NaimUniti. Big price rise from today.

chebby

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From today Naim prices have risen. I was looking through them (I have some interest in the prices of a few items right now) and found a really suprising one.

The NaimUniti (£2145 in the post VAT rise Jan - March 2011 list) has just risen to £2495. (Ouch!)

Source...

Jan - March 2011 (PDF file)

April 2011 (PDF file)

That means a 16 percent rise for the NaimUniti whereas (in comparison) the Nait CD5i went up from £945 to £975 (just over 3 percent).
 

Helmut80

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it's part of the Naim marketing. 'If you don't have to remortgage your house to buy it, it's hot hi-fi. '

Having said that, there is a lot of Naim prices bashing going around these days, while others are just as bad. Have a look at the 2011 PMC speaker prices, the OB1is are now £4400
 

chebby

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It's not Naim's prices I am 'bashing' (nor the fact that they have had a price rise).

It is the inconsistency that caught my eye.

3 percent for some items and 16 percent for another.
 

Andrew Everard

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roger06 said:
Naim speaker cable went from £11 pm to £15 pm in about two years. I can't imagine demand for that changes much...

I should imagine that may be said to have something to do with the rising price of at least one of the raw materials.
 

Frank Harvey

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The price rise is due to manufacturing costs. Their price rise on the Uniti last year was minimal, but not enough to cover increased costs. They've absorbed what they can for this long, but couldn't absorb it any longer, hence the current price rise.
 

Bodfish

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Helmut80 said:
it's part of the Naim marketing. 'If you don't have to remortgage your house to buy it, it's hot hi-fi. '

Having said that, there is a lot of Naim prices bashing going around these days, while others are just as bad. Have a look at the 2011 PMC speaker prices, the OB1is are now £4400

I really find some of the general ‘price rise bashing’ comments rather odd – and I appreciate Chebby that wasn’t the tone of what you started – but so what if Naim or PMC or others are raising their prices?

And to a point, so what if some product lines are increasing more than others when one is coming the end of it’s natural lifecycle and you have sufficient parts stock to satisfy a 12-18 month order book while the other is in a heavy growth market (and all of your suppliers know this too) where you have introduced several new lines which require new tooling, use components and technology in construction which traditionally been outside the skill set of your production line staff and so on?

The underlying implication seems to be that a long established commercial enterprise making a profit by selling consumer electronics is a ‘bad thing’?
 

crusaderlord

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companies can pitch their prices entirely where they like - however if they get it wrong then people wont buy and will seek out altenative competitive products

the question will be is the NaimUniti worth £2495 to you or not - it does cover a lot of bases

personally at that price i would go for separates for the sound quality and add in an alternative streaming set up but then i am not taking account of one box space issues
 
A

Anonymous

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I've just taken delivery of my Uniti, pre-price hike.
smiley-cool.gif


Apparently, the hike has come about as a result of a marketing error by Naim, in that the Uniti was underpriced in the marketplace. As for the sound quality, we auditioned it at the dealer, and it sounded absolutely amazing. It drew us into the music in a way that my current mid-priced system doesn't. Even at the new price, it's good value
 

Helmut80

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psycoschnauzer said:
I've just taken delivery of my Uniti, pre-price hike.
smiley-cool.gif


Apparently, the hike has come about as a result of a marketing error by Naim, in that the Uniti was underpriced in the marketplace. As for the sound quality, we auditioned it at the dealer, and it sounded absolutely amazing. It drew us into the music in a way that my current mid-priced system doesn't. Even at the new price, it's good value

what does that mean? Customers cannot decide for themselves, so because it was cheaper than comparable products everyone thought it wasn't as good as comparable, more expensive alternatives?
 

Frank Harvey

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FrankHarveyHiFi said:
The price rise is due to manufacturing costs. Their price rise on the Uniti last year was minimal, but not enough to cover increased costs. They've absorbed what they can for this long, but couldn't absorb it any longer, hence the current price rise.

The above reason for the price hike is correct - spoke to Naim the other day.
 

Overdose

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FrankHarveyHiFi said:
FrankHarveyHiFi said:
The price rise is due to manufacturing costs. Their price rise on the Uniti last year was minimal, but not enough to cover increased costs. They've absorbed what they can for this long, but couldn't absorb it any longer, hence the current price rise.

The above reason for the price hike is correct - spoke to Naim the other day.

So, taking out dealer margins, manufacturers profit etc, etc, it now costs £300 or so extra to make this unit? I personally find that hard to believe.

The price hike might be a 16% hike in overall cost to the punters, but if its purely manufacturing cost related, thats going to be a much greater percentage for manufacturing alone.

I think the reason is likely to be a combination of factors, not least of which being that Naim think that their product is now worth an extra £350 and can justify it through sales.
 

CnoEvil

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Overdose said:
FrankHarveyHiFi said:
FrankHarveyHiFi said:
The price rise is due to manufacturing costs. Their price rise on the Uniti last year was minimal, but not enough to cover increased costs. They've absorbed what they can for this long, but couldn't absorb it any longer, hence the current price rise.

The above reason for the price hike is correct - spoke to Naim the other day.

So, taking out dealer margins, manufacturers profit etc, etc, it now costs £300 or so extra to make this unit? I personally find that hard to believe.

The price hike might be a 16% hike in overall cost to the punters, but if its purely manufacturing cost related, thats going to be a much greater percentage for manufacturing alone.

I think the reason is likely to be a combination of factors, not least of which being that Naim think that their product is now worth an extra £350 and can justify it through sales.

I'm no fan of Naim, but I suspect that this decision wasn't taken lightly (there's too much at stake in a recession), or simply to line their pockets.

Don't under-estimate the effect of currency and commodity markets on prices. They probably had the choice of incremental increases, or holding off as long as possible, and doing one big jump.

On the other hand I could be wrong, and they're just taking the "mick". ;)
 

Overdose

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Naim are hardly going to say oficially that the price is rising because they think they can squeeze some more money from the product now are they?

I'm sure that what you are saying is true, ie that's what Naim told you. I don't doubt it, because any price rise needs to be seen to be justified.

Remember that the price of anything is not down to its cost alone, but its perceived worth. If these things are flying off the shelf, so to speak and supply is getting stretched, as Andrew has already mentioned, then I for one, would be wondering if marketing didn't get the initial RP wrong. It's been said many a time that the Unity was something of a bargain.
 

Frank Harvey

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Any price rise like this will attract the anti-(insert manufacturer name here) who will steadfastly refuse to believe a manufacturer is being honest. There are many products over the years that have had higher than normal price rises, but were never met with such scepticism. I'm sure if many people think the same way as yourself, they'll vote by not opening their wallets, then Naim will sell a lot less. If that's the case, we'll see price reductions in the run up to Christmas. But if the reason Naim gave is true, they'll have to cut some corners somewhere in order to get costs down. Corner cutting isn't in Naim's vocabulary, so I doubt very much we'll see a situation like that, even if many manufacturers would take that route.

On the plus side, there's the new n-Stream and n-Serve (free) iPad apps. I was using the n-Stream app today to control our Uniti - very nice it is too.
 

Overdose

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I am not anti Naim, nor any manufacturer for that matter and if I am ever in the position to audition a Uniti and have the funds, I may buy one if I can justify it. I quite like its concept.

The price increase has just made it harder for that justification and what I steadfastdly refuse to believe, is a thin excuse to hike prices when other manufacturers are not doing so. Why are no other manufacturers doing the same? Surely manufacturing costs are a global phenomenon and the technology widely used and not particular to Naim?
 
A

Anonymous

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so, was there a rush of purchases at the 'old' pricepoint prior to 01/04? if not, then they're going to have trouble selling it for the new IMO.

I was very close to going for one at the old 'discounted' price - it seems ive spent too much time considering. I won't be buying one at the new price - £2.5k is simply too much for the uniti.

A 20% price hike in the current economic climate is a dangerous strategy if they are not flying off the shelves before hand.
 

Frank Harvey

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downandout - it wasn't a 20% rise. And yes, a few people did order before the price rise.

Overdose - I wasn't implying you specifically, it was just a general comment. Bryston have also had a price increase, as have ATC on some of their products. Naim have an annual price increase every April without fail, which means they can usually get away with very small price rises, usually about 5%, instead of other manufacturers who increase by 10-15% every 1.5-2 years. In this case, Naim held the price of the Uniti during last years price increase because this came not long after the Uniti's launch, so didn't want to be upping the price so quickly after overcoming the initial supply and demand. It's now about a year and a half into it's life, and Naim can no longer absorb these costs. As far as manufacturing costs are concerned, much of what they do is done in-house, so it's their own running costs. There may be certain parts or manufacturing processes that are outsourced, which other manufacturers may or may not do. The main difference here is that Naim don't go for e cheapest outsourcing as they'll maintain quality in every stage of what they do. Some manufacturers will farm it out to the cheapest bidder.

I hope this helps.
 

chebby

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I think they missed an opportunity to raise the price of the NaimUniti last August when it underwent revisions (new firmware and direct, front panel mounted, USB iPod connectivity/operation/charging etc. intead of the old optional £95 n-Link)

No-one would have batted an eyelid because the product had been revised and improved. (Equivalent to adding a high class iPod 'transport'). A rise would have seemed justified by the added value and 'functionality' (sorry). That would have made this latest £350 price rise less necessary/unecessary. (And they'd have been making the extra money since last August.)
 

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