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Philips vam 1205 for naim cd 5

Yes agreed on the the misdiagnosis of the unit, did the dealer have the unit in for service and have a tech look it over?

As I say, it's an old unit and parts will be hard to obtain and be very expensive. Philips are no longer manufacturing these particular parts and I could imagine that for an item that has been out of production for some time naim will be happy to exchange the laser unit but if the fault lies elsewhere they may not be able to fix and then the customer has the cost of shipping and the service only to have the unit back in the same non working state.

When my cd 5 laser failed I expected that as it was over 10 years old I would just fix it myself. Don't get me wrong, if the dealer wasn't up to the task they should be managing expectations.

Most things can be fixed but from a business point of view sometimes it's beyond economic repair and most consumers won't normally bother when they get the quote for repair which can be as much as it is worth today.

More modern equipment will likely be serviceable because the item isn't that old and parts will be available.
Some manufacturers ceased making cd players simply because the laser mechs were no longer available after the initial supply of spares could no longer be relied on. How long does any company support anything that they have made? probably up until the guarantee of spares from a third party supplier ends I imagine.
 
Yes, the tech had it for three weeks then one day wrote saying “distributer says it can’t be fixed”.

Naim in Uk said they could replace laser if that was issue, which it was.

It’s all cool - I fixed it myself- but did not leave a strong positive impression of Naim’s ability to service gear in the US, no matter how old.
 
jimmytwos said:
How long does any company support anything that they have made? probably up until the guarantee of spares from a third party supplier ends I imagine.
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On this matter, I might point to companies such as McIntosh who still support nearly anything that ever came out of the factory. Is Naim not also such a premium marquee brand? Or was it, but no longer?

The breakdown here came at the distributer level, who seemed more intent on my purchasing a new player rather than to be bothered sending the CDP back to Salisbury, where it most certainly would have been repaired per interaction with Naim support. My annoyance is due to the simplicity of the ultimate fix, and the amount of time it sat at the shop. With light shed on Naim's ability to service product in the US. Being forced to work through a local dealer who must deal with distributer who must deal with Salisbury for a simple laser swap is some stone ages stuff.
 
jlw, just curious if you happened to call up AVOptions and speak with Chris West about a potential repair? I know that they probably have a stance on some of the CD players for similar reasons as Naim distributor or Naim themselves, but it might have been another option.
 
I did not based on info on their website discouraging cd3.5 repairs. Luckily, the $30 part from eBay is still working a week after install. Seems to have done the trick. Have the 3.5 hooked to my DualTeddyCap and it's singing again.
 
I have a CD3.5 that was not operating for long time , late 2018 I decided to re install my Naim system incld speakers , the CD was showing ERR ,
I contacted Naim UK and they said they do not have spare parts for it, makes me wonder why their reply is different in about the same time frame to other people in here, I'd be happy to send the unit to them for repair.
I have a friend who's a technician and he got me a lens, it was working till a couple of weeks ago and then ERR again.
My friend got another Philips lens, but he thinks it's not the correct one and now I'm trying to get the one.
The lens he asked me to get is Philips VAM1205 , but he says this number matters too: 9305 022 20501
Anybody knows where to get an original part like this?
Jlw mentioned Liberty electronics in Miami, I checked on eBay and it looks they're out of the 1205.
 
The test mode seems to work on a cd555 so I presume it will on a cds3. also alot of the copy laser mechs will not read past track 13.
 
Avi Sade said:
I have a CD3.5 that was not operating for long time , late 2018 I decided to re install my Naim system incld speakers , the CD was showing ERR ,
I contacted Naim UK and they said they do not have spare parts for it, makes me wonder why their reply is different in about the same time frame to other people in here, I'd be happy to send the unit to them for repair.
I have a friend who's a technician and he got me a lens, it was working till a couple of weeks ago and then ERR again.
My friend got another Philips lens, but he thinks it's not the correct one and now I'm trying to get the one.
The lens he asked me to get is Philips VAM1205 , but he says this number matters too: 9305 022 20501
Anybody knows where to get an original part like this?
Jlw mentioned Liberty electronics in Miami, I checked on eBay and it looks they're out of the 1205.
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http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=360934662619
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
My Naim CDX was skipping like a deranged teenager doing double dutch, to the extent that I had given up listening to CDs, I was unwilling to buy a new CD player or surrender my existing collection of 1000ish CDs. I knew that the VAM1205 was long dead so I thought what the heck and ordered one of these -

https://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot...&orderId=99862898337221&productId=32251980922

The ad says it's a "genuine VAM1205" but I am under no illusions, we all know that it's not a genuine Philips part. Anyway, I fitted it to my CDX retaining the original tracking motor and limit switch rather than soldering the new ones, (the motor just clips in/out and the limit switch uses a T5 torx bit) the blurb goes on about anti-static, but oddly they didn't pack it in an anti-static bag, although there is a neat little shorting clip on the laser ribbon cable, so taking anti-static measures I whacked it in and BINGO - it works perfectly.

The "test mode" on the CDX works as per previous posts - (insert CD, power up while holding the play button, the display flashes 0 and plays the CD on repeat while the display counts any errors) - its been running for 2 days with no errors so far and sounds just fine, its been a while since I listened to my CDs because of the skipping but the new transport sounds just the same as the old one as far as I remember. Given the choice between scrapping a Naim CDX or fitting an iffy Chinese replacement laser / transport I know what choice I would make every day.

2 things of note with this iffy replacement
1. The magnet on the new spindle is not as good as the original, the original used to "suck" the puck onto it, but the new one is pretty weak. I might look at swapping the spin motor and / or spindle in the future.
2. Naim put a thin piece of almost tin foil which covers most of the laser head / mechanism, this is not there on the replacement and I dont think there is any way to swap it over.

So for anyone with a skippy CD player that uses a Philips VAM1205 transport - I would recommend one of these.
 
The reproduction Philips can transports that I have purchased have all worked fine. I had expected them to be of poor quality etc from what I had read on the internet.
My theory (unfounded) is that they were probably outsourced to be manufactured in the far East originally maybe? Being that the patent expired long ago it's totally feasible that the factories making them just continued to make them without having to pay a license? I will say that I'm pleased that the mechs are available and I have purchased plenty of spares to keep my naim cd5 going
 
damn2k said:
where should the two wires be welded on the CD5?
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Nowhere - you need to transplant the laser from this transport into the old one. The VAM1205 has a hall-effect motor and the CDM12.4 transport uses a DC motor. You cannot interchange them. Only the laser heads are the same.
 
Yes, take the laser sled out and replace it in the old transport. Pull off the large gear and you can move the laser sled. At the far end there is a plug that holds the sliding rail in, slide that out and the laser assembly will pull out.
 
I bought a used product equipped with a VAM1205 and implanted a laser. It was an original Philips product.
VAM1205 durability in China is weak.
 
How is your replacement VAM1206 laser unit working on your Naim CD5 nowadays?
Any reading disc issues or playback issues after replacing the original broken VAM1205?
Are you still happy with your laser unit after 5 years of use ???

Do you recommend buying a chinese laser unit VAM1206 instead of a chinese VAM1205?
I bet there isn't much difference between both laser units ??

When sending of for service to Naim factory, I wonder why Naim never took laser units from VAM1206 mechanism and put the laser into the mechanism for VAM1205 ??
Is VAM1206 no longer available ??
 
Had my CD5 serviced and is now working like new again.
A new laser replacement fixed the ERR issue.

The original laser CDM12.5 when it still was in healthy condition had problems playing certain cd's with the new laser replacement CDM12.4 my problematic cd's plays perfect, this is a bonus treat!
 
TimF said:
jlw, just curious if you happened to call up AVOptions and speak with Chris West about a potential repair?
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Just FYI, North American owners, AV Options no longer works on CD players, just amps, preamps and power supplies. Not cheap, but good quality work.
 
sktn77a said:
Just FYI, North American owners, AV Options no longer works on CD players, just amps, preamps and power supplies. Not cheap, but good quality work.
Click to expand...
I suspect that Chris West would agree to stick one's CD player transformer and bits of wire in the freezer, were one willing to pay the price.
 
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