Feeling Left Out

Posted by: Harris V on 26 February 2002

After I got over the initial excitement of the new kit at Bristol show I cannot help but feel a little melancholy now. To see Naim developing products of this price magnitude, whilst i grin at the musical possibilities, makes me wonder which direction they will be taking in the future and whether i'm ever going to be a part of it.

When the 5 series was developed I thought great, i can afford that, but now it seems to be relegated to the realms of the AV room which holds less interest to me. I wonder how long i'm going to have to wait for the new 'midrange' kit to come out and will the midrange start at prices in excess of the old midrange and hence be out of my league. This certainly seems to be the trend given the new speaker releases. I know there's always the second hand market but, like most people, i like new boxes and would like to feel that i had a future upgrade path.

If the CDX replacement is going to cost, say in excess of 3000 UKP then i'm going to be waiting a long time. Some people have suggested that Naim are responding to market forces with their new kit. If this is so then i can at least blame rising wages but it would be nice to see Naim standing up for the little guy, perhaps at the expense of their profit margin.

Posted on: 26 February 2002 by mctavishmacturbot
and they sounded amazing.

cheers
john

Posted on: 26 February 2002 by Harris V
I'm sure they did, but i still wonder about Naims direction and policies given some of the recent releases.
Posted on: 26 February 2002 by Andrew Randle
Fifteen years ago, low end equipment (i.e. Nait 2) was offered in the same type of form-factor as high-end equipment (i.e 32.5/hi-cap). There was a "seamless" transition from low-end and high-end Naim with a uniformity across the whole.

Whereas half-width equipment was in the same continuous range as full-width equipment, Naim have in recent years separated half-height equipment from full-height equipment. Nowadays, the presence of 5 series and 500 series brings about a form of streaming.

There's been a big change over the past few years with the heavy hitters of the flat-earth world (Linn and Naim). Before, in the 80s and 90s Linn and Naim would offer top systems that would outperform the likes of Krell and Audio Research at a fraction of the cost. Linn and Naim offered the right balance of aspiration within the reach of mortal folk.

Linn and Naim used to hold two-fingers up at the mega-buck manufacturers, in the way Rega currently does. Now they have truely joined the fray, leaving many old-hands perplexed.

Now Linn offers their Klimax range and Naim their 500 series. Both companies are to be applauded for giving customers the *choice*. However the concept of different ranges has changed the cosy world of a seamless product range.

There is sense though, both Linn and Naim have launched a multi-tentacled attack biting at different price points within the audio market, while branching into the AV market (with Naim doing a particularly fine job of it). Thus ensuring they continue to provide you with the products you would eventually like to end up with.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
Currently in the "Linn Binn"

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by J.N.
It's a hairy scary old time to run a business making luxury items.

Naim need to make some serious profit on the big stuff to enable them to develop the 5 series stuff to make it outperform anything else, AND offer their legendary superb service.

No such thing as a free lunch. The customer pays, somewhere.