New from Naim – Solstice Special Edition turntable

I tried to buy a copy of MOFI Brothers in Arms from Scott Nangle, - total disaster, wished I’d seen his reviews online before ever having anything to do with his business…

Plenty on his business to read about and most of it bad news.
I only visit his site once and then had emails asking me to pay X amount and items dispatched, needless to say nothing got delivered.
So be careful if what I would say.

As wonderful as the Naim Solstice is, for even more limited edition exclusivity and expense, Nagra have launched their “New Reference Anniversary” rekid spinner, limited to only seventy units priced at $175,000. I wouldn’t say it was pretty, but it looks purposeful with impressive attention to detail in terms of the design spec. I’d be willing to bet it sounds rather good too! More details courtesy of Mr. Fremer over on Analogue Planet.

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Ugly beyond description.

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This is hideous. It seems like the more expensive the TT, the more overblown and ugly the designs. Perhaps this caters for a specific kind of clientele.

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The blurb lists sixteen features. Not one of them mentions music.

In fact, in the entire article, amidst all the prattling about isolation and exotic materials, the words ‘music’ and ‘sound’ don’t appear at all.

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Wouldn’t the Solstice have to be on a flat table for that cover as the large centre cutout means that the cover would not rest on the wooden part of a fraim and Solstice is deeper than a fraim glass shelf. Also the power supply input is back left so a central cutout is not as good as a back left cutout.

Yes - not my cup of tea on looks but fantastic engineering and attention to detail.

They have made a special effort to make it as unpleasant as possible.

I like it
image
From analog planet

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Instead of the glass shelf, you put a granite one, with the right dimensions to accommodate the cover. And it will certainly sound better too. :sunglasses:

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But will it though (sound better on Granite)? I don’t think that’s a given at all.

Looking at this photo of the Solstice in situ on Fraim at the factory (Pic courtesy of Soundstage Hifi), it should be possible to use a cloche type cover that goes over the entire deck and Fraim glass. Only possible issue is the Burndy cable, but a cut-out should accommodate that easily. Apply some strategically placed bump-ons and you’re there.

This should be similar to what I have done using just an off the shelf Project cover to protect my Rega.

Project cover it1

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When Naim had the production meeting for the Solstice did anybody bother asking about a dust cover?
“What sort of dust protection will we supply with it?”
“None.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. They have just paid £16,000 for a record player, let them sort their own dust cover out.”
“Or buy a Linn.”
All laugh nervously.

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We had lots of discussions, actually. And it came down to exactly what I said above - there was no ‘one-size-fits-all’ answer, so we decided to give people the choice of cover that best suited their set-up.

PS The Solstice Special Edition Accessories box does come with a dust cover for the platter :slight_smile:

There are usually good performance reasons to not have a cover or lid that’s part of the deck itself. To that end, any lid needs to be easily removable in my opinion, and the cloche types are perfect here.

As an aside, it would appear that in the upper reaches of the turntable market, most decks come without a lid.

Perhaps we are over thinking this.
Just put an old cardboard box of roughly the right size over it when nit in use. Cheap too.

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Have any of the UK dealers actually taken delivery of a Solstice? I’ve gone without a turntable for months now. End of year is my cut off date then it’s plan b.

I could probably use the box that it came in which would be very environmentally friendly

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Or buy the Air Force Zero from TechDAS. Unlimited at only 550K

And then there is the new Kronos Discovery, well received by many. Just the deck is $100K; with stand, arm, and phono stage it comes to about $200K.

Kronos_Discovery_Turntable