Scottish Hifi show

Hi
I attended the show as well and enjoyed the afternoon, I also echo your views of the budget Naim kit. I was very impressed with Audio Note's kit which was sounding very sweet indeed, the afternoon was marred only by the effeminate ignoramus who was demonstrating Rega equipment ( he complained bitterly about people wanting to look at the rear of the speakers and even went so far as to go and get two large cushions and put them over the connections so as they could not be seen). His manner was extremely brusque and the only thing which stopped me giving him a complete dressing down in front of a room full of people was the fact I was with a friend who would not have appreciated such a confrontation. Needless to say myself, my friend and most of the people in the room promptly left, what a pratt!.
Regards
Jim

Enjoyable but where were Naim's big guns? They were at a rival show in Dublin, so Mark told me. I don't blame Naim for not making much of an effort;let's face it Naim are poorly supported in Edinburgh Glasgow by "Loud & Clear". Nonetheless, Naim's home cinema products stood up well against the Krell (poetry!)considering the latter was priced at £40,000! All in all, a good day out.
Neil

A good show for a change, Dalmahoy is a reasonable venue for such a show, easy enough to get to from both Glasgow and Edinburgh. And a good mix of people exhibiting, well worth the couple of hours around the show.

Quite disappointed at the Naim rooms at the show. Non-working physical one to look at, but not much point as it didn't work. The music room showing the CD5i and Nait5i sounded awful, dead cold and was playing classical music all the time we were in it. They didn't even ask what we'd like to hear. Really disappointed. I was particularly wanting to properly hear the CD5i as I am considering buying one shortly and the show could have been a good opportunity to listen to one.

The Krell home cinema setup was the best dem of the show. Yes, a bit pricey, but the best setup and sounding dem of the show.

The Linn room was a good room, showing off their new speaker sets, Unidisk and Kisto. I think they had one of their engineers doing seminars, but I missed getting into one.

Quadraspire had a good range of tables and Chord had their full set of cables on sale.

Roy.

Silly me , i thought a hifi show was a platform to showcase a manufacturers product range, demonstrate strengths, create customer interest,and inform ofnew products.

I love my Naim equipment and the music it makes(at home)but anyone who was new to it i fear would leave with a bad impression, i wonder how many left asking where they could purchase it.

I do not have a Linn product in my home and do not particularly like their sound ,but 10 out of 10 for professionalism on their demo and marketing.

Overall i enjoyed the whole show experience and for that matter did my wife.We lost out on a Quadraspire stand at half price as we did not have the cash with us.

David

Any sign of the new DNM preamp - 3D series? I'd heard a rumour that it might make its worldwide debut, but it was only a rumour and I had better things to do than go to a hifi show*

John

* though I'd have loved to have gone regardless!

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

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I love my Naim equipment and the music it makes(at home)but anyone who was new to it i fear would leave with a bad impression, i wonder how many left asking where they could purchase it.

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Have you been talking to my wife? When I got back home the first thing she said was "Well, what did you buy?". When I replied "Nothing. That's not what it was all about", her reply was "Well what WAS it all about then?".
Good question love.

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Originally posted by Roy Donaldson:
...dead cold and was playing classical music all the time we were in it.

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Surely some mistake??? Everyone knows that Paul Darwin is a philistine (hence owns only a handful of classical CDs under duress) and I was previously engaged elsewhere over the weekend...

But seriously, I'm sorry it was disappointing for you. Did you ask Paul whether he would play something else for you? I'm sure he would have very gladly obliged.

Richard

Well, there was indeed only Classical music going on while I was there.

I understand that Guiness may make a fine drink over the weekend, even though I would have thought whiskey would surely been more preferable :-)

I'm sure they would have put something else on had I asked, but the kit sounded just turned on, it wasn't that good a room to listen in and the DVD player didn't seem to work all that well ;-). It was a shame as some of your competitors had far better dems that day, by a long margin.

Roy.

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It was a shame as some of your competitors had far better dems that day, by a long margin.

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I agree wholeheartedly Roy. I reckoned Naim's displays looked as though they had been thrown together with minimal thought and planning. If I hadn't already been a huge fan I certainly wouldn't have been converted by Saturday's show because they were easily overshadowed by many other exhibitors.
Sadly a missed opportunity.

These might seem a daft questions but........

Why does a company with such a high standing within the world of hifi not have the ability to have more than one set of demonstration equipment ?

It seems to me that a decision was made to have a greater presence at the Dublin show than the Edinburgh show....why ?

Over to Naim to explain these to everyone.....

Hi Paul

Thanks for the clarification, hopefully this will stop any feeling of injustice about the Scottish show !!!

It's probably to do with the Central Scotland hifi "politics" and the lack of people further north.

Less people - less spends !

Paul,
don't forget these comments are being made by folk who are already fans (I've been a Naim customer since 1984 and will continue to be one for the foreseeable future). If some of us didn't think much of your display can you imagine what people who knew little or nothing about you thought? I really think you made a misjudgement here. The Naim display was the one I was looking forward to most but it all came over as impersonal, not very organised, not very interested. Luckily I know from the occasional personal dealings I've had with Naim that nothing could be further from the truth. You are a major player and should have had a more fitting display.

Don't forget Sir Robert Ritchie in Montrose. Not so far from the Cairngorms and the best dealer I've ever had dealings with.

John

PS. Why no 552/500 demo Richard?

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

Hi
More praise for Robert Richie, been dealing with him for years, a nice guy who knows his onions.
Regards
Jim

Sorry you seem to have taken umbrage to my comments Paul. They were meant to be constructive. Yes I was impressed by the 5i kit but that was not what I came to see and hear. A show like this is the only practical way most of us have of seeing and hearing the stuff we can only dream about. I doubt very much whether I’ll ever be able to afford a NAP500 but I would have liked to hear one and I assumed (obviously naively in retrospect) there would be a reasonable chance of this happening.
I haven’t contacted Loud and Clear or Ritchie’s for a demo because I have no intention of buying. I’m afraid having already bought a NAP250, NAC202, CD5, Flatcap2, and used HiCap this year’s budget is already drastically overspent so it would be a waste of time for them and me (Loud and Clear are 50 minutes drive west, or 40 east. A visit to Ritchie’s involves a 200 mile round trip. I was up there a couple of weeks ago to buy my new CD5). To be honest I’m slightly amused that you would go to the bother of checking up on this. I did however try to find out what was going on by asking a question on this board a few days ago. Sadly I got no reply. I realise now I didn’t ask the right question.
It’s quite obvious from the rest of this thread that I’m not the only one disappointed by the lack of high-end kit on display. If you notice I made this point in my initial post. Nor was there any noticeable enthusiasm from the potential customers in your room along with me. Shuffle in, sit down for a couple of minutes, and shuffle back out again with very little reaction or feedback being given or sought as far as I could see. Perhaps this wasn’t typical.
We’re obviously going to have to agree to differ on this. Naim chose to take a very narrow approach which I can understand from a marketing point of view but which has left me and many others disappointed at the lack high-end kit on display. And I still don't think you did yourselves justice.

"Naim chose to take a very narrow approach which I can understand from a marketing point."

We try to vary different systems and often we are accused of bringing the unaffordable to shows, its almost a no win. The sound is often difficult to control, the music not everyones cup of tea, it should be more of a shop window to Naim products and a chance to speak to the Naim people.Then visit one of our dealers for a great demo. I can see in Scotland getting to hear some of the big systems without travelling a long way could be an issue and maybe we will re-consider next time.

Paul I take your point entirely. I guess some folk go to these shows because they’re seriously thinking of buying soon and are looking for some choices while others are thinking more “what would I buy if I won the lottery?”. Perhaps I came over a bit strong but I’ve been so utterly knocked out by my new Naim gear that I just wanted to see and hear the current state of the art.

Your point about the Scottish market is also valid. We are a much more sparsely populated country than England. We don’t have the same vast population centres and frankly, levels of disposable income as down south. I’d still love to experience a NAP500 though. Perhaps you could send one to my home for me to try. I promise I’d return it promptly!

"Perhaps you could send one to my home for me to try."

I am sure it coule be arranged if you had a real interest in buying one!

Paul,
I've got a very real interest in buying one. It's just that my wife would divorce me and the bank demand the mortgage money back!
Cheers.

Tom K.

Tom,

You can come and hear my 500 some time. I am just over the bridge from you in Fife .

I attended the show on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed it. The 5i setup was a real eye opener. Very impressive for the price and one of the better sounding systems I heard. The best I thought was some Opus 3 TT setup with valve amps from eastern europe and Dali speakers. Each to there own! Krell was impressive at first but became very waring at the volumes they were pumping out!

It was nice to meet Mark from the Naim service Department after all the good work he has done for me.

Funny thing happened in the fog on the M3 the day after the show the car ended up in Salsbury(I no not how!) on my way to Christchurch! It seems I was drawn to find that 552 I missed at the weekend

Charles

To all

I really like this thread. Great "banter" between the customer and NAIM (and back). This is what makes the forum interesting for me.

Paul

Shame on Monkfish!!!!!

.... and shame that nobody else challenged him. The fact that the gentleman demonstrating the Rega gear might have been ill-mannered was one thing, but what difference to the gentleman's potential poor behavior did Monkfish's perception that he was effeminate have anything to do with the point? Would it have mattered at all if the guy was "butch" (masculine) As a gay man (who is not effeminate by the way), I find this type of slandering particularly offensive and need to call Monkfish on his ill-mannered behavior.

Jay

To Paul Stephenson and all the members here.

I don't know what did happen in Dublin show, but I guess that the sound there was awful.
A member in the Israeli audio forum wrote an extremely bad criticism about the quality of the sound both in the stereo and in the AV rooms.

It seems from here that the people who organized Naim rooms did a great mistake there. It is too awful as the person who visited there wrote that both systems were organized carefully according all the rules audiophiles know.

Arye

Hi Gaybar
My remark about the Rega demonstrator being effeminate was an observation which was not necessarily derogatory, if he appears effeminate why not call him effeminate he obviously went out of his way to look like that so I reckon my noticing the fact was a credit to him and how convincing his effeminacy was.
Regards
Jim