Description
Naim’s first turntable may well be built for them by turntable specialists, Clearaudio, but it’s a Naim design through and through. Indeed it’s (yet another) of Roy George’s final projects!
This is a lovely piece of work that looks better in the flesh than in photographs. Peer under the skin and there are echos of Naim’s loudspeaker isolation techniques over the ages. This is a very complete package that is still capable of future upgrades an all directions.
It’s definitely special!
Naim have now taken orders for the entire run of 500 units. Several dealers, ourselves included, have ordered speculatively so that we can supply when the turntable starts to become available. We are hopeful that the demonstration unit will be with us by the end of July 2021.
Some buyers have simply decided to order blind (deaf?), others, quite logically, want to listen first. If you are interested in taking either course of action, please let us know.
Solstice Special Edition
Limited to just 500 units, this Special Edition package includes the Solstice turntable, a next-generation version of the iconic Aro tonearm, Naim Equinox MC cartridge, Solstice Series Phono Stage, Power Supply and bespoke accessories set. The Solstice turntable combines core Naim design philosophies, such as multiple levels of mechanical decoupling, with a celebration of beautiful materials. It features a magnetic bearing supporting a high-mass, highly polished aluminium platter, with a unique, self-calibrating motor drive system, meticulously delivering the Naim sound.
The Special Edition package also includes a commemorative book, plus the Naim Records True Stereo album – a curated collection of superb-quality True Stereo recordings, newly remastered for vinyl.
A timeless Naim design
Naim products aim to be both timeless and contemporary. Naim designs eschew unnecessary visual adornment that do not serve performance goals. Solstice Special Edition design is functionally coherent, encourages use, sharp – almost brutalist – and wears its innovative materials and design solutions with pride.
A legacy that lives on
Naim’s founder, Julian Vereker often considered a Naim-designed turntable. Tragically, he never realised his plans before his untimely death in 2000. However, his legacy lives on with this project and the team behind Solstice Special Edition.
From then to now
Even after the arrival of CD in the 1980s, Naim continued to champion vinyl, producing the iconic ARO tone arm in 1989. Aro has always set a benchmark in terms of delivering incredibly natural, organic and lifelike musical performances. Its design allows the cartridge to extract enormous amounts of the information from the grooves of a vinyl record, but with an incredible sense of flow and correctness to the resulting sound.
High quality materials for improved performance
Updating Aro for Solstice Special Edition involved retaining the original’s design principles and excellence, but boosting performance further still by using improved materials – including tungsten and carbon-fibre – and adding an all-new, no compromise bias, arm height and azimuth adjustments.
Engineered with Swiss-watch precision
The Equinox cartridge’s Moving Coil (MC) inner assembly sits in a solid aluminium housing machined from a single billet. A raked silver polished chamfer passes over the black cartridge edges, simultaneously communicating the unseen facets of the diamond stylus and giving a nod to heritage Naim ‘chrome bumper’ designs.
Phono Stage NVC TT
With the goal of making a glorious-sounding phono stage that was also easy and flexible to use, Naim referenced previous designs such as SuperLine, but also the pinnacle of Naim engineering: the Statement amplifier. The Solstice Series Phono Stage is the first to feature the Discrete Regulators developed for that flagship.
Unique know-how
Led by our Technical Director (Electronics), Steve Sells, Naim’s expert engineers designed simple but elegant circuits, fed by our acclaimed high-performance DR tech, which provides the smooth, stable power supply that’s vital for next-level performance. Production technicians then take premium components and fanatically measure, select and match them for ultimate accuracy.
Power Supply NPX TT
The Solstice Series Power Supply is a bespoke design that powers both the turntable and the phono stage. For the ultimate performance, these two different power supplies are completely isolated, with no risk of interference.
Precision engineered by Naim and Clearaudio
While the Solstice Series NVC TT phono stage and NPX TT power supply are hand-crafted in Salisbury, the NVS TT turntable, ARO arm and Equinox cartridge are exactingly manufactured to Naim’s unique design by Clearaudio.
