My two power supplies are as silent as the grave. I think some people just like to moan - and that absolutely doesn’t include Mike. I’ve no idea why happy owners of Naim choose to moan about it. It isn’t tweaky and sensitive at all, rather it’s some people just love to tweak.
A hypothetical question for you, HH:
If your power supplies started moaning out of the blue in an obvious way, would you be humming?
Look on any website of any manufacturer of anything and you will find people complaining about some aspect of whatever it is that the manufacturer makes. Here on Naim I see some such complaints, but really not a large number - though I do see lots of people saying how much they like the kit. And the use they make of their wallets seems, on the whole, to support the view that they like it.
It would be amazing (though wonderful) if there were no complaints at all, but TBH I think the number of complaints is fairly low.
Mike here seems to be very unlucky in his situation - and it is very difficult to figure out what the problem is without being there and hearing what is going on and fiddling with his kit (um - well, you know what I mean). Not a nice situation to be in, and he has everyone’s sympathy. Whether it is the Naim kit or not remains to be seen, but even if it is, I don’t think that means that Naim kit is particularly temperamental.
I have used lots of different Naim equipment (at least 6 different kinds of amp, 10 or so in total, two electronic crossovers, 3 kinds of speaker, 4 pre-amps. CDX/XPS, HDX, NDX and a Nait since about 1975 or so (and probably some other bits that I have forgotten), and it has all been almost trouble-free (SBL bass blew a couple of times). I don’t think that’s bad, TBH. Over that same time, I have had other equipment - which, again, has mostly been trouble free. My Nytech developed dirty volume control. Armstrong tuner (valve) died eventually. NAD 3020 was OK until I sold it. So most stuff is pretty reliable, I guess - but the Naims are built to last, and they do.
However the problem is different. You can buy two same components from Naim. One will be humming, the other not.
Some have reported it recently in the SN3 thread.
Yes, but I’ve already but I thought I’d already said that I had scrolled through the three available options.
I just assembled a dresser from Ikea the other day, the model was called FUKINKRAP
I use a Linn DSM because it has superb quiet SMPS rather than a buzzing toroid. Sounds fantastic to me.
They do, they do.
I know (believe to know…) that a ground/earth loop can make speakers hum (rather than the transformer). So proper earthing is important… But what is “earth leakage noise”, and how would such problem be addressed?
Apologies for my ignorance — most people probably know about earth leakage noise, and have a laugh about a social scientist’s lack of technical knowledge…
I have had four NAP135s, two 250s, one NAP300, one NAP500, one NAP90, two NAP120. They did not hum. But yes, some amps do hum. Not sure why some do and others (most?) do not. I don’t think this makes NAim kit (particularly) temperamental. Some of my earlier, non-Naim, amps hummed.
My 555 dr was humming but not know, since I bought the Eros Titan powerblock.
Past xps or hicap were sometimes humming, sometimes not.
Tweaking? I’d rather call it optimising
Dead right, if you can change out the thickness of whatever the box is sitting on and it has an easily discernible audio affect I’m going to investigate.
At the end of the day naim engineers have done this for you with the cable, powerline and Fraim, I really think naim are tops for it.
But racks are something to play with imo. Fascinating stuff. To me they can squeeze every bit of the fairy dust out. Even jaw dropping in some instances. I have some Fraim glass here and have a/b it on cups and balls (ball hitters) with standard harden 10mm? Float glass. The standard glass had better “hifi” but that naim glass just had more of naim to it, more of a “texture“ about it. However the naim glass is not so great on the mana rack so it lays under the bed in one of the rooms.
Note: ball hitters on the Mana ref table balance board with Fraim glass on top of them .
One of them snakes under a sofa next ti the right hand (brawn) stack of Hutter. Moved the sofa for a pre- Christmas hoover and accidentally kicked the speaker cable. System went off. Don’t know how quickly but next time I played anything it was the same kick of mids as now.
It sounds like something you get after eating too many sprouts.
Of course it’s sensible to optimise - the mains, the stand, the cable dressing and so on - and then it can be left alone. However, some cannot leave alone and must constantly tweak. You read the comments on here after doing the umpteenth tweak - ‘moving the power supply two centimetres to the left removed a upper bass colouration that has always been irritating’. Well, the system must have sounded crap to start with if the 36th tweak has brought such an improvement.
Mike thanks. Did you check the connections at all ends?
Best regards,
Lindsay
I’m sorry to read of these problems. I remember a problem with your Linn running backwards at one point but none with your Naims.
I’m happy to report that my Naims (set up as Naim suggest, FAQs etc. ) have been hassle free but this is of no help to the OP or anyone else here.
The effects are more subtle than a ground loop. You won’t hear hum or hiss if you connect a source that uses a poor quality SMPS (for example) but the ground system of your Naim amp/preamp will be degraded as a result. Some will be fine (like the TV set of an above poster), others definitely are not fine.
It’s easy to find the culprit if there is one and certainly every bit as worthwhile as paying attention to proper spacing of various bits of kit IME.
In my younger days of saving up for a few months to buy a £500 CD player, another few months to get a s/h integrated and another for speakers - tweaks can be had for beer money.
When I found that some music can sound excellent but others crap, that urge to tweak is magnified.
The thought of having to spend £1000 for a cdp upgrade seems a big stretch when some cones and a butchers block could make a difference for £150.
And they do make a difference. That music that sounded crap was a bit better, and the music that sounded excellent was even more so.
But, then I realised what these tweaks are doing and longed for a system that does everything what you ask it without that nagging doubt that something is in the wrong position or needs further fettling. Unfortunately this doesn’t come cheap and that urge to fettle never goes. This is the burden we all bear/bare.