Boy, it’s been a while since I’ve visited the forum! I actually never visited this one, as my journey on the old one stopped when I was happy with the setup I have! To avoid any more upgrade fever, I quietly snuck out. Sadly, I had to return to ask you a relatively simple question which I can best explain using the following video as well:
It feels like the trusty mechanism has decided to give up the ghost, which makes me a sad panda, albeit I think I’ve had the played for roughly 20 years now. It no longer reads any CD’s, it just sounds like it wants to move but doesn’t and when pressing play, the ‘ERR’ crops up on the display.
I already read the VAM1250 was replaced by the VAM1202, not sure which mine has, but it looks like the VAM1250. The serial number is 203xxx, so perhaps someone knows by heart .
Can Naim still service these and repair them? If not, has anyone found a different solution? I did find this on the interwebs:
It’s a VAM1250. There haven’t been stocks for many years, which is why Naim re-engineered the CDX2 to take the VAM1202. I don’t know whether Naim are still offering the 1202 update for older CDX2s - even 1202 supply is very patchy these days (mostly rubbish being made out there). Your best bet is to liaise with your dealer so they can make the appropriate enquiries with Naim.
I did indeed search the forums and posts were far inbetween, especially over the last year.
Also, thanks for confirming it’s a VAM1250, could make things a little easier going ahead.
Most posts ended in long waiting times, challenges with the mechanisms being available at all and was hoping to find someone who had a bit more recent experience and either give me some hope or crush it immediately (ripping the bandaid!).
My dealer is closed on Mondays, so I thought I’d give it a go on the forums as well as people have always been kind and helpful, which doesn’t seem to have changed!
I’ll stop by the dealer on Wednesday, but I reckon they will need to inquire at the distributor or Naim themselves.
While I get the sentiment, I’ve grown quite attached the the player. More expensive parts are always challenging to get, for electronics and other expensive things tend to simply use less in demand bits. CD players are even weirder, as the medium is vastly in decline and multi medium players are a lot more useful in that regard!
Whats the story with these mechs, that are branded as Phillips and are made everywhere but in the Netherlands. I’ve seen them with made in China on their boxes even made in Japan which may be better. Were these VAM mechs made by different manufacturers or are they just cheap imitations??
As far as I know - based on what @NeilS has posted (please search other related threads for his posts), there are no other options, for the earlier CDX2 VAM1250 player - and I owen one.
For the later VAM1202 player, there are - sometimes - replacement mechs. But, these are now either of dubious quality or quite old. Results vary. Naim have sought these out, with limited success - both in numbers found and quality.
The only other option, is to find a non-Naim repairer, but this goes beyond the TOU of the Forum…
I did already do some searching on the forum, most replies weren’t super definitive as far as I could tell, save for the fact it was ‘very difficult’. I had hoped to find someone who recently did an inquiry to repair their head-unit, but the last post I could find was early 2023 if I’m not mistaken.
I might need to look into a new unit then, or to buy the VAM1250 I found in my first post. It looks like it’s a full Naim unit too, including the spindle, which does give a bit more hope, but the guarantee that it’s a good mechanism is slim due to the age of the parts I presume. I did spot some CDS3 units that are getting cheaper due to obsolescence I suppose, but I’d knowingly buy into a unit with the same VAM1250/VAM1202’s. So unless I can find one that is recently serviced with a new one, that is also fraught with peril.
I’ll stop by the dealer tomorrow and see what they can do first, before plunging into depths unknown. I did already notice that DIY is not permitted and I want to try and do it the official route anyway.
I presume it’s simply labour. Dutch labour isn’t exactly cheap. Also, quite a lot of raw materials needed for electronics are not natural to the European continent, or the mines are not scaled to cope, so that’s probably why eastern Asia has most of this manufacturing in their pocket, besides most countries simply offering cheaper labour.
If push comes to shove, you could get a NAIM HDX for pennies on the dollar and use it in CD play mode (it uses a cheap 5.25" computer DVD drive and take care of reading imperfections with software). I moved from a CDX2 to an HDX back in 2011 and didn’t notice a significant degradation in playback SQ. Your CDX2, unfortunately, sounds like it’s a bit of a doorstop now.
I was looking into a similar solution as well, and since it does still make use of the XPS DR, that would definitely work. Glad to hear the difference between the CDX and HDX isn’t that big, that would make the step considerably easier!
Since it’s already not working, I suppose there’s little to be lost by having it returned by your dealer to the factory in Salisbury for their opinion - worst that happens is it either gets damaged in transit or Naim say ‘No, it is unserviceable, unfortunately’. Whilst it may well be a failed mech, it might equally be something mechanical that is still fixable the old-fashioned way.
From reading between the lines of a few posts on here, I get the impression Naim inevitably have their ‘party line’ responses to queries but the people on the factory floor are often very impressively willing to think outside the box and find ways of repairing stuff when it’s on the bench in front of them. You might be lucky.
Mark
(whose CDX2’s drawer has become a little bit stiff over the last couple of weeks and he’s wondering how much to be concerned)
Be careful when purchasing a replacement laser mech even from Naim. My CDS3 had a new one installed and it lasted a few weeks. Naim provided a refund but that was the last one in Canada so my CDS3 was sold on. I still miss it!
I did just stop by at the dealer and they were surprisingly optimistic! Their repairman in-house supposedly has supposedly repaired many a Naim CDX2, so he said to drop it by and they can give it a look, so I will do that tomorrow.
You might be right the veterans might be able to help out. I sometimes feel like the older generation is so much more capable than I am when it comes to these things, I feel embarrassed
I hope a squeaky drawer is nothing to be concerned for though, it probably isn’t! That just seem like ease of use and not so much actual operation.
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