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In Reply to: RE: Naim is the worst, for this and many other reasons... posted by Vinyl Valet on May 15, 2015 at 09:04:19
Scratch Naim off the list unless I get something for free or almost free. When something is cheap, I have bought it just to be able to peek inside. I think I would like to pop the top off of a Naim! I have dealt with Oracle, NAD and Adcom. They all have been very cooperative ,but I generally don't expect much given the age of what I'm dealing with. Are there any manufactures that you know that support their vintage gear?
Dave
Follow Ups:
Try McIntosh and maybe Audio Research.
Do not throw your cigarette butts on the floor. The cockroaches are getting cancer.
I hope to do just that!
Dave
Crazy Dave (not so crazy) nailed it. Naim does not want anyone looking inside their boxes or to see their schematics for one simple reason (I don't care what their official line is); stupid simple circuits and lots of cheap crappy parts. Most of the space is air (but it's magic Naim air). At least the case with everything I've looked at which is ten years old or more. They've got a great scam going so I don't expect that anything has changed in recent years.
And then there is their re-cap scam. Now I, along with most audiophiles, understand the importance of replacing electrolytic caps about every twenty years, especially if internal temperatures are high. Naim recommends every ten years in components that generate very little heat. Why? They charge 100s or dollars to change out a handful of of cheap caps, maybe taking an hour max in most of their components. Can't let the customer do this because Naim service techs have been endowed with magical powers, magical solder and magical parts that we mere mortals can only dream of. BT Barnum, blah, blah, blah.
Frankly, even at wholesale, I would argue that Naim is terrible value. Like I said, I did not last long as a dealer.
- stupid simple circuits and lots of cheap crappy parts.
Well it is British gear after all. You wouldn't want them to go completely against the grain would you?
Dave
You just have to send it to them, pay shipping both ways along with, in my experience, their silly high costs and long turnaround. This has always been my personal experience.
Linn is not much better - I found a Klassic that needed a trip to Scotland for 6 months to operate again...
Happy Listening
the religion of Linn and Naim is faith based. Start to apply any logic or science and the whole mess begins to fall apart.
Yes, the LP12 is a classic. Was demoing a fully Naimed LP12 with the big Naim system. Very nice sound but like all Naim or Linn gear, I could do better with superior products at far less cost.
I had a Nait 1, the first decent piece of equipment I had ever bought. It wouldn't power up. I sent it to the distributor in Montreal, through the local dealer. It came back in about 3 weeks. The dealer told me that even they didn't have a schematic for the unit and had to troubleshoot nearly the entire board to find the problem. They charged about $100 for this, which must have been at a loss. I was entirely happy with this Naim and a Nait 2 I purchased later.
David
and there have been several over the last ten years (that should alone tell you something about Naim, the company), the latest being Audio Plus Services. They have an awesome reputation in the industry and surely must be turning things around, if for no other reason, it's just plain good business.
I want to make it very clear that my issue is primarily with Naim and secondly the Brits in Chicago that were running the company into the ground ten years or so ago (and no, I don't hate Brits; my dad was one; I love Great Britain and most things British; except their food, bad teeth, Linn and Naim).
I'm sure Audio Plus Services is going to do a timely and excellent job regarding the servicing of Naim gear of any age. It's why they've been around so long; a very well run company. Regarding parts and schematics; they entered into an agreement with Naim and must support their policies. I can even understand why a company would be very secretive about their proprietary information, ie schematics. Much money and time has been spent on R&D. Intellectual property does not mean much anymore in our culture. It's now accepted and common to steal from musicians. The same with R&D. Given the opportunity, folks will steal from anyone that make it easy to do so.
The thing that ticks me off about Naim, past, present or future is they will not sell parts to customers, even if the customer can prove technical superiority and experience to anyone in the Naim distributors service department. Who else does that?
My Grandmother MacPherson is spinning in her grave at Linn being called a British company, but my Grandfather Buckingham is snickering in his!
There are a lot of companies that don't want the DIY'ers as customers, but it is good to know about Audio Plus Services. Having sold audio equipment, I hate to see customers left in the lurch, like I was with my VSP Trans Mos amplifier, or my customers were who had Infinity EMIT and EMID drivers.
Dave
He's also funny as hell.
Yeah, tell me about it. The list is long. Years ago I thought I was doing my dear, stoner, potter bud a solid when I sold him a pair of Platinum Audio speakers at my wholesale cost. A year or so later I get the call, "Dude, my speakers exploded". Turns out he was, well, stoned, had a disc playing in the CD, turned the pre all the way up to see if that would work and then discovered the power amp was off. Of course he forgot about the CD player and preamp volume and ka-pow. Platinum was gone by then, all custom drivers, basically now unobtainium. Oh well...
No problem with my early 70's LP12 yet!
Dave
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