@Naim.Marketing thanks for the clarification. Please connect the phono cables at the proper place for the next photo-shoot!
So will we now need a special Fraim TT glass shelf with a through hole for the phono cable??!!
@Naim.Marketing thanks for the clarification. Please connect the phono cables at the proper place for the next photo-shoot!
So will we now need a special Fraim TT glass shelf with a through hole for the phono cable??!!
Well, I can cancel my pleading letter to my bank manager. I’m sure that it will sell, but not to me. Totally uninterested in playing vinyl - I have quite a lot of vinyl, which I must get around to selling some day…
I wasn’t at the photo shoot, but i’ll pass that on
And it sits fine on Fraim as is - again, look at the Whathifi.com hands-on feature linked to
Good to see new product, and don’t want to put a dampener on the party atmosphere but imho it’s a shame Naim feel they can’t emulate Rega who do all their stuff inhouse. Still good to see everyone so happy, just be careful what you wish for re outsourcing.
Indeed, I just noticed the phono cable in the photo.
My comment was a bit tongue-in-cheek… through hole in the shelf for maximum cable de-stressing and mechanical de-coupling! Please don’t take me seriously though and start drilling holes!
Could we have a shot of the internals of the power supply as well? Curious as to how it looks like!
Just received an email from Tom Tom inviting me to an audition.
I do get the marketing launch thing, solstice and all that but…the day after Father’s day…
Willy.
Interesting. Thanks Richard.
To be fair, Rega are first and foremost a turntable manufacturer (and a very good one at that). And secondly, Rega outsource a great deal to many different engineering firms.
For Naim it probably made a lot of sense to utilise the engineering and manufacturing facilities of a company like Clearaudio. For one thing, there’s likely not much space at the Salisbury factory for such a production line.
For those asking about the Special Edition vinyl, here are some more details, plus the track listing.
Side A
Saudades on 8th Avenue - Stew Cutler, Garry Bruer and Booker King
Goin’ Back to Joe’s (feat. Kurt Elling) - Laurence Hobgood
Tubby - Ted Sirota’s Rebel Souls
Chairman Mao - Charlie Haden and John Taylor
Side B
Alone Together – Charlie Haden & Chris Anderson
Blue In Green – Union
Keep It to Yourself - Bonnie Koloc
Nice to Meet You - Patrick Noland
All True Stereo recordings remastered for vinyl by the original engineer, Ken Christianson
Will any dealers have it for demo?
Yes. Dates for events to be announced as soon as we have a confirmed delivery date from HQ
KR
Peter
Blockquote
500 series dealer Winchester Hi-Fi can dem it, their email to me says this morning.
(Somehow they must be labouring under the impression that I am in the target market )
How long has this been in the making, thought etc ?
Since the 1970s!
But here’s some more detail
Legendary Naim Technical Director, Roy George, who has come out of retirement to work on the Solstice Special Edition project, explains. “I started working for Naim in 1985 and immediately began working with Julian [Vereker; Naim founder] and the team to optimise the performance from vinyl, using our favourite turntables at the time; either Linn or Phonosophie. We developed several modifications, including detailed mechanical changes, motor power supplies and phono stages, to extract the best from vinyl replay. Not all these advances made it to market – though they certainly got a lot of use in our personal systems! – but they all helped maximise the music source to enable the design of better pre and power amplifiers.”
The team often considered a Naim-designed turntable, but had to prioritise other products as the company grew and gained global renown. With several major projects successfully completed - including all-new Mu-so and Uniti ranges and the launch of the next-generation streaming platform – Naim had the freedom and resources to finally build its long-envisioned turntable.
According to the BBC, there are sunny intervals up in Glasgow. I’m sure Linn are big and ugly enough to look after themselves. There has been a lot of competition put up against the fruit box the past 48-49 years and still it chugs along – apparently lockdown has been rather good for sales of LP12s.
I’m not really interested in this TT as, like an awful lot of people, I’m already embedded in the LP12 ecosystem and am happy to continue down that path – but I’m sure the Solstice will do OK for Naim, especially with well-heeled people looking to get into vinyl, and if the various components are made available separately (arm, cart, phono stage) there could be a lot of interest. A DR’ed Naim phono stage would definitely interest me…
One of these, then, please
Btw when did r&d start working on this? I never heard a whisper at the factory. Maybe my r&d friends weren’t involved or were super sworn to secrecy.
Naim turntable? I was expecting an updated S1 Pre with a tape out capability!
Having purchased an ND555 last week I’m relieved it wasn’t a Statement level streamer otherwise my timing would have been terrible. Also relieved my bank balance is safe and secure as I’m not a vinyl user.
Congratulations to Naim and to Roy George for creating this. I’m surprised the announcement didn’t include any comments from him and Steve Sells.
There also are some custom manufacturers of acrylic covers; obtainable to custom dimensions without too much fuss.
Since when. The Rega book is full of stuff that is getting outsourced. Arm, platters (both glass and ceramics), plinths …
There’s much more to come from Roy and Steve - they have a lot to say in the Solstice book, too