Naim’s Solstice Special Edition is the company’s first turntable ever
500 plays of summer
If ever you needed evidence that vinyl’s resurgence isn’t just a passing fad and that people are spending lots and lots of money on proper records, note that British audio brand Naim has seen fit to make a first ever turntable in its 50-year history. Fittingly named the Naim Solstice Special Edition given it’ll set you back an astronomical £16,000, just 500 are being made with each one coveting a plinth crafted from 47 separate layers of wood, and an Equinox MC cartridge sitting in a solid aluminum housing machined from a single billet. The list of hi-fi nerd specs is long and distinguished, with a self-calibrating drive system, a tungsten and carbon-fibre tonearm, and a phono stage tech impressively nabbed from its £170,000 flagship Statement amplifier. Naim actually named the turntable the Solstice as a nod to the company being headquarted close to World Heritage Site, Stonehenge, as opposed to the fact vinyl is so old it’s practically Neolithic, but we’re just playing, because we’re completely smitten with this brutalist bad boy and will take two, thank you.