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Trouble with Nord

Drzoigberg

pfm Member
Has anyone else had the power supply on there Nord amp fail ?


Mine started playing up after it was off for a while. It was stored in it packaging on top of the wardrobe for maybe 8-12 months.

On switching on it took about 5 mins for one channel to power up and about an hour for the other.

I contacted Colin North and he said he had a couple of amps in which this had happened but hadn’t had chance to look at the problem.

To be honest I found Colin very unhelpful, he couldn’t tell me if the problem had been corrected. He said he was too busy to repair it. He just wanted to sell me some replacement boards. He also informed me that the amp was 2 years old and what do I expect.

I then contacted Hypex, they also informed me that they had had this issue. They asked me for me serial number on the power supplies.

Anyway in the meantime maybe 8 months or so ago, my amp was working so I was happy, didn’t follow it up. Then sadly 2 months back my amp stopped working on one channel all together.


I then contacted Hypex with the serial numbers. The responded saying mine was not one in the effected serial number range to have this problem.

To me this means this problem is endemic and could happen to every Hypex or Nord amp with this ps in.

I don’t know what to do, I am the thick end of 2k down with nothing to show for it !

Hypex said replace C38 and C39 caps, but I am worried if I do I won’t have a leg to stand on when taking this further .
 
That's slightly worrying. OK - all technology has problems, but the response from the maker and component supplier is disappointing, to say the least. I've got one of the smaller units with a Hypex NC502. The idea that a fault could mean a new board (in my case the entire amp) within a relatively short period of time seems unreasonable. Out of interest, which module(s) does your amp use?
 
Hypex may be a helpful source of information but your dispute is with Nord. In your position I would make it clear to Nord that we have a problem (i.e. their amp has failed after an unreasonably short time and they have a responsibility). After discussion with Hypex a possible solution was proposed. What do Nord think about this and how do they suggest we best proceed. Etc... That is, keep Nord in the loop and fully involved with the decision making. They will want to resolve the issue and, depending on their outlook, might try to squeeze money for this or that or fob you off with this or that but be firm and polite. Some give and take might be reasonable depending on the full picture. Avoid getting heavy (impolite, threaten legal action, threaten posting on the web(?),...) until it has become clear the "let's work together to fix this" approach isn't going to work. If you reach that point then taking things further will likely cost you significantly in terms of time, money and stress and, depending on the full picture, you may still fail to obtain a working amplifier.
 
Been wading through the multiple pages of praise and deliberations from more owners over past few days. Not come across this and I do hope it can be sorted , amps should last many many years including class d. I sold my bc ref 1000 years ago and to my knowledge they are still going strong
 
SMPS'S tend to have more issues than linear ones simply because they have more to go wrong and certain components are likely to be under a significant amount of stress.

It's also very much not recommended to have a go at a DIY repair unless you're very confident in what you're doing since they can have some fairly lethal back EMF's just waiting to find a path to earth.

I don't think Mr North will do his business any favours through being unhelpful!
 
That's slightly worrying. OK - all technology has problems, but the response from the maker and component supplier is disappointing, to say the least. I've got one of the smaller units with a Hypex NC502. The idea that a fault could mean a new board (in my case the entire amp) within a relatively short period of time seems unreasonable. Out of interest, which module(s) does your amp use?

I believe that they are Smps1200A700
 
Hypex may be a helpful source of information but your dispute is with Nord. In your position I would make it clear to Nord that we have a problem (i.e. their amp has failed after an unreasonably short time and they have a responsibility). After discussion with Hypex a possible solution was proposed. What do Nord think about this and how do they suggest we best proceed. Etc... That is, keep Nord in the loop and fully involved with the decision making. They will want to resolve the issue and, depending on their outlook, might try to squeeze money for this or that or fob you off with this or that but be firm and polite. Some give and take might be reasonable depending on the full picture. Avoid getting heavy (impolite, threaten legal action, threaten posting on the web(?),...) until it has become clear the "let's work together to fix this" approach isn't going to work. If you reach that point then taking things further will likely cost you significantly in terms of time, money and stress and, depending on the full picture, you may still fail to obtain a working amplifier.


Indeed I agree, the issue is with Nord. I only contacted Hypex to clarify the situation with what I suspected is a known fault.

The fact that the first line of the response from Colin was “ I had this happen in a couple of amps” annoyed me as it is a known fault, he then went on to say he hadn’t looked into it.

I think communication between me and Colin has reached an impasse, he no longer responds to e-mails from me. I feel that I tried to work with him for a solution but he rebuffed me. In my second communication I ask him to elaborate on a new module he mentioned was keeping him away from finding out why some of his amps break.

It all a great shame really as I would have been a supporter and adopter of all the new upgrades.
 
SMPS'S tend to have more issues than linear ones simply because they have more to go wrong and certain components are likely to be under a significant amount of stress.

It's also very much not recommended to have a go at a DIY repair unless you're very confident in what you're doing since they can have some fairly lethal back EMF's just waiting to find a path to earth.

I don't think Mr North will do his business any favours through being unhelpful!


I have been tempted to change the caps as suggested by Hypex, but I know little to nothing about smps’s, so was nervous to carry it out.

Thanks for the warning on the EMF’s, I wouldn’t have known about such things
 
Nord apparently offers a two year warranty, so if you're over that period I suppose he's within his rights to just sell you some replacement boards. But it is a bit disappointing, I would have hoped that a small manufacturer might have better focus on customer service. Just think of how different this thread would have been as "Nord went out of their way to fix my amp even though it was a bit beyond warranty"... Might have got him more customers rather than less.
 
I'd have thought he'd have a stack of spare PSUs, and what you want is for him to swap out the suspect modules, to get your amps back up and working, then to diagnose the PSU problems in his own time. That'd take him an hour to do the work to swap things out for you, and then he can decide how he wants to resolve it (might be he'd send them back to Hypex to take a look).

Anyhow, best of luck with the repair. I'd give the guy a ring and suggest what you want him to do rather than waiting to see what he says.
 
He can state whatever he likes, it makes no odds the law is the law. That said after two years you have to prove the fault is with parts and manufacture not misuse. Which thankfully hes done by telling you it's a known issue with multiple units. The pillock.
 
Will be interesting to see how he responds being a used car salesman.
 
Hi,
You are entitled to a 6 year warranty. So, Nord must respond positively.

If they do not, then the following website shows how you can progress :

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-ri...ovider-wont-honour-the-warranty-what-can-i-do

I checked the website, and it does not state that the warranty is not 6 years - in fact, there are no statements of warranty. Is there anything in the literature you received with the amplifier on warranty ?

Regards,
Shadders.

Thanks Shadders, I will look into it.
 
He can state whatever he likes, it makes no odds the law is the law. That said after two years you have to prove the fault is with parts and manufacture not misuse. Which thankfully hes done by telling you it's a known issue with multiple units. The pillock.

Indeed that was my thought, if it’s not fit for purpose then it’s a product recall, or if numbers are low free repair !!!!
 
Will be interesting to see how he responds being a used car salesman.


Don’t think he will respond, as I say it’s a shame really as the product was good until it broke.

Just such a shame

A long way away from when I had a Townsend Avalon and called Mr Townsend for advice, proper character and really helpful , and also the great service you get from Les at Avondale audio.
 


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