How many HI FI owners were you ever able to recruit to the NAIM camp?

Two.  One into a s/h Nait2 which he and family both love.   And my son into a Unitiqute2b which he and his lovely girlfriend love.   And everybody loves the music from the 500DR system at our house.

When working in the trade, plenty. But that doesn't count.

In terms of personally converted: 0

Everyone who has heard my system [very] strongly disliked the Naim sound. 

i would count 3 but maybe 2 is the correct answer. I started out with an 82 when I lived with my former girlfriend, when she moved away she bought an all Naim system with  audiovector speakers. Later 2 of my friends converted from other brands to Naim/audiovector systems. I thinnk converting people to the right dealer is the most important thing to get people in on Naim.

Claus  

All of my friends, without exception, love the music made by my Naim system BUT all, without exception, think I’m crazy to have spent the amount I have!! That said, none of them own a ‘hifi’ system, their idea of top end music being a £2k Denon or Marantz all in one! None of them can contemplate a world without CDs, but are still not interested in paying the extra for a UnitiStar. 

Naim is great, music is great, I just don’t see it as my job to convert people to a particular brand.  

Why would I even try?!!

None after 20 years of trying.

My friend Keith wanted a stereo but had no interest in choosing, so asked me to tell him what to get for £3,000. Which I did, and he’s very happy with it. And my neighbour Tony swapped from Rega to Naim having spent time in my house. I wouldn’t say that I converted either of them though, and I don’t see it as something I’d feel comfortable doing. The double glazing guy was listening to some music last week, having commented on how good it sounded when he heard it. He looked at the four boxes in the corner and commented that his mum used to have a similar looking stack system, a Trio I think, and said it looked old. When I told him is was all hand made in Salisbury and that it was current stuff he was quite surprised. He’s 34, has a £65,000 BMW but wouldn’t dream of spending thousands on a stereo. 

I love people coming round to socialise and listen to music but what a bore if I started extolling the virtues of DR.   

All of my friends and family are to well adjusted for any of this nonsense.

As a hi-fi reviewer years ago quite a few I suspect and amongst personal friends at least 3 people now have naim systems having heard mine.   I haven't so much converted people deliberately but have introduced them to the naim sound.  One friend in particular had booked a demo with audiolab pre and power and was pretty set on it but I suggested he try the NAC102/NAP180 too at a similar price point.  He was startled at how much better the naim was and bought that.

Naim isn't cheap and whether people are prepared to invest depends on how much music means to them.  I was a broke 6th former with a bar job but ran a Naim Nait 1 which I bought ex demo (and I still have!) 

Having just bought 3 tickets to see ELO live in Birmingham for £414 I'm starting to think it's amazing people are prepared to spend so much money on concert tickets nowadays and yet not on the hi-fi they live with everyday.  Taken in that context a £3000 Naim system seems incredible value for money!

J

I had a mate round in 1984 when I had just got my new Nait 1 ( with rega turntable and mission speakers)

He commented on how great it sounded and asked that predectable question back then " how many watts is it?"

When I told him ....about 17 watts ...he immediately lost all interest in it ..

I never tried again to push the vertues of naim to anyone else ...

Ps...also have tickets to ELO !!!

None as far as I'm aware. It seems to me that few people actually listen to music at home anymore. I grew up in an era when music was an important part of life. As a schoolboy it was what we talked about, we bought and exchanged records all the time (I still wonder who ended up with my copy of the Elephant's Memory album). That continued through my undergraduate years, but has since trailed off. It seems there are too many other demands on people's time now. Hence, why would people spend £n,000 on Naim Audio equipment? I guess this is why the Muso and Uniti ranges were introduced, in an effort to re-engage people with the pleasure of listening to music at home.

Short answer: 3 in 3 years, all disappointed by their purchase. That's what you get after you listen to a 15K system then buy a Qute and expect similar results I suppose. 

A lot of folks I know these days are just happy to stream from their phones to some 'orrible plastic wireless speaker dotted around somewhere. Yuk. To most younger people these days Naim is seriously expensive, even their entry level gear and unlike the old days there are just so many other distractions that they would prefer to spend that kind of money on. One of my  younger sons is a Naim head though and i'm sure he is all too willing to take my older pieces of kit off my hands as I upgrade with little or no cost at all.

Like Feeling Zen, my distant past as a dealer/pusher doesn't count. But I did sell a heap. 

Now as a mere punter, albeit as evangelical as ever, answer is .5. That would be 1/2. Not one. I live most of my time at my partner's place. I bought her a pair of n-sats, she sprang for the used uniqute. I will probably end up giving her my 172/200 when I upgrade. If she lets me.

I faced some stiff resistance in giving her n-sats. So I obviously lost my touch as it's been a hard road GIVING it away.

I have an old school mate who listened to my Muso. He was forever playing Spotify on some  horrible plastic  speakers with his iPhone. The iPhone is now connected to his own Muso. He still hasnt figured out this wireless lark, but is very happy with the Muso ++.

Clive B posted:

None as far as I'm aware. It seems to me that few people actually listen to music at home anymore. I grew up in an era when music was an important part of life. As a schoolboy it was what we talked about, we bought and exchanged records all the time (I still wonder who ended up with my copy of the Elephant's Memory album). That continued through my undergraduate years, but has since trailed off. It seems there are too many other demands on people's time now. Hence, why would people spend £n,000 on Naim Audio equipment? I guess this is why the Muso and Uniti ranges were introduced, in an effort to re-engage people with the pleasure of listening to music at home.

Interesting post, Clive. I think people still spend a lot of time listening to music at home but perhaps not with a dedicated system. Like others mention, I have a friends who love music but very few that have a dedicated system to listen to it on. Unless you work from home or are retired, the opportunities to sit down and spend quality time in front of a system are limited for most of us. Saying that, the quality of music replay from portable headphone setups can be very satisfying and provide an equally enjoyable way of getting that important musical fix.

Back in the day the Stereo was a feature but along came the Walkman and now there are so many ways to skin the cat.    You pays your money -  Sonos or Statement?

Does buying all of my wife's son's system (200/202 based) count as converting him to Naim? He could not have afforded it otherwise.

None that I know of. I tend to concentrate on music. I'm brand loyal to Naim (this week) but my response when anyone has ever asked me for advice on HiFi, is to talk to a reputable dealer and use their own ears.

Most of my income comes from commissions on sales. I haven't sold in the HiFi sector but if Naim ever want to give me a call......

Direct answerto the question: none, but then I’m not exactly “recruited” myself!

Thinking more widely, hifi - as opposed to musicbox/radio/ boombox/ghettoblaster etc - is and always has been a minority interest, even in what may have been hifi’s heyday years ago. Over the decades people have come to my house and commented about how good the music sounds (sometimes after a “wow, those are big speakers, how joud do they go?”), but not shown any desire to change anything of theirs, though sometimes they might ask “what do you think of X?’, X being some mass-market music system or other, asked with pride in their voice becaus ethat is what they have, so I have either avoided answering or been non-committal. Of more interest is how how can more people be recruited to quality hifi in general?  The more people buying hifi the healthier the market and the better for us all - and potentially the greater the audience for Naim.

Naim is fairly rare in the US. Most people I know are familiar with mid-fi or classic tubes like Macintosh. My brother loves my system but keeled over when he discovered the price. He is fine with his NAD, Denon, Yamaha, Klipsch rig.

Haim,

a friend of mine, who works for Naim distribution, once told me that his father, then a Senator of the Italian Communist Party, once received the visit fo a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. Instead of kicking them away, as many of us would do, he invited them inside, offered coffee and kept them engaged in discussions for a couple of hours. He tells me that when they thanked and went away, one of the two J's Ws. went to subscribe to the Communist Party.

תעשה

Max

Massimo Bertola posted:

Haim,

a friend of mine, who works for Naim distribution, once told me that his father, then a Senator of the Italian Communist Party, once received the visit fo a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. Instead of kicking them away, as many of us would do, he invited them inside, offered coffee and kept them engaged in discussions for a couple of hours. He tells me that when they thanked and went away, one of the two J's Ws. went to subscribe to the Communist Party.

תעשה

Max

What was in the coffee?