New from Naim – Solstice Special Edition turntable

That looks great Ariel26. Do you have to vault over the back of your sofa to get comfy before the first track begins?

That does not seem, um, very elegant?

It’s not that unusual a design. One or two of the Clearaudio arms are similar. I think VPI arms are like that too. It doesn’t look bad to me, so if it has functional advantages for the tonearm design it doesn’t bother me. On my Clearaudio Universal the cable exits through the bottom of the armboard. It’s very neat, but there is still a cable hanging down off the back of the plinth. It’s all good, IMO.

I prefer to crawl underneath :wink:

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The house sound of both are great but different. If they make more than 500 I will probably get one. Would rather put money in that vs a NDX2 and power supply for a different flavor than my Klimaxed LP12

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I do wonder if this will be the beginnings of a meaningful “two turntable” era amongst the Naim fraternity. With many keeping their Linn because they love that sound (and can’t actually realise much second hand value for it) but also love the Naim presentation of the Solstice…

…I won’t be one of those - but there will be more than a handful that get there either by design or by default…

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More to it than that, IMO. I guess there was a - “Can you make this - ?” - moment between Naim & Clearaudio…

There are obvious options - but Naim rarely do the obvious. I will watch with interest… :astonished:

Shame records are no longer correctly pressed in the first place…

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I think the plinth should have an option of a Black anodised finish… I’m having a marmite moment

A couple of weeks ago i went to my dealer and listened to the Solstice, just of curiosity.

No plans to change my beloved LP-12 (LP-12 Carousel, Keel, Ekos Se, Radikal klimax, Urika, Dynavector DRT XV-1T) which I am very happy with!

The system was 282, Hicap, 250 DR into Neat speakers (Strata Ministra I think).

We just listened to different types of music, we did no comparisons.

It sounded great! we just kept going, playing more music, great fun!

Though I had no plans on a new Turntable, It sounded so well that we arranged a home demo this week.

I started to play on my LP 12, I put on Dire Straits Once Upon a time in the west and it sounded as always fantastic!

I thought that the LP 12 will eat the Solstice alive, ha ha!

Then the Solstice: What happened? I was confused….I put on another record (Man At Work), same result!

I heard more details, the slam and grip was phenomenal, clearly better than my LP-12!

I kept going: Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Natalie Cole, Donald Fagen, same result. It sounded thought the singers sang better…

A truly memorable demo of a great Turntable.

The plan was I should play the Solstice for a week in my system then return it.

I told my dealer that it was not necessary, so he packed down the Solstice in the nice black boxes and then I told him to even dismantle and pack the LP-12……

A Solstice is ordered!!

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Great write-up. Enjoy :slight_smile:

Nice bike, too! :grinning:

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@MattCray will love that post :+1:

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Oh yes! …super interesting, and yet more reason to think I’ve made the right choice!

(Loving the flash of Statement in the pic too… :heart_eyes:)

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Nice to be reading user reviews (finally!).

Were you using the Solstice phono preamp? Impressive system. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Wow!.. could be dangerous for me when I get that home loan???

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Thankś.
Yes it was the whole Solstice set if thatś what you mean? /Ulrik

I bought my first LP-12 1989 and my second 2016…Upgraded them now and then. I have always liked the LP 12 and still do. I actually had no thougt to buy a Solstice because what could be better than my current LP-12? My advice is not to demo it unless you have plan to buy it…or maybe you have better self control than I have. Please let us know the result. /Ulrik

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My neighbors love that song.

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Doubly dangerous with the new B&W d4’s!:wink: