No complaints here. I’m making the best vinyl sound ever, albeit with a Superline/Supercap. Solstice is an exceptional turntable and the Equinox is a very good cartridge. I don’t find myself wanting for more.
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Now that I cannot believe Chris 
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Surely any Linn cartridge designed since the Troika works with the Aro since they all feature Linn’s three point mounting and should, therefore, have the same relative stylus position.
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Yes, Linn cartridges since the Troika that use the same 3 point mount should also work well on the ARO.
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I might have missed it with so many posts in this thread, but which (perceived) issues are there that can be attributed to Clearaudio?
All the ones I’ve seen mentioned seem to relate to Naim’s design, marketing and/or documentation. Not to the execution by Clearaudio.
Thank you, so much Clive, that’s a great help.
I couldn’t find that data list, although I knew that it existed somewhere!
If you scroll to the bottom of this page, at the bottom of the Customer Support list you’ll see ‘Serial Numbers’.
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Thanks, Clive, I see it now that you’ve pointed out where to look.
It usually doesn’t matter much to me, as I thought that my days of buying Naim equipment were behind me. But the acquisition of a lovely Nait 50, and the need to find accompanying equipment to go with it, has spurred me into a bit of a spending spree.
I think a different way of putting that might have softened the impact. Saying Clearaudio could have been an intelligent partner to Naim, in your view, might be a better way to put the point across?
I think you’re suggesting that Clearaudio might have advised Naim on all the perceived issues here? From what I recall from reading the history of the Solstice development it was a mutually engineered project with extensive input from senior Naim engineers. Everything is a compromise, and Naim made their name with their own particular set of them. No reason to suspect the Solstice was any different. So Clearaudio might have advised them, and Naim might have chosen the path that resulted in what we have in the production deck. Which apparently sounds pretty good. Like most Naim kit does.
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I have never heard, or even seen, a Solstice, but I am in no rush to do so.
What should have been a high point in Naim’s fabled history, their first proper turntable, has been - from my perspective - a bit of a damp squib.
I hope that these ‘teething problems’ can be sorted out, and that all purchasers are soon able to play their LPs without drama - that’s all that anyone wants.
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I buy a product from Lotus and the brakes don’t work, I blame Lotus, not Bosch for supplying them the control system. Surely IF there is something amiss with the Solstice it is Naim who are responsible.
.
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If I was buying a hifi purely on aesthetics and money was no issue I’d fill my Fraims with a Solstice 332/333/2xthese PSUs/2xthe power amps…And a Core for all that flac ripping stuff.
Just a thought for how it could be!
Blimey. That’s quite a conclusion to come to based upon a few whingey posts on social media.
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IMO, there is just one problem here - which is the ‘fit’ of alternative cartridges apart from the Equinox to the ARO2. This ‘fit’ has a number of facets -
- Physical size/dimensions - will the cartridge actually fit the ARO2 headshell, without fouling…?
- Alignment (*) - if the cartridge fits, can it be correctly aligned - or must a compromise be made…?
- Balance - can the ARO2 itself now be balanced and suitably Tracking Force applied…?
- Bias - can the required amount of Bias be applied…?
Perhaps it might help Solstice/ARO2 owners present and future, if anyone (including dealers) who have fitted (or tried to fit) an alternative cart could post their experiences…? Both good and bad.
eg. Cart X - fitted no problems; Cart Y - fitted but could not be correctly aligned; Cart Z could only be fitted if tweaks A, B & C were applied.
Even Naim could contribute, here. What alternative carts have Naim tried in the ARO2 - and what were the results…? Maybe the answer is currently - only the Equinox. But that would help in understanding what went on.
(* - as several have posted, Alignment has to be compromised sometimes, with the Original ARO.)
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I’ve no skin in the game here, I’ve used Roksan turntables since the mid-‘80s and didn’t consider a Solstice as I’m very happy with my TMS.
But this thread made me curious, I asked a couple of questions to get a sense of scale of the issue, but haven’t had a reply to either. I had a quick search for Solstices for sale, I found fewer than 20 ex-dem decks for sale, suggesting that Naim had around 480 end customers of a high-priced turntable package. We’ve had 3 owners comment here that I can see, one has changed cartridge with some tweaking (as well as the external electronics), one has changed the external electronics and one is using the package as sold. All three are happy with their turntable.
Peter S also tells us all the ones he sold were as the package, knowing Peter’s reputation I’d assume that if any of his customers were tweaking their turntable he’d have been involved.
We’ve had no reports of unhappy customers, one person whom chose not to buy for the issues he raised, so roughly Naim from a standing start sold >450 turntable packages in around a year and we haven’t yet had a customer complaint here, there may be unhappy customers but we haven’t seen one yet.
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I realised a long time ago that only a tiny proportion of Naim owners frequent this forum. It’s therefore not a great benchmark imo. I visited infrequently before retiring but am here most days now. It’s great fun and interesting but I cant say anything that happens here colours my opinion on anything Naim. I would would miss it if it wasn’t here. So we’ll done everybody
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Those 450 customers will be blissfully unaware their choice of replacement cartridge will be severely restricted until they come to a time when their cartridge needs replacing.
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Fair point.
A little harsh… IMO. I think we can reasonably think that Naim would not leave customers of such an expensive & unusual item, in the lurch, So replacement Equinox’s - or a similar, compatible cartridge - are very likely to be available.
The customers MAY not realise that their choice of a replacement may be restricted.
Although, do we really think that one of the present ARO ‘fettlers’ would not step up and assist in finding and fitting a suitable replacement, from AN Other manufacturer…?
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