Naim & AV

Not suprising though - i doubt if AV was a big market for Naim and with Blu-Ray and some very good low cost players around the return on R&D and subsequent products would be very low. My n-Vi is back from repair and awaiting collection so i'll continue to enjoy that (and its interesting features) for a few more years yet.

James

Time to get over it SC.

if you look at the new onkyo range with their features and then the cost you can see its a no go for naim. Shame tho' , i have had my cheque primed for an av3 for quite some time....

Clearly its not Naims market yet Linn and Meridian continue to make products for the home cinema consumer. What I don't understand is how Arcam can continue to make new products for the market at reasonable prices yet Naim can't?

Sadly there are few products that interest me in the current product range so this year will be the year I leave the brand I have hung around long enough waiting for developments

Are Arcam doing as well as naim overall would be my question.

The world of AV is long and complicated with an ever changing set of goal posts.

if Apple have decided not to dabble in this area why would any one expect naim to go ploughing in again?

Surely the market for ultra expensive AV pieces must be very limited?

Seems to me that even among regular enthusiasts of the two channel music replay Naim pieces, the number who also went for the AV pieces would be a small proportion of the music replay Naim enthusiasts. Does anyone, not already owning Naim two channels pieces, buy the company's AV pieces? If not the market for them would be a tiny subset of an already small potential group ...

This not to say that the AV pieces do not have some very good points - they do - but absolute value for money is not really an obvious selling point for those outside the existing Naim customer base.

Naim is not noted for quickly developing new products and so in the constantly evolving AV scene, it is likely that what Naim brings to market will not only be expensive, but nearly superceded by machines aimed at some new standard, even at the point of issue. The DVD 5 [specifically the scaler-card non-appearance] is an example of a machine that was going to be completed in Naim's traditional magisterial style of development that was already made obsolete by the arrival of new HD standards.

Personally I hope Naim keep right out of AV for the foreseeable future, and concentrate on what they are undoubted masters of. Two channel amplification and source components. I would prefer the company consolidate it position among the very best manufacturers of traditional two-channel music replay and to broaden into profitable sectors such as high end in car music systems. The AV sector is in my a view never going to be something Naim can succeed at ...

I would never buy Naim AV, as it is overpriced for what it does compared to other equipment, and would rather buy something far less expensive and keep my pennies in the bank for the time when the newest standards are well enough implemented by the much larger companies who produce these things for a tiny fraction of the cost and almost all the quality that Naim would eventually bring to it.

Personally I can see no reason to use anything other than a computer for video. And that updates itself online with no interference from me at all! If many other traditional two-channel Naim customers took a similar view - and it is possible - then it should be no surprise to see the company pulling back from this sector of the market.

ATB from George