Linn - the next rip off

[guydarryl]

If streamers are Linn's main business then it could be a meeting to tell dealers that they will lose their Linn franchise if they promote other brands of streamer

[_D_S_J_R_]

OK, second hand info received just now, but I don't think it's anything other than a new product announcement. 'Digital' phono stage and different LP12 plinth options was mentioned, so nothing to see here for the likes of 'us.'

Like I said, second hand info, so take or leave as you wish...

[CN211276]

Info on PFM. £3000 for the urika digital Phono stage, £1500 for the lingo and if you buy both you can have the new plinth for £650. The old rogue is looking to top up his pension pot.

[Alfi]

Total bargains then!

I also see the new plinth is an "old plinth". Who's that supposed to be good for I wonder?



Alfi.

[mikeyb48]

£16,000 for their new streamer, honestly can't see where the money is in these devices, and certainly not at that price

[CN211276]

I believe they are targeting a very wealthy market who would buy any old crap as long as it looks stylish and has a reputation for "excelence" stretching back a !ong time. I am on holiday in Malta and am astounded by the number of large luxury yauts moored to the quay sides. Only millionaires could afford them. There is also a lot of development taking place in the popular resorts. The word is that the money is coming from Rusia and eastern europe. To these people the extortionate cost of Linn and Naim equipment would be a drop in the ocean. The fact that they could buy something sounding a lot better at a fraction of the price is neither here nor there. The equipment is just for show, they know little about hifi and are probably not aware of the forums. Linn and Naim would not be sustainable if they relied upon the brain washed old farts who populate their forums and PFM. As digital is the way things are going Linns new Phono stage is digital, the SQ benefits I fail to see. But it is likely to appeal to their super rich market.

[scotty38]

I believe they are targeting a very wealthy market who would buy any old crap as long as it looks stylish and has a reputation for "excelence" stretching back a !ong time. I am on holiday in Malta and am astounded by the number of large luxury yauts moored to the quay sides. Only millionaires could afford them. There is also a lot of development taking place in the popular resorts. The word is that the money is coming from Rusia and eastern europe. To these people the extortionate cost of Linn and Naim equipment would be a drop in the ocean. The fact that they could buy something sounding a lot better at a fraction of the price is neither here nor there. The equipment is just for show, they know little about hifi and are probably not aware of the forums. Linn and Naim would not be sustainable if they relied upon the brain washed old farts who populate their forums and PFM. As digital is the way things are going Linns new Phono stage is digital, the SQ benefits I fail to see. But it is likely to appeal to their super rich market.

I agree with all of that but I'd also add they're targeting, not necessarily wealthy folk, but those who are prepared to fund these "upgrades" too. There are people out there happy to spend all their hard-earned on hifi in much the same way that some will go out and buy a new car or a loft conversion or whatever. £20,000 is £20,000 regardless of whether it's a drop in the ocean or your life's savings... They care not which it is....

[CN211276]

I'm sure the mugs who have been following the "upgrade" path for decades are still contributing a fair percentage, but I think the super rich who buy whole digital systems for six figure sums are contributing most. They don't have to sell many to be laughing all the way to the bank.

[scotty38]

Can't disagree with that either....

[_D_S_J_R_]

There really does seem to be a top tier of people in Europe able to spend lavish amounts on their stereo gear. KJ in London has rich Russians too (the boss is Russian I'm told) and they have sold a small number of Naim Statement amps (apparently it IS very good and so it bloody well should be, but it's still a Naim sound). I have distant memories that in the 50's when 'HiFi' kicked off domestically, that it was well paid professionals who seemed to start the hobby off and it wasn't until the Japanese invasion later on that prices tumbled so the great unwashed could get a good sounding stereo...

When I started at one of Linn's 'big three' dealers, the engineers used to scoff at the paucity of Naim innards (Linn and Naim used to work on a ten-times manufacturing to retail markup one of the reps told me, costing out a Lingo when it first came out - £47 to make and £479 approx. retail inc. VAT). In the mid 80's, both brands saw a huge annual increase every year for a couple of years, this to stop wealthy germans buying here, taking it back with them and still saving, so we Brits, the home market, were made to suffer even more. Years later, I remember ATC speakers having a lower export trade price to try to maintain worldwide price parity and back then, their prices were so much better than a Linn-Naim active system which sounded amateurish in comparison. As ATC have contracted, their own prices have shot up too, so the situation of twenty five years ago no longer counts. In the meantime. EAR and Tron have drastically increased their prices in the last ten years to give their products more 'cachet' in the far east - a £1000 phono stage isn't as 'good' as a £12000 one because it doesn't cost as much - sod the performance technically and sonically

lastly, Linn put their prices up 8% over a year ago due to the UK currency tumble. Now the pound is getting so much better against the dollar, do you think they, along with everyone else, drop the prices back down?

Sad state of affairs if you ask me..