporting mm or mc cart, high or low level mc, and a ton of reistance and capacitance combinations of mc carts. If it was only to be used with an Equinox it would not include such a phone stage.
I’m out in terms of considering the Solstice. In my view Naim has somehow pulled deafeat from the jaws of victory. They had a beautiful design, amazing ‘Naim’ sound, and blew it based on packaging. No committment to the availabilty of the Equnox, no ability to use the arm with most of the carts people use with high end turntables, all or nothing approach ro the package itself. Really honestly this is a suprising mess. Nobody who knows Naim as the great company that it is would have predicted this would have these problems. It really is shocking to me…just calling a spade a spade. For those who carried on and made it work with$9000 cart, the Sline stage, the anti skate magnet, the wire issue on the cart, etc carts i salute you - you have something extraordinary.
Bart i believe you. In fact i know your statement is true because as i noted i went to the dealer and listened to it. It is an amazing table. But it is undone by packaging and crazy issues. The Eqinox is not on any price list and when you need to replace it in 3 years you may get another reply from Clearaudio to contact Naim. Naim does not make carts so what to do. Get your $9000 ready for the heaviest Dyna or Lyra you can find and buy a magnet for the antiskate and be prepared to fiddle with the pins and wires. Really this is a mess. An absolutely great product undone by the most ridiculous issues any of us have ever seen on a any turntable at any price point full stop.
Naim should have stock of the Equinox from what I read further up the thread. It would be out of character for them not to keep stock I think. NLA screens and CD mechanisms notwithstanding.
For how long? Does the suspension deteriorate in storage? As a purchaser do i know there is a cartridge available for me for the next 10 years so this turntable does not become a door stop when i can’t lay out $9000 for a replacement. Really i can’t see how any potential purchaser buys this turntable with this issue hanging overhead. Not for 20k; indeed not for half that.
Sorry to just say it like it is…i am long term Naim…love the company…indeed i love the turntable itself…but i just literally cannot believe this entire situation
And that’s a really good point. Do I want a NOS cartridge with internal suspension/damper parts that may have dried out (or otherwise deteriorate) and are no longer spec, never having been broken in and used? No, not me. When I buy a Lyra I know that it’s been built and tested within the last weeks or months. Other cartridges, at least within recent years.
$9000 is the price of the top-of-the-line Dynavector cartridge. There is no requirement to install a top-of-the-line cartridge. Cartridge manufacturers make MC cartridges cheaper than, and more expensive than, the Equinox.
Bart have you been following the thread? The turntable doesn’t work with normal weight carts. It only works with very heavy tank like carts. So with that information please enlighten us as to what normal price (eg around USD $2000 ± 20%) you can find that will work that are near same weight as Equinox (14g). Good luck in your search. Zero hyperbole. Facts.
Bart so what normal price cart are you recommending? The heaviest Dyna works with some trouble but it costs $9k.
Here are some others based on weight…
Linn - all out (too light)
Dyna xx2 and tkr - out
Goldring ethos - out
Lyra delos and kleous - out
AT Art9xi/xa - out
Hana - heaviest is 10.5 so probably out since heaviest Dyna at 12.x barely works
You were very confident in your statement. What cartridge solves this problem?
Actually people do lateral cartridge changes all the time. Different cartridges in the same price range can be voiced very differently. I know of people with tonearms that feature removable head shells and they swap out different cartridges of similar cost all the time. There are numerous threads discussing it on the SH Forums.
It really is a legitimate thing to change a $2k cartridge to another $2k cartridge, to get a different sound (not necessary a change in performance). As an example, the Clearaudio Talisman v2 Gold and Dynavector XXII-MkII are priced about the same, but Dynavector and Clearaudio have rather different house sound.
Why on earth would you have to lay out £9000 for a replacement cart? Just because one person did you don’t have to. There are plenty of options. I have fitted a Lyra Delos £1500 and a rega atheos both fitted, with a bit of fiddling around
They aren’t “out” Jas. It just means fitting the washers and the magnet. The XV’s work really well with the original ARO ( I used the combo and could go back to it in a heart beat) and the XV1t is a significant upgrade over Equinox in ARO2 (I’d say the Equinox is around the XX2 level of performance).
Why would anyone buy a Solstice package and make these changes is a good question now what’s involved has become transparent. But it’s a different decision for existing owners.