Graham , I like you don’t find it’s physical appearance that great
But I’m sure there are many enthusiasts out there that do like it and there are plenty of TT’s by other manufacturers that do look like this
Wouldn’t be so rash to use the words you have and bear in mind I wouldn’t be able count the number of people worldwide that think the LP12 Sondek is ghastly looking
But on yours they have made an attempt to visually reduce the height of the platter by making the centre black.
In two months time, in June, it will be three years since this thread was started by Naim Marketing. If those going on about the looks were to go back to the beginning of the thread they will see that it’s all been said hundreds, if not thousands of times already. It is what it is.
RE the lighter counter weight:
We have a technical drawing, calculations, non-off-tool prototype, technical sign-off, quote, manufacture lined up etc.
We are waiting for approval from the board, I understand they are considering the logistics. I’m sorry there is no clear update.
Steve, that sounds like an uphill battle for you! A suggestion I made ages ago was to make the same number of counterweights that you made Solstices, and send them free of charge to the original supplying dealers to pass to customers. That has to be the easiest way logistically.
Many thanks Steve.
I am sure the board will sign your suggestion off in the blink of an eye…
You can’t imagine that 500 little counterweights are going to be a lot of money at cost price. But once you add VAT, profit, 40% dealer margin etc they will be an awful lot more costly to buy. If Naim make 500 and sit them on a shelf waiting for requests from owners, they will doubtless be sitting there a long time. That’s why giving them away for free makes so much sense. It seems a very small matter to require board approval. I wonder what happens if the canteen asks for a different brand of teabags.
I agree with you but there aren’t many boards that I can imagine giving anything away for free nowadays.
The phrase ‘knows the price of everything & the value of nothing’ springs to mind here.
Well you know what boards are like. I used to have to arrange investment meetings for the main executive board for a very large multi national company. A general instruction went out to say that only coffee and tea could be booked for meetings and strictly no biscuits. Well for the next meeting I organised I followed this instruction and only ordered coffee and tea. During the meeting the refreshments were brought in. Of course I was asked ‘where are the chocolate biscuits’!
One of my fun projects at work was to find £1m in savings without affecting services. One of my solutions was to ban biscuits; the unforeseen consequence was that the deficit on the staff canteen increased by the lost profit on the little packets of biscuits, so it saved far less than we thought.
I remember back in the day when a British telecoms company that I will leave you to guess the identity of, wanted to save money and they banned the provision of free biscuits for meetings. Apparently this would save £6M a year across the company.
But I don’t know whether it actually did.
Graham,
I don’t know why you seem to be on a personal crusade to trash the Solstice and its owners but please refrain from posting false statements, especially when you have been told multiple times they are false.
Feel free to provide evidence where Naim said it was the best turntable they could make if you wish to continue.
Given that Clearaudio make this little number, which sells for £145,000, it seems rather unlikely that the Solstice was the best they could achieve, unless it beats the Statement and is the bargain of the century.
While the design is a tad OTT, I can imagine it looking rather good next to the three Naim Statement monoliths.
And that would appear to be without the arm and cartridge…….
Remind me, why did streaming take off? 
ATB, J
Wow, I am no fan of the looks of the Solstice, even thugh I own one, but that is another level (literally)
I suspect the designers misunderstood the design brief and thought they had been commissioned to come up with an upgraded Fraim…
Go on, you know you want one. It weighs 350kg, so you’ll need a strong floor and possibly a forklift.
