Stereophile's 100 "Most Important Audio Products" (since '62)
Posted by: pac on 22 October 2002
I understand that the US publication, Stereophile, has included the top 100 "hot products" in their 40th anniversary issue.
The Linn Sondek LP12 was awarded the number 1 ranking. The NAP 250 comes in as a tie at the 32nd spot with the Great American Ampzilla amp.
Editor John Atkinson compiled the "intensely subjective" list based on ranking the "most important" audio products during the magazine's 40 year history.
The Linn Sondek LP12 was awarded the number 1 ranking. The NAP 250 comes in as a tie at the 32nd spot with the Great American Ampzilla amp.
Editor John Atkinson compiled the "intensely subjective" list based on ranking the "most important" audio products during the magazine's 40 year history.
Posted on: 22 October 2002 by Keith Mattox
Well this survey was done with a decidedly American POV, as I can't imagine an English hifi rag putting the 250 so low.
naim has always been viewed as a "fringe" company here in the states relative to other hifi companies in their (price) range. Pity, that.
Cheers
Keith.
naim has always been viewed as a "fringe" company here in the states relative to other hifi companies in their (price) range. Pity, that.
Cheers
Keith.
Posted on: 22 October 2002 by Mike Sae
I think I saw that at the store while rifling through Maxims and FHMs. Is that the issue with the Halcro on front?
If so, I was pleased to see the Nottingham Dias. They mentioned it was a badass deck, as you needed connections to find one.
If so, I was pleased to see the Nottingham Dias. They mentioned it was a badass deck, as you needed connections to find one.
Posted on: 22 October 2002 by leeto
but I thought I saw this in Hi-Fi Choice?
Posted on: 23 October 2002 by Chris West
It is certainly a personal point of view, and John Atkinson has not exactly been a devotee of Naim (although I would say he has a respect for Naim's position in the industry) so it's not so surprising. If you think about it...why would an Englishman take up the job of Editor of a US magazine? Perhaps having a penchant for American style Hi-Fi was something to do with it.....
Because we have had a relatively low press profile over the years, people who read the magazines tend to perceive that as representative of actual consumer interest. If the thousands of enthusiastic Naim customers in the US had their own say, (and they do amongst their own circles) then a better picture of the market place would evolve.
The fact is US magazine reviewers in general have looked cross eyed at DINs, roll there eyes if there is no Digital out, scratch their heads when speakers are up against the wall, and generally don't get off on "whole system" design approaches. Their attitudes are based on how easily they can poke one piece of gear temporarily into their "reference" system and evaluate it. Have you ever seen a reviewer melt down at the prospect of reconfiguring their system? Or - omigod - unplugging the power conditioner. You would think that performance issues come before convenience......but alas that is not always the case.
There are so many Naim products now over the years, you'd think that someone could start a magazine here that merely reviews different combinations of Naim ;0)
The good news is that we do have some people in the magazine industry now that "get -it" with respect to Naim and you will be hearing a lot more about Naim in the US mags than the past. Of course it also helps to have a few RCA jacks scattered around the new products ;0)
Chris West
Naim USA.
Because we have had a relatively low press profile over the years, people who read the magazines tend to perceive that as representative of actual consumer interest. If the thousands of enthusiastic Naim customers in the US had their own say, (and they do amongst their own circles) then a better picture of the market place would evolve.
The fact is US magazine reviewers in general have looked cross eyed at DINs, roll there eyes if there is no Digital out, scratch their heads when speakers are up against the wall, and generally don't get off on "whole system" design approaches. Their attitudes are based on how easily they can poke one piece of gear temporarily into their "reference" system and evaluate it. Have you ever seen a reviewer melt down at the prospect of reconfiguring their system? Or - omigod - unplugging the power conditioner. You would think that performance issues come before convenience......but alas that is not always the case.
There are so many Naim products now over the years, you'd think that someone could start a magazine here that merely reviews different combinations of Naim ;0)
The good news is that we do have some people in the magazine industry now that "get -it" with respect to Naim and you will be hearing a lot more about Naim in the US mags than the past. Of course it also helps to have a few RCA jacks scattered around the new products ;0)
Chris West
Naim USA.
Posted on: 23 October 2002 by Keith Mattox
quote:Hint?
Originally posted by Chris West NANA:
There are so many Naim products now over the years, you'd think that someone could start a magazine here that merely reviews different combinations of Naim ;0)
Chris West
Naim USA.
Cheers
Keith.
Posted on: 23 October 2002 by Craig B
I fully agree with Chris' assessment of the North American magazines POV WRT Naim gear.
I would add that NA dealer attitudes don't help matters much as most are reluctant to carry Naim for the very same convenience and philosophical reasons that Chris has pointed out. I imagine that the same resistance is felt in other markets including that in Naim's own homeland.
My newly appointed Naim dealer is still having a hard time accepting the 'special' requirements of the gear after well over a year of dealing it. In fact they still don't know much about it all really. They are, of course, a round earth shop having never dealt Linn nor Naim before and, as Naim sales aren't yet paying the bills, they haven't yet learned to appreciate it as much as they would otherwise. There is a subtle irony in that situation, however, my home town and surrounding area represents a very miniscule market for Naim gear in this HT obsessed land.
I suppose that I am becoming less inclined to castigate Chris for pushing Naim HQ to include RCAs on the new models in light of these market 'conditions' as I do indeed want Naim to continue to prosper.
Hopefully they will never lose site of the reasons why they were different in the first place.
Craig
I would add that NA dealer attitudes don't help matters much as most are reluctant to carry Naim for the very same convenience and philosophical reasons that Chris has pointed out. I imagine that the same resistance is felt in other markets including that in Naim's own homeland.
My newly appointed Naim dealer is still having a hard time accepting the 'special' requirements of the gear after well over a year of dealing it. In fact they still don't know much about it all really. They are, of course, a round earth shop having never dealt Linn nor Naim before and, as Naim sales aren't yet paying the bills, they haven't yet learned to appreciate it as much as they would otherwise. There is a subtle irony in that situation, however, my home town and surrounding area represents a very miniscule market for Naim gear in this HT obsessed land.
I suppose that I am becoming less inclined to castigate Chris for pushing Naim HQ to include RCAs on the new models in light of these market 'conditions' as I do indeed want Naim to continue to prosper.
Hopefully they will never lose site of the reasons why they were different in the first place.
Craig
Posted on: 24 October 2002 by pac
32 (tie): Great American Sound (GAS) Ampzilla & Naim NAP 250 power amplifiers
1: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable
[I][Stereophile/I], November 2002
quote:
(Neither reviewed in Stereophile). Ampzilla, from James Bongiorno, was a beefy 200Wpc design that was one of the first silicon-deviced audio amplifiers to use a complementary output stage, where the speaker feed was taken from the joined common emitters of NPN and PNP power transistors. (The first, if I remember correctly, was the South Western Technical Services Tiger.) By contrast, Julian Vereker's NAP250 stuck with quasi-complementary topology, in which the output stage comprised an NPN silicon device with an active NPN load. But both were seminal 1970s solid-state amps -- Ampzilla in the US, the Naim in the UK -- and showed that solid-state designs could produce musical results to rival the best that tube designs had to offer. Ampzilla had a short life, but the NAP250 has only recently been replaced in Naim's line.
1: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable
quote:
First [I][Stereophile/I] review February 1984 (Vol.7 No.2; also Vol.13 No.3, Vol.14 No.1, Vol.16 Nos.11 & 12, Vol.17 No.5, Vol.19 No.2 WWW). Still in production after nearly 30 years, this Scottish turntable was featured in almost every [I][Stereophile's/I] writers list. The LP12 demonstrated the importance of the turntable to system performance. As a result, it has brought the sonic benefits of belt drive and a suspended subchassis to more audiophiles than all other high-end 'tables combined.
[I][Stereophile/I], November 2002