Questions for Naim during visit

Hi Graham - enjoy your trip - I'm a little envious 

With Super Lumia interconnect is the single strand cable (e.g. din to XLR for 300/500s) exactly the same cable as the dual strand (e.g. din to din) and does it behave the same way?   This is prompted by experience of the two cable types - the din to din performance is quickly apparent, however the din to XLR is reportedly musically 'flat' for a long while !   (and it's my experience too - I'm running a pair in right now and after three weeks, I'm beginning to hear a 'lift' in performance, much much slower than the din to din and phono to din ones I already have - NDS & LP12 to 552).  The dual strand din to din and single strand din to XLR appear  to be different cables !

By the time you've finished asking them about tumble dryers they won't be listening any more 

I've got a dual din to XLR, so I wonder where that fits in....

The problem with asking questions that they know will be published on the Forum, is that you will get different answers to what you would get if asking in a purely personal and confidential exchange. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

I've got a dual din to XLR, so I wonder where that fits in....

The problem with asking questions that they know will be published on the Forum, is that you will get different answers to what you would get if asking in a purely personal and confidential exchange. 

Possibly.  I've been told pre-release information in the past and did indeed keep it confidential, but Naim don't know me from Adam so would have no way of knowing whether I would be honourable in that regard.  In their shoes I wouldn't say anything that I wasn't happy with it ending up in the public domain.

So I won't ask questions such as "what are your product plans for 2016?" (wouldn't expect an answer to that) but would ask something like "why isn't it possible to make Super Lumina cables that also carry power?"

How about "When will you start to make Super Lumia speaker link cables?"  - (the short ones - banana to spade).   Now that's a burning question ! 

Would be interested in their plans for speakers given the Focal tie-in, especially the commitment to active set-ups.

How is the 4-5 pin DIN SL coming along?

Given your financial commitment to the brand Graham, you could always ask (as a member of my tour party famously did!), which part of the factory you own.

Enjoy.

John.

So my wife and I had a great visit yesterday.  Paul Stephenson spent well over 2 hours showing us around and we also got to spend time with Steve Sells, Roy George, Trevor Wilson and Mark Raggett.  Very impressed that they all took time out of their busy schedules to talk to us at length.  We got the impression they do this will all customers who visit, not just customers who have purchased Statement pieces.  I only wish more companies had such a strong customer focus!

I got answers to questions asked -

Super Lumina Speaker Link Cables

They are looking into the feasibility of these.  I didn't get the impression this was just an answer to fob us off.  Apparently they have had a number of meetings to discuss this and it is largely based on the feedback they have received on this forum.  So even if there may not be much initial communication back, they do listen to people here.

Naim aren't a huge fan of bi-wired speaker systems and they do have concerns over costs.  Link cables with spades could be a possibility but to include the SL 4mm banana plugs on one end could push the price up to nearly 4 figures nearly twice the cost of a spade only solution (and no, that's not a precise cost so you can't hold them to it!).  So here's your chance to let them know whether there would be interest at that price level.

Super Lumina cable for Superline

They did start work on this however they hit some technical problems around cable capacitance.  I didn't ask further specifics but clearly they won't release something they aren't 100% happy with.  I didn't get the impression that they have given up on this but this is the reason why the cable hasn't been forthcoming to date.

Are Super Lumina cables basically Vertere cables?

Short answer: no!  The cables are to their own design.  They do source them from the same manufacturer as Vertere cables which is why there is a similarity.  Doing so saved them as much as a year of design/manufacture time.  But they are NOT Vertere cables.

As an aside, it was mentioned several times that the design of a new product is incredibly time consuming, often involving hundreds of hours of listening tests.  So while we may think that releasing something like a new cable should be easy, it isn't and like any company they have limited resources and have to prioritise what they work on - across their whole range.

They have been increasing their staff levels in R&D and other areas, so clearly that's a good sign financially and also for us customers.

Commitment to active systems

They do remain committed to active; they recognise the big sonic benefits of such.  They admitted that Naim speakers aren't as successful as their electronics, largely because customers tend to ask for and gravitate to better known speaker brands.  Not clear whether they will do anything via the Focal route, again it comes down to priorities.  We do of course have Ovator S600s and S800s and anyone who has heard a nicely run in pair in an active system will know that they can do the business.  They did also say that Focal has access to Naim electronics when designing new models and this would likely explain why newer designs like the Sopra 2s apparently work better (based on other comments on the forum, I've not heard them myself).

Muso

There were some original concerns on the forum about quality issues due to production in China.  Trevor (MD) has conducted four unannounced spot checks on them and they have passed each time.  They do also have a team that monitor this closely, clearly it's important to them that these products match the quality of UK produced items.

Muso Qb spent a very long time in a HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) chamber.  They kept it there as long as they could until the provider asked for their chamber back

Muso Qb

We got to hear one, it was very impressive.  Likely we'll be buying two.  I'll post on this separately.  The name is pronounced like the two individual letters; "Q" "b", not cube.

If you've not had the chance to visit Naim in Salisbury and your dealer offers this option then jump at the chance.  It's a fascinating day seeing how they do things there and I would challenge anyone to come away and not say that they were impressed.

Also, they DID tell me a few things for which they said "that's not for the forum please", so they were surprisingly forthcoming.

I'm sure you had a great time Graham. 

When I visited a coupleof years ago Mark spent a morning with me and I was 'only' a Uniti owner at that time, a big thing for me if not in the general scheme of things.

But what I saw and how I was treated by all the Naim team gave me the feeling that this was a really good company with excellent core values. It just made me more interested in Naim and improving my system. Customer service is a very important value, strived for by many, achieved by few, and I would say Naim do this really well.

ChrisH posted:

I'm sure you had a great time Graham. 

When I visited a coupleof years ago Mark spent a morning with me and I was 'only' a Uniti owner at that time, a big thing for me if not in the general scheme of things.

But what I saw and how I was treated by all the Naim team gave me the feeling that this was a really good company with excellent core values. It just made me more interested in Naim and improving my system. Customer service is a very important value, strived for by many, achieved by few, and I would say Naim do this really well.

+1 to that. And Naim have been doing this for years too. My visit was back in about 1990 when the 52 first came out. Fascinating and enjoyable day.

Thanks Graham - an interesting report, although of course what is most intriguing is what you cannot divulge! It's good to hear that the Qb sounds good as I have plans to get one.

Clive

ChrisH posted:

I'm sure you had a great time Graham. 

When I visited a coupleof years ago Mark spent a morning with me and I was 'only' a Uniti owner at that time, a big thing for me if not in the general scheme of things.

But what I saw and how I was treated by all the Naim team gave me the feeling that this was a really good company with excellent core values. It just made me more interested in Naim and improving my system. Customer service is a very important value, strived for by many, achieved by few, and I would say Naim do this really well.

Chris,

Do you still own the Uniti or have you upgraded since? 

If the latter and you're still in the "Naim family" then it just goes to show that buyers who may start in the lower price brackets (sorry - not meaning that to sound rude, hard to know how to phrase it) may subsequently move up the ladder, hence need to treat everyone the same.

Cdb posted:

Thanks Graham - an interesting report, although of course what is most intriguing is what you cannot divulge! It's good to hear that the Qb sounds good as I have plans to get one.

Clive

Not really that intriguing.  It's not like they said "here's our 2 year strategy" with a list of new products! 

Wasn't trying to annoy by dangling a carrot, was responding to HH's comment above about how they might treat me differently.  I don't think they did.

Graham

Thanks for asking:

"Super Lumina cable for Superline

They did start work on this however they hit some technical problems around cable capacitance.  I didn't ask further specifics but clearly they won't release something they aren't 100% happy with.  I didn't get the impression that they have given up on this but this is the reason why the cable hasn't been forthcoming to date."

So I will keep waiting with high hopes :-)

Sound like a great visit.... I must do it myself sometime.

Richard

Good stuff Graham. Factory visits are well worth doing, and not just the once. Easy for some, not for many but always worth the effort.

Harry posted:

Good stuff Graham. Factory visits are well worth doing, and not just the once. Easy for some, not for many but always worth the effort.

We're 100 miles away so a fairly tiring day but still eminently do-able.

We are very fortunate in that regard. In fact, we should book soon. It's been a few years.

The attention to detail is fascinating and how they organise the tours is a testament to that culture.

A nice write-up Graham.

I've visited twice - the last time several years ago, so I did not see any Statement assembly stuff, but was very impressed with it all.

DB.

Darke Bear posted:

A nice write-up Graham.

I've visited twice - the last time several years ago, so I did not see any Statement assembly stuff, but was very impressed with it all.

DB.

Thanks Gary.  You should ask Signals to arrange a re-visit to see the Statement manufacturing/assembly area.  I was lucky enough in that Paul S got Steve Sells to come up and talk with us at that point which was great.  I expect you'd find that fascinating too.

Graham Clarke posted:

Darke Bear posted:

A nice write-up Graham.

I've visited twice - the last time several years ago, so I did not see any Statement assembly stuff, but was very impressed with it all.

DB.

Thanks Gary.  You should ask Signals to arrange a re-visit to see the Statement manufacturing/assembly area.  I was lucky enough in that Paul S got Steve Sells to come up and talk with us at that point which was great.  I expect you'd find that fascinating too.

That's a good idea Graham. Think the last time I went round was with Gary, back in...can't remember when! I wouldn't mind another visit myself.

Graham Clarke posted:

ChrisH posted:

I'm sure you had a great time Graham. 

When I visited a coupleof years ago Mark spent a morning with me and I was 'only' a Uniti owner at that time, a big thing for me if not in the general scheme of things.

But what I saw and how I was treated by all the Naim team gave me the feeling that this was a really good company with excellent core values. It just made me more interested in Naim and improving my system. Customer service is a very important value, strived for by many, achieved by few, and I would say Naim do this really well.

Chris,

Do you still own the Uniti or have you upgraded since? 

If the latter and you're still in the "Naim family" then it just goes to show that buyers who may start in the lower price brackets (sorry - not meaning that to sound rude, hard to know how to phrase it) may subsequently move up the ladder, hence need to treat everyone the same.

Graham, I  moved from an active Linn system to a Unity and pair of n-sats.

Still have them in an office system, main system is now Supernait 2 , CDX2 and Ovator s400 so yes the lower end can get you hooked and lead to moving up the Naim ladder... think this is about as far as I shall go as extremely content with what I have now which leaves more funds for music

Cheers Graham

Graham Clarke posted:

ChrisH posted:

I'm sure you had a great time Graham. 

When I visited a coupleof years ago Mark spent a morning with me and I was 'only' a Uniti owner at that time, a big thing for me if not in the general scheme of things.

But what I saw and how I was treated by all the Naim team gave me the feeling that this was a really good company with excellent core values. It just made me more interested in Naim and improving my system. Customer service is a very important value, strived for by many, achieved by few, and I would say Naim do this really well.

Chris,

Do you still own the Uniti or have you upgraded since? 

If the latter and you're still in the "Naim family" then it just goes to show that buyers who may start in the lower price brackets (sorry - not meaning that to sound rude, hard to know how to phrase it) may subsequently move up the ladder, hence need to treat everyone the same.

I think that was the point I was attempting to make (poorly!) Graham. At that time I had not too long had my foot on a rung of the Naim ladder.

What I saw and learnt on the visit, together with how I was looked after during it gave me the confidence, good feeling and interest in Naim to investigate further.

The Uniti got me started, the forum fired my curiosity, and the visit cemented the positives about the products and company.

System today: SN2/NDX/SL ic & speaker cable, fed by Unitiserve. XPS on order...

Hopefully Mark may spot this and remember me - definitely paid dividends in the end!

Graham Clarke posted:

Commitment to active systems

They do remain committed to active; they recognise the big sonic benefits of such.

Thanks for asking this, this is important news. I admit that I had doubts about Naim's attitude towards active systems.