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Problems with my Naim Audio system

Craig B said:
They also used to recommend leaving the gear on 24/7 to keep it warmed up for use, which helped to perpetuate the myth that their amps and sources only 'came on song' after days of being powered up.
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To be fair, that was pre-amp's, not the powers. Naim pre's did take a fair while to come on song and many owners did keep them 24/7 powered (as I did).

DavidS said:
Never heard of different speaker cable lengths causing a problem.
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Nope. It wasn't advisable to have unequal lengths, but unless you were silly, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Furthermore, unless the lead is faulty, its length cannot affect any component negatively.
 
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If you are not the original owner of the kit, then the first thing to do is to contact Naim directly by email (check their website for the address) and ask for the respective service history for each amp and power supply. You need to quote their serial numbers.

This will at least confirm for you how long it has been since they were serviced (if at all) and how far overdue a service is.The 135s performance will degrade over time and there’s a good chance that they will be the culprits, as has already been mentioned. This doesn’t exclude the 82 and the power supplies from the items requiring a service, but may help with prioritising.

Speaker cable should be the same length and over 3m in length.

I bought my current 135s and 52/PS second hand and recently contacted Naim as suggested. The 52 was serviced in 2009 and the 135s haven’t been to Naim for a long time (well over 10 years). So am about to get my 135s serviced and I should see a big improvement in performance. In fact, I’ve probably never heard how good they should sound.

So service history first. Naim usually respond the same day If it’s a weekday.

Peter
 
Dealer may be right.....
My similar kit was serviced at about 25 years. Sounded better. Nice step up, not night and day. Isobariks not serviced
6k sounds way too much.
Why hasn't he offered you spare kit of similar quality to swap out and test in the system ?
If he won't go to another dealer and say you are thinking of changing the lot as it sounds bad, or similar.
Home demo required.
Any sensible dealer should be giving a much better service
 
6k for service is robbery.Ask Class a Shefield for quote.With shipping included you should save enough for Lp12.Switzerland is very expensive country,kind a Rolex service for naim
 
Big plus one on Darran at Class A, he's Naim accredited so it's as good as sending back to the factory. I was getting hissing and louder pops through my Briks when my 135s were about 15 years old, Naim serviced and recapped them and the improvement was not subtle. When my 52 was about 20 years old I sent it to Darran and was delighted. I would suggest the power supply needs a proper service too. I used to have a HiCap which went off song after about 15 years, and was good as new after a service. Perhaps check out Class A's website they show pricing.
 
Gabrijel said:
The sound coming out of my speaker's tweeters is very distorted and it sounds like the tweeters are blown , but they aren't.
I ordered new tweeters (Scan Speak D 2010/851100) but that doesn't make any difference. A few months back it was just the one tweeter but now it's both. So the problem must be somewhere in my system rather than in the speakers.
My local Naim dealer told me that I need to recap my whole system which is going to cost my around 6k. I wonder now if I couldn't try to fix it with some DIY recapping on my own.

Where would you start with searching for the problem? Do I really need to recap the whole setup or could I start with just one component and see if it fixes the problem?
My setup (all olive series):
- pair of NAP 135
- Nac 82
- Supercap
- CDS1
- DBL's with passive x-over

The components are all from around 1995 and AFAIK no recapping was done so far.

Thanks for your help!
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Does the problem occur with every source you use, or just the CDS1?
Try another source and see if the problem remains.
 
It'll be the 135's - trust me!

The cap problem causes the power supply boards to oscillate at radio frequency and this causes no end of noise on the amplifier's output. You may experience any one or several of the following:
  • Hiss
  • crackling
  • duff piano notes
  • sibilance
  • 'dust on stylus' distortion
The power supply boards give the 250/135's their refinement but this is their Achilles heel.
 
6K, ffs. TAke Richard up on his offer, it's only soldering a couple of caps and he has the gear and experience to find the faulty part.
 
Sonci said:
Strange that they need recapping in only 20 years, my japanese amplifiers from the '80ies have no problems and capacitors are fine.
What capacitors was Naim using at the time?
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since naim gear is kept on 24 hours a day
 
Mike Reed said:
Yes and no. It obviates any flack arising from problems after 10 years and was a rather clever marketing ploy to keep loyalty to the brand and continually increasing revenue from servicing. A by-product of this, possibly not envisaged initially, is to keep an acceptable floor in used values.
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I would have thought it would have the opposite effect on used values. If you know an item is going to hand you a service bill for £X every 10 years then one that is due a service is worth less than a recently serviced item. It is after all what happens in cars, a 10 yr old car with a recent MoT and service is worth much more than the same one with no MoT.
 
Hi there,

I'd have to agree, there is a wealth of knowledge on the forum and common sense says that the amps will need recapping.

From past experience just out of curiosity I had my 250 and hi cap recapped after 18 years of ownership whilst waiting for a new pair of speakers.

The difference was jaw dropping I had never ever heard my system sound that good, I cancelled the new speakers and continued to use my Kans which had a new lease of life.

Over time you really don't notice the sound 'degrading' there was nothing wrong with my amps no buzzing hissing or any odd sounds but still obviously they really did need doing and whatever you can get them done for go for it, it wont' hurt and maybe you'll be kicking yourself you didn't do it sooner.

I have recently bought 135s and will be getting them recapped in the next few months, they haven't been done since 2009 and were used in an active system with another pair although I don't know if they were for bass or treble duties.

Good luck
 
Mr Magoo said:
If you are not the original owner of the kit, then the first thing to do is to contact Naim directly by email (check their website for the address) and ask for the respective service history for each amp and power supply. You need to quote their serial numbers.

This will at least confirm for you how long it has been since they were serviced (if at all) and how far overdue a service is.The 135s performance will degrade over time and there’s a good chance that they will be the culprits, as has already been mentioned. This doesn’t exclude the 82 and the power supplies from the items requiring a service, but may help with prioritising.

Speaker cable should be the same length and over 3m in length.

I bought my current 135s and 52/PS second hand and recently contacted Naim as suggested. The 52 was serviced in 2009 and the 135s haven’t been to Naim for a long time (well over 10 years). So am about to get my 135s serviced and I should see a big improvement in performance. In fact, I’ve probably never heard how good they should sound.

So service history first. Naim usually respond the same day If it’s a weekday.

Peter
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Hi Peter..thanks for the help. Thats a great idea. I will contact Naim about the service history first thing in the morning. I slowly upgraded from my first 90 olive series sound system so all components are bought second hand from different people so I have no idea if they were ever serviced.
A former Naim reseller here in Switzerland once told me this whole recapping thing is just a rip off and that I shouldn't do that as long as everything is working. Since I am not a tech guy I have no idea if thats true or not so I never saw the need for the recapping.
Cheers,
Gabriel
 
mikemusic said:
Dealer may be right.....
My similar kit was serviced at about 25 years. Sounded better. Nice step up, not night and day. Isobariks not serviced
6k sounds way too much.
Why hasn't he offered you spare kit of similar quality to swap out and test in the system ?
If he won't go to another dealer and say you are thinking of changing the lot as it sounds bad, or similar.
Home demo required.
Any sensible dealer should be giving a much better service
Click to expand...
6k Swiss Francs..thats about 4.6£ ..he said thats the official Naim price..
As I bought my system second hand he didn't seem very interested in helping me and seemed rather annoyed by my call. Unfortunately, there's only one Naim dealer here so no other place to go.
 
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