It costs a lot these days that for sure, but how many do you sell these days, also for a lot of very high end gear, its not even looked at i am sorry to say.
Naim just doesn’t have the right badge on it for these guys
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When I was in a student flat I had a Bush amplifier, Armstrong tuner (mono) and a budget Garrard deck. A flatmate had a home built tube amplifier and speakers (can’t remember brand). The students in the flat downstairs were more upmarket and had a Quad amp. In later years with more income I upgraded my system. I doubt if there are many young people buying separate hifi products today. Hifi may become like Golf clubs where there is an ever older membership. Presumably Naim, Linn and others are thinking about this!
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I think that to most people, regardless of cost, the idea of devoting the amount of space needed to get the best out of a high quality, full range HiFi system is incomprehensible. Add in the cost of a good quality system and that rules out quite a few more.
Having said the above, products such as the Uniti and Si ranges (and equivalents from other manufacturers) provide more performance than was available from similar concept products a generation before. Also, with advances in class D and compact streamers, good quality, inexpensive audio is better value and takes up less space than ever before. Brands such as Schiit, Temple Audio, Pro-ject and all those reviewed on YouTube (SMSL, Topping et al - I’m a bit weary but people seem to love them) are testament to the growth of ultra compact desktop audio.
As a case in point, the Tidal Premium (iPad controlled) to Tibo streamer to Temple Audio Bantam amplifier to wall-mounted Tannoy system that is in my 6 year-old’s bedroom offers a compact, good SQ system the likes of which was not really available until recently. The electronics (including the UK made amplifier) cost less than £150 all in and take up less space than a couple of Harry Potter books.
Against all this, I am a firm believer that even many keen ‘audiophiles’ don’t get the best out of ‘mid-range’ products as a lack of knowledge or domestic compromises (harmony) lead to set-ups which have much untapped potential. Speaker placement is the most obvious but equipment placement and correct isolation/coupling allow even ‘modest’ electronics to perform very well.
I approach the hobby from a love of music but also engineering and system building. I like cars as well (and have two ‘toys’ in the garage) but I must admit that with pressures on car ownership thanks largely to the ‘current demonisation’ of the automobile by media, pressure groups and legislators alike, to me and rather regrettably, HiFi is an easier, cheaper to buy and less expensive to run hobby than interesting car ownership.
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I remember this question being asked in magazines and other places back in the 90s when home PCs took off. Hi-Fi of the upper-middle level to extremely high end, which is where Naim sits, will have ups and downs but there will always be a demand. I had friends who used to have cheap music centres or just portable cassette players for their music and think my vinyl based system was excessive. Whilst many remained at that level for their music listening a few of them did move on to “proper” hi-fi and have invested much more than I have. Then are there are the lifestyle folk with loads of money, who will buy tin coloured systems because having an expensive rarity will appeal. I am sure Naim, Linn and many of the other specialist manufacturers will survive, they might have to tighten their belts a bit for a couple of years but after that, there will be opportunities for astute companies like Naim to look to expand their product range with more entry drugs like the Muso and Uniti ranges. I am always surprised at how many people post here who started with a Muso or Uniti who are asking about upgrading.
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I was in a one bedroom condo and couldn’t have anything more than a Mu-so. Also I was planning to buy a house soon so the Mu-so was destined for a bedroom or whatever. Instead the Mu-so became a half price Qb version 1 which I love. I have to say, I moved a year January, placed the Qb in the basement and (knock on wood) it has been flawless since. So when I bought the house I grabbed an Atom with Focal Chora 816s. The Atom had a weird screen so I upgraded to the Nova.
I’ve mentioned often how much I love the “cheepo” 816s. Since adding Isoacoustics Gaia IIIs to them they have improved a great deal. Aria level? It sounds like the music is coming from space.
A friend owned an audio store in the 1970s so I had Crown and Electrovoice way back then. That became BGW and Polk in a next incarnation. Around 2007 I became mobile first in Airstream campers and then sailboats. As such I downsized everything. Now in a home I’m re-acquiring. I must say, sure I’m tempted by separates…but the sound of the Nova begs the question…why?
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One can overthink the question posed
The future will be similar to the past, quality products will always have a place, quality companies will develop and evolve their products, as Naim has done.
I dont see an issue
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I sometimes wonder what Naim’s top three sellers are (no pun intended) certainly the SN3 and I suspect the Atom and Nova
Returning to the question of starting a system , I forgot to mention Cambridge Audio , who offer an arc from budget to semi- high end
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I’m 53, a failed musician, yet only recently have i sat down and seriously listened to music as i did as a teen with my panasonic music centre.
Its taken me this long to find out what good hifi can do and how it can restore the investment of time in listening.
If all you know is in ears on the bus, or a poor car stereo, then the challenge is to expose a generation to the benefits of good hifi, and the benefits of not skipping an album because halfway through the first track you think nah. Im sure we’ve all got favourite albums that took a few plays…which is what they got when you’d splashed a months paperound on them.
Unfortunately the challenge is probably insurmountable long term as you are up against fashion and changing culture.
How the manufacturers catch them ‘young’ must be an enduring conundrum for them.
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With inequality, poverty and war in abundance, the future of hifi companies is hardly something to worry about. It’s probably one of the least important things out there. Naim has always been aspirational and very very rarely the entry into the world of hifi. My son and his girlfriend both graduated in 2021 and now work in London, living in a little flat near Kensington Olympia. With rent, tax, NI, power and repaying the student loan there is hardly money for hifi and it’s simply not a priority. They have a Qb that I gave them and are quite happy with it. I can’t see them ever wanting anything better. And if that is getting more common and ultimately Naim go down the pan it’s hardly important in the scheme of things, other than for their staff of course. Things change; adapt or die.
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All those years ago I was into Quad 22 and 301s and proud of it all. The BBC used to use the 301 to broadcast records after all. Then the Linn/Naim combo largely moved into their territory I think.
One thing is for sure I could never afford my CD555/ 552/500 and B&W802s in todays financial times. Recent price increases have not been a help but that’s how things are these days.
Asking a perhaps nieve question to my long established dealer: has anybody walked into your shop and bought a 500 system just like that? No: its all done through upgrades. Well, that’s me and quite a few others.
Nobody who buys quality hi-fi quite likes music. They have a passion for it and that is the difference.
My wife’s sister often stays with us for a couple of weeks so the music is on but perhaps only in the background. I will hear something on Radio 3 (01 Tuner) which really pulls me in, but for which she has no reaction. Depends how you listen?
She tells me I am very luckly to be allowed by my wife to have all this kit in the living room. An observation based more on looks than cost.
Then if you think at who buys quality hi-fi based on sitting at a demo in a show, you will likely be looking at a middle aged white haired man with perhaps one or two ladies. These people not only have a degree of discernment (not too judgemental I hope) but the money and time.
How to get younger people into our stuff. I don’t really know.
My last upgrade early in the year was a full Fraim set-up. I was sceptical as to the improvement it would bring. Early this morning, 00.30 I was playing Schubert’s String Quintet before going to bed. Sublime.
Enough said.
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Largely in agreement with HH here. My 28 yr old daughter ( who apparently knows all the music I do plus a whole lot more) absolutely loves the Mu-so Mk1 I gave her and wouldn’t want anything else. And that generation are unlikely to have the space for bigger systems. FWIW, I think Naim’s core business will be (?is) Mu-so and Uniti type products. Uniti products are already so good that for many people they are all the hifi they will ever need. I think that folks will not want to be bothered with the faff of space invading multibox systems, cables everywhere and endless PSU upgrades. Mere mortals who want more than Uniti will want HE type products to feed into active speakers , a Supernova or integrated amps. The very well heeled will want the same but with 500 level products eg 500 Nait. I think Naim will suffer unless they develop a one box high end streamer/DAC/preamp to compete with dcs and Linn. At present you need 4 or 5 Naim boxes (depending how many PSU’s you want for your ND555) just to run a pair of (Focal powered by Naim?) active speakers. My tuppence worth.
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With regard to numbers (of boxes), turnover, or profit? 
(All interesting to know, of course. I just remembered analysts finding a few years ago, that Apple provided 20% of the mobile phone market sales worldwide (don’t remember if pieces or turnover and there’s likely a factor of 2 in here), but reaped more than 80% of the profits. Just as illustration l that these numbers are of course linked to each other, but can very well differ.)
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It is important for the people who work at Naim whether they survive and it is important to remember that the people who make hi-fi have families that depend on their wages. Our hobby supports many people directly and indirectly. But you are right in the greater scheme of things a luxury product such as Naim is unimportant in many other ways.
Maybe your son won’t move on to a system but others might. I wonder, how many Muso owners moving up to a system does it take for Naim to remain profitable? Maybe not that many?
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I think you can be worried or concerned about it on a hifi forum.
We are bombarded with the other stuff elsewhere.
Aspirational is exactly right. Hierarchy of needs…your son is fulfilling the necessary bits. Given time people want to reward their hardwork in other ways. Be it the accumulation of possessions, foreign travel or maybe giving it to the less fortunate.
It would be a shame if this particular hobby falls further and further down the pecking order. But no more than that in the scheme of things for the majority.
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Many won’t have any spare time to listen to their expensive hifi - as they are working too many hours everyday to pay for it.
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Yes, of course it’s important for the employees, as I acknowledged in my penultimate sentence. I’m sure that with venture capitalists at the helm the company will do the necessary to remain profitable, whatever that takes.
Hardly anything else is in comparison. Should we, then, restrict all our conversations to those topics?
That isn’t what HH is saying simply that electronics companies will come and go and that will always be the case but there are more important things.
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Naim have made huge strides in introducing those aspiring to a quality music system. The introduction of Mu-So and the new Unit ranges are designed and priced to do just that, and more, IMHO.
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