naim power arm...
Posted by: ken c on 30 July 2001
it strikes me they could diversify, without diluting their pure brand, by making power supplied for other products, which in a lot of cases could transform them. witness the geddon for lp12. an "add on" kind of business...
i can think of power supplied for rival cd players such as arcam, rega, linn, (dare i say it)mark levinson, etc etc.... the owners might benefit from naims's expertise and get some real music at home. of course, this requires naim to develop flexible interfaces between their products and others...
what does "the panel" think??
enjoy
ken
2. Why would naim want to do it (O.K. money) but at what cost to their core business;
3. Why would generally non-naim buyers be interested?
cheers
Nigel
in general, they probably would not exactly jump at the idea, but if users catch on to the idea that this box makes whatever they have sound good, then the mkt will force the issue.
2. Why would naim want to do it (O.K. money) but at what cost to their core business;
extra source of revenue to fund research into the ultimate naim system for purists like us lot. i dunno what cost, but any project has to be funded on the basis of its potential return on investment. without doing the business plan, i am just brain storming the idea thats all. also cost is one side of the coin. however, if what you mean by "cost" is dilution of brand and effort, this is debatable.
3. Why would generally non-naim buyers be interested? simple, it will make their kit sound a lot better, while presumably preserving whatever attributes they bought it for. the market could be a lot larger than the current naim purist mkt --whether naim as it is positioned to service such a mkt is of course another issue entirely.
thanks for an interesting set of questions? what do you think and why?
enjoy
ken
They would not in this day and age. They would not want to admit that their products could be improved by the addition of some other manufacturers kit. If they thought it necessary then they would do it themselves or at least have the product marketed under their own name.
2. Why would naim want to do it (O.K. money) but at what cost to their core business;
If naim thought they could make sufficient money in this way then I dare say they would already be doing it.
3. Why would generally non-naim buyers be interested?
I doubt that they would be, particularly when for most a single naim power supply would probably exceed the total value of their kit - might as well buy naim boxes in the first place.
cheers
Nigel
p.s. I think this R&D reinvestment thing is being somewhat overstated. Of course naim invest in R&D but like all manufacturers, it is the customer (you and I) who pays for that.
they wouldnt have to. their customers would do it for them.
If naim thought they could make sufficient money in this way then I dare say they would already be doing it.
perhaps. but i sort of disagree -- i suspect this market could be quite big.
3. Why would generally non-naim buyers be interested?
I doubt that they would be, particularly when for most a single naim power supply would probably exceed the total value of their kit.
of course there would be a pricing issue, just like there is for fraims, supercaps, etc. thats why we have flatcaps, etc.
might as well buy naim boxes in the first place
for example, people do not necessarily buy speaker cables and racks from the maker of their kit. this may just be a way for the customer to get the naim effect and therefore end up committing more to naim. however, i think there will be people who prefer to keep their levinson or audio research mk9999 and just add the naim power supply for musical benefits. i guess the problem might be that the host component might end up sounding better than an equivalent naim, but this is unlikley isnt it??
as for mkt size, you and i can speculate till cows come home. we simply dont know. i suspect it could be sizeable. you suspect otherwise.
why should the musical benefits of naim power supplies be limited to naim owners only and be denied a much larger cummunity out there in the wider world? think of how much bigger the naim community could be?
music to the people!!!
enjoy
ken
I don't believe that Naim originally intended to produce the Armageddon as a commercial product, however Linn's 'go it alone' about face, and their procrastination in producing a Valhalla replacement in favour of focusing their resources on releasing an underdeveloped pre-amp (the LK1 which ironically suffered from a compromised power-supply) likely helped force Naims hand. BTW, Linn once claimed in their own publicity material that their next LP12 upgrade would be called 'Armageddon'. Kudos to Naim for showing the way.
These modifications to another manufacturers product made perfect engineering and marketing sense at the time as many, if not most, mid to upper end Naim systems were being fronted by an LP12/Valhalla and Naim themselves were yet to produced any sources other than their tuners.
In todays market pratically every hifi manufacturer on the planet produces or sources OEM CD players to include in their product lineup. What competing manufacturers' CD players should Naim deem to be worthy candidates for modification, considering that Naim already purpose make products that are superior to most, if not all, of the competition?
By deeming that a particular product is 'upgrade worthy', by producing an add on to improve its performance, would not Naim be focusing consumer attention away from their own products?
If one considers that most hifi manufacturers do not appreciate the benefits of properly designed external power supplies then who shall be responsible for modifying/retro-fitting these supposedly suitable products in order to allow for connection to a Naim produced aftermarket device?
What of the original manufacturers warranty and/or what responsibility would Naim be willing to take for the functionality of another manufacturers new/used piece of kit that has been so modified?
Luckily for us end users Naim are dedicated to thoroughly engineering their products to the maximum of their ability at various price points. Why should they bother wasting resources correcting deficiencies in other manufacturers offerings?
No, I can't imagine Naim touching this one with a very long barge pole.
Craig
[This message was edited by Craig on WEDNESDAY 01 August 2001 at 04:19.]
i once saw at a dealers a sony walkman with a SNAPS power supply -- it sounded fantastic. the dealer said it was quite easy to connect and supply the right dc level to the walkman.
i think you are right that naim will probably not touch this market but not for reasons that you mention -- i think this will be a field day for solicitors.
i have attended a "high end" shop near where i live -- this guys sells these HUGE!!! american amps. when i asked him about naim, he said -- they look a bit "sissy" -- not serious enough. do your customers value sound quality? yes, they do -- they just keep trying this cable and that or try Mk100027 pre-amp.
what a sad lot. a naim power suppy to an audio refetch or kill-music preamp might open up a whole spectrum of music for these "poor" people.
you never know -- might take off and fund the next preamp.
its fun to be simplistically idealistic every now and then.
enjoy
ken