Bentley and Naim Factory Visit 27 May 16

Sadly my invite must have got lost in the post! 

My butler/chauffeur will be representing me.

I've already got 2 Bentleys, so not going to bother 

A thoroughly enjoyable day on Friday.  A road trip from Pangbourne, each of us piloting our own Bentley, "mine" being a Flying Spur V8S.  I thought we were going to be passengers, but no, we were allocated a car each - some with passengers, some on our own.  Didn't meet anyone's chauffeur, so better check up on what they were up to on Friday Iconoclast

The factory tour was very welcoming.  Jason and Dan did a great job of hosting and it was good that MD Trevor Wilson could spare the time to introduce himself and the company, take questions and attend the listening session in the dem room.  The tour was very open (no access to R&D of course) with photos and questions being very much welcomed.  The attention to detail and quality is very impressive - even down to the SNAIC shaker!

After the tour we listened to NDS / 555 DR / Statement and the UK Public debut of the new Focal Sopra No3 - like the Sopra No2 but bigger, another of the first fruits of Focal using Naim electronics in the development of loudspeakers.  Like the No2, but with a bigger fuller sound, this is a very musical speaker - very much in contrast to the "hifi" sound of the Utopias.

I enjoyed your report and photos, Sunbeamgls. Thanks for posting

Mike

What a great way to spend a day out! Brilliant cars and brilliant stereo equipment 
I wonder how many Bentley owners specify Naim equipment and after this visit, how many will buy Naim home equipment?
Truly wonderful 

Nice pictures and car. I am always impressed with Naim's attention to detail and manufacturing excellence. Having spent 25 years in heavy industries I appreciate and respect the consistency and reliability of Naim products. And of course the sound is second to none.

Having visited the Naim factory myself a few times over my 20 years of ownership, I have heard that demonstration room many times, with SBL, DBL, NBL and recently S800 and Statement. One of the best sounds I have heard is the Statement but many years ago I famously fried the crossover in a NBL (with smoked filled room ), with Tim Oldridge and John Channing after blasting out Techno, hadn't realised the volume control was at 3pm lol

Regards Devraj

Great pictures, thanks.

it's interesting to see the Focals in the listening room. I've been a couple of factory tours (with zero Bentley content), and asked if they ever test with other manufacturers' speakers as so many customers don't use Naim. I was told, not unreasonably, that it would be confusing in trying to judge sound quality.

Clearly, they have achieved superb results using this method so I won't criticise. Still, it seems inevitable that Naim kit will start to sound different as a result of this change.

Keith

KRM posted:

Great pictures, thanks.

it's interesting to see the Focals in the listening room. I've been a couple of factory tours (with zero Bentley content), and asked if they ever test with other manufacturers' speakers as so many customers don't use Naim. I was told, not unreasonably, that it would be confusing in trying to judge sound quality.

Clearly, they have achieved superb results using this method so I won't criticise. Still, it seems inevitable that Naim kit will start to sound different as a result of this change.

Keith

Given that they don't make speakers any more and have merged with Focal, this has been inevitable for some time now.  I doubt you'll see anything other than Focal in there now.

I think it was only a matter of time. And also a matter of time before Focal stopped doing HiFi and started playing music, with a bit of help from Naim.

An excellent write-up of your day (on the audiophile blog). The Naim bit was most illuminating, but Bentley rather lost their way with cars once they stopped building the 'blower' Bentleys for Le Mans.

Given the comments on Focal Utopia speakers, I must have struck very lucky with my Micro Utopia Be speakers.

Yes, the Naim speakers are history and Focal are now making great speakers. The Sopra 2s sounded very nice at the Bristol Show despite a difficult room.

When I wrote my post I was reflecting on how different the impending streamer software will sound as a result of testing with the Focals. I suspect the staff listening to it at home over the weekend may still be using Naim speakers, so perhaps not so different, but surely it must make a difference change the Naim sound as the Ovators sound very different.

Keith

Interesting points Keith. Mind you, we would need to know what headphones, and speakers they develop, assess and test with in all departments from R&D all the way through to the AV theatre. I wonder if several legacy Naim speakers are involved? Damn! I'll have to another factory visit and ask them. What a nuisance!

Can our OP shed any light on that I wonder?

I can't, sorry Harry. No access to R&D. I believe Roy was on site but the group was never introduced to him.

As the Focal Sopras have been developed with Naim electronics, I suspect the opposite will be true too.

Sunbeamgls,

I enjoyed your pics and post here, followed your Audiophile Musings post as well. Appreciate your enthusiasm and effort. Thanks for taking the time to share. The brilliant sunshine must have been icing on the cake.

Nick from Suffolk posted:

An excellent write-up of your day (on the audiophile blog). The Naim bit was most illuminating, but Bentley rather lost their way with cars once they stopped building the 'blower' Bentleys for Le Mans.

Given the comments on Focal Utopia speakers, I must have struck very lucky with my Micro Utopia Be speakers.

Get to a race track for a GT3  race and see the modern Bentleys, more to the point HEAR the modern Bentley exhaust music. They are big and powerful, much the same as the old blowers.