New from Naim – Solstice Special Edition turntable

My guess is that Naim don’t possess the machinery needed to produce this; it’s at Clearaudio.

Do they want to build up an in-house manufacturing suite? Unknown, as you say!

Exactly what I mean Bart. Business relationships fall apart behind the scenes all the time. To assume that more Solstice decks will be made is not a definite position to take imo. I hope very much that Naim goes full-on into the turntable market but they may not. Time will tell…

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The romantic in me hopes Naim never produce another TT after the run of 500.

Instead they move onto a Solstice Tape Deck…

Not that I’d ever be in a position to buy either but it would be a great piece of folklore

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@anon4489532 makes a very good point. His analogy of the P10 as a mini Solstice is well made. If something works well there will always be a risk of upsetting the synergy. In the new year I’m contemplating an arm upgrade, a Vertere, but if I do I’ll in all likelihood stick with a Dynavector cartridge as I have the right loading plugs to match with the Superline.

Regards,

Lindsay

Just noticed Linn have a new price list with some products getting a largish price hike….might be worth a call to your Vertere dealer?

So why did Naim put a lot of money and time into producing a phono stage that could be very easily optimised to work with a thousand and one different cartridges, if they intended it to be used with only one model of cartridge.

(Perhaps the actual number would make a good Brain Teaser).

Yeah will have to wait a little while though.

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You can do as you please obviously, I just can’t see the point in buying such a package in the first place and then not using parts of it, like the cartridge or phono stage, etc.
In my mind you’re be much better off buying what you want in the first place.
Maybe going forward buying just the bits you want will become an option and if so that would be what you should get ?

You don’t load a cartridge with one only setting, you can use the loading to tailor the sound so suit you and the system you have.
That’s why cartridge’s come with a large range that they recommend you use and not just one, its all about fine tuning

Well, I really only wanted the turntable/arm but that was not an option. IF a stand alone turntable will be an option in the future only time will tell…
You have a lovely deck btw…
ATB,
Mark

The Equinox cartridge recommended loading is 100ohm and 1000pF

The phono stage goes upto 1000ohm and 4600pF, that’s beyond fine tuning. Then there’s the high/low gain switch and the MC/MM switch.

The word there is recommended
All the more expensive phono stage, well even cheap ones, come with loading adjustment it’s not unusual at all.
Maybe naim will bring out a better cartridge as we all know where the one in the package comes from and that’s not particularly high in there range, so plenty of scope, even if naim messed about with it a little

256

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One of the things I intend to do when I get my Solstice is to start with my SL/SC combo. This way there is one familiar component in the analog chain. Once I have a feel for the sound of the Solstice/Equinox I will then try the NVC TT preamp. In a perfect world I’d sell the SL/SC to offset the cost of the Solstice, but its hard for me to accept there’s a better phono preamp. It will be fun to compare and contrast the sound.

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Considering the power supply connection has audio out, it looks like it could be powered by a HiCap/Supercap as well.

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I doubt that you’ll be selling your SL/ SC Chris. One of my conditions of purchase was that the dealer had to agree to provide an appropriate refund on the Solstice Phono Stage once my Supercap DR arrives. That’s the package that I wanted from the start. I think Statement designer Steve Sells was part of the team that did the comparison of phono stages at the factory. I trust his ears and Jason Gould’s judgement. A lot of forum posts are nothing more than conjecture. All good fun though.

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It’ll be interesting to see what the new power supply options will be as the NVC needs +/- 18v which the present CAP supplies don’t provide. Compatibility with those older supplies looks doubtful.
A new range would also bring things into line with the other Naim mains powered products that have the low power consumption standby functionality (SMPS for standby, linear for normal operation).

If you are going with a SL then, at the level you are playing, it really has to be powered by the SCDR. It makes a big difference over the Hicap.

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Likewise, why is the head shell on the new Aro slotted, if not to accommodate alternative cartridges? That might also indicate that the new Aro will indeed be made available as a discrete product offering.

A question to those who already own the Solstice product: do the power supply and phono stage run hot? I’m trying to understand the logic behind the full length heat sinks on either side of the cases, particularly the phono stage, which I cannot believe runs hot enough to warrant such heat transfer.

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No Clive they don’t run hot