Makes absolute sense.
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But - makes almost no financial sense., for Naim… 
It wouldn’t be a lot of money though, in the scheme of things, to keep loyal customers happy. Anyway, it was just a thought.
I agree but Naim aren’t likely to do that for a number of reasons, unfortunately bottom line is more important than customer satisfaction these days for most companies.
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Imagine, a new model of car were released with equivalent problems.
What would happen.
It would be recalled, to dealerships, to be fixed.
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There is also the issue of the headshell fouling the pins of certain carts. A new counerweight would not solve this. Cohen had this issue and when I tried my Rega it was very tight.
Not that I am that bothered because some spacers would solve the issue by dropping the cart a little.
Given that there are several issues with the ARO2 for the Solstice, I think we can only conclude that option to fit other cartridges apart from the Equinox, was something which did not get enough attention.
Which - given the very obvious flexibility of the NVC-TT Phono Preamp - seems to be a ‘miss’ - IMO.
YMMV, as always.
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This is the sort of thread one rarely sees on the Naim forum, with several dissatisfied customers.
I’m not au fait with turntables enough to figure if the costumers didn’t do due diligence and presumed things that were not the case or whether Naim have released a poorly thought out component that their marketing department oversold.
.sjb
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Part of the problem is that orders were being placed before anyone, including dealers, had got their sticky mitts on one. I suspect due diligence wasn’t therefore a problem. Of course, if people use it exactly as delivered, then there are no problems. But given it’s a turntable, it’s almost inevitable that people will want to try different cartridges, and that’s really something that the design should facilitate. Whatever the reason for the mess, I don’t feel it’s unreasonable to suggest that Naim sort it out rather than leaving people who’ve stumped up £16,000 high and dry.
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What, so it could work with other manufacturer’s products?
I don’t think so.
I can think of several car manufacturers who stipulate that use of non-approved parts (even tyres) will invalidate the warranty. Hardly comparable with what is being suggested Naim should do here.
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It’s far too early to raise a glass, but if I were to do so, it would be to Naim’s happy Solstice owners everywhere!
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Tyres?
Yes, even tyres. Despite the fact that (as far as I know) no major car manufacturers make their own. You need to use the “approved” options, of which, there are sometimes very few.
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Indeed this is the case, where the tyres are specified to the car or otherwise as a commercial agreement between the two manufacturers.
I think that it has already been stated here that Naim has said that a variety of cartridges can be used.
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As others have said, it was not really possible for much due diligence to be done - but I think some people may have presumed some things. Believe Naim said that the headshell could accommodate ‘other cartridges easily’ - which now might be regarded as only partly true.
I do not think Naim Marketing oversold the Solistice. I am not sure if even now, it has sold out - of the 500 units made…?
Indeed, but they didn’t say anything about how extensive that “variety” was, or that it extended to allow the use of all the cartridges one might wish to.
Nor did it say that the head shell being able to accommodate other cartridges easily meant being able to accommodate “all cartridges easily” or “lots of cartridges easily”.
Some seem to have read more into what was said than it appears intended. Not sure Naim can be blamed for that at least.
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Interestingly the original ARO was not an arm that made using different cartridges (other than the Troika it was designed around) particularly easy - indeed, with its fixed holes in the headshell, the slots of the ARO2 answer one of the biggest criticisms of the original arm.
And using a heavy cartridge such as an SPU Royal N or Dynavector XV-1T would bring anti-skate challenges that could at least be tackled by Mr Heath Robinson and his ball of blu-tak! All part of the charm, I’m sure…
Oh yes, and also interesting that the decidedly heavyweight SPU Royal N and the Dynavector XV-1T are both cartridges that have been much liked by Naim in the past and used in their demo room…
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Hope we won’t see a similar situation in a year or so, with Nait50 being said to be “poorly thought through” re only MM.
.sjb
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Yeah well if anyone said that they are a goose