The Naim New Classic range - Part 1

$6,500 for a brand new 250 makes me feel I paid way too much originally. This distributor has a lot to answer for. I wonder how long this will go on before Naim does something.

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Some 4 years ago the 250DR was $8,700 which was a fair price for an excellent product and I was very happy to pay that price

With price increases it rose to $9,500

So forgetting the ridiculous discounting that is going on and just stepping back from it all and trying to get a bit of sense around it

Is the new classic 250 at $13,500 worth the extra $4,000 over the 250DR

Thatā€™s a 42% increase - thatā€™s the question that should be answered

The current discounting and new classic prices are hurting both the customer and the retailer in my humble opinion

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Itā€™s got to be hurting the retailer.

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Indeed

If I wanted to change over from 250DR to the new classic 250 I reckon it would cost me say $10k

Tough call :flushed:

Iā€™m not sure that is true. Yes a loss of potential profit, but if recovering lay out costs and enabling to stock the new range then no, not such a great loss at all.

I was referring to the potential loss of sales. The cost of the New Classics in Aus will make shifting them difficult.

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We sold our 2020 250DR on a well known UK auction site in late 2022 as part of upgrade and it fetched 2200GBP. The market is flooded.

Recent sales for slightly older models are at about the 2k GBP mark, or under (these are dealer listings with warranty).

The second hand market is terrible at the mo. Shame as you used to sell something and it paid a good chunk of the next step. Sadly those days have gone!

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In Switzerland and Germany I canā€™t see any real price drop in the second-hand market, nor any strong increase in supply: NAP 250 around 2k Euro, NAP 250 DR around 3.5k, NDX 2 4.5k-5.5k only the NDX and the 272 are cheaper.

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About the same prices as in Sweden then.

Iā€™m glad to see that my 500 DR price is holding up.

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Your turn will come down the track Beachcomber :crazy_face::crazy_face:

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Probably

Long time away though, I reckon 500
Series still around for many years I would think

Maybe, though if the 250 NC is better than the 300, then possibly the new 300 will be considered to be better than the 500. Who knows? But I am very happy with mine, and doubt that it will be broken when the new 300 is announced.

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Hi Paul,

Interesting as i had exactly the same issue with my 222, which has now been resolved through a replacement unit supplied (quickly!) via Music Matters.

Pleased you also had a helpful dealer to liaise with Naim over a replacement unit.
My 222 continues to improve, it seems to plateau for a while and then suddenly improves again, I did have a day about a week ago where it sounded slightly off but the next day it was better again. So unsure if it was me or just part of the burn-in process.

Why are all the new classics the same price? Never happened with the older classics, just a curious thought.

3 very differently filled boxes all Ā£5700 each. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Because thatā€™s probably what the original project brief asked for as one of the targets, doubtless coming from sales/marketing. Aiming for a specific price point is something that has to be part of the project from the off. Naimā€™s required margin % is a certain amount for each item so from there R&D and production planners need to know how to juggle the costs like the BoM etcā€¦ Pricing (at least at Naim) is not a case of coming up with something and then asking how much can be charged, despite what the more cynical on hifi forums seem to think.

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