How reliable is Naim gear

I have had my system plugged into the mains and switched on for over 5 years…its never given a moments trouble… but how reliable is this equipment…has anybody had a serious internal short circuit etc…just interested…

Very! :neutral_face:

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My 140 has been powered on since 1996, apart from a service some 6 years ago!

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In over 30 years of Naim chrome, classic and black boxes I’ve never had a single failure, though I have serviced and maintained as this has become necessary…

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I think you have answered your own question - over 5 years powered up and no problems! No product is perfect and there is always a risk, however minimal, for something to go wrong with electrical components - possibly no fault of the product eg power surge caused by something else.

Usual qualification for all things electrical - particularly with weather forecast for southern England tomorrow - if there is a threat of lightning, power down and unplug is recommended.

Well you did ask!

Peter

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30+ years. Amps and power supplies. Perfectly reliable.

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My Nait 2 has never given me a lick of trouble in 30 years, though the last 20 years of that the usage has been intermittent. Similarly, I have a pre-owned Linn AV5125 that’s been powered on constantly for the past five years that’s always ready to go when I use that system

I had my Nait 2 serviced a month or so ago by Darran at Class A - that was the first time since I bought it new. Still faffing about considering a new cd player to match it up to before powering up!

Peter

Mine is due to be serviced in the next couple of months. From Monday it will be my primary amp again until my new gear arrives.

Generally if a naim product does not show up a fault very early on they are very reliable. I got two CD555s with different faults before the third was a fully operational one.

.sjb

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Well, for some balance: 1 faulty Muso, 2 faulty Novas, 3 faults SN3, seems the older kit was more reliable or built to a higher standard or I’ve been consistently unlucky!

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As the older units have/had less parts, numerically - then they will seem to be more ‘reliable’. The modern stuff - like the SN’s - is much more complex (than say a NAC42 was) - so has more parts to go wrong.

To balance that out, the modern units are likely to be far better built, with less hand assembly and so ‘should’ be more consistent.

My first streamer from Naim a ND5 XS delveloped an early fault early on and I returned to dealer and he shipped out for repair. In the meantime he loaned me a Naim CD player which filled the void very nicely.

I also had one of the channels fail on a SuperNait 2 and once again the dealer shipped the unit out for repair and a Nait XS 2 was provided as a loaner for a few weeks.

I have found the gear very reliable for the amount of uptime and use I have had with my Naim system. …and the couple of times there was a hiccup it was quickly sorted and fixed.

Excellence in service during sales and service if a problem arises is an important factor on why I continue doing business with a company. …and NAIM scores high in both areas.

Here is my list of failures -

NAC42 - S boards went noisy (replaced FOC); Mute/Monitor switch went u/s (fixed, low cost)

NAC102 - only unit which had any real problems - strange in-balance from new - I should have returned it to my dealer, but ‘life’ got in the way - it did go back to Naim HQ after it was well out of warranty and was rebuilt with a new main PCB; I decided to move it on and sold it.

CDX2 - nothing in my ownership, but ‘oily’ display was replaced by the selling dealer, before I bought it (it was pre-loved)

The following units have been fault free -

NAP110
SNAPS
HiCap #1 *
NAP250 *
NAC72 #1 (2 sets of BNC’s)
NAC72 #2 (1 set of BNC’s) *
NAP140 *
NAC82 *
NAPSC *
HiCap #2 *
XPS2 *

(* - units I still own)

Just shy of five years old and my streamer is playing up, Error 238 and failing to restart properly but only intermittently. Still arranging for a repair on that.

The Uniti Core developed a reluctance to rip and a rattle after a couple of years, Naim said they found nothing wrong with it when I sent it in but the rattle was gone and it’s worked perfectly since.

CD player mechs go and their replacement is uncertain these days.

The speaker foam crumbles in some models after 15-20 years and tweeters benefit from a refresh about then. Naim have dropped support post Focal but DIY isn’t too hard.

The amps are nearly bulletproof given the odd service.

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My Naim kit is mostly trouble free, but not entirely over the years.

My ca. 2016 NAC-252 had a bad output mute relay and quit working on one channel a few years ago. Focal-Naim North America repaired it free of charge and had it back to me within a month.

I had to get my HiLine cable repaired. Naim repaired it free of charge. Those plastic rings are extremely fragile and break too easily. Now I avoid touching the cable, but when I have to I am hyper-careful with it.

My ND5-XS developed a faulty board: It would display an error message on startup. It had to be repaired at a cost of $500+. When Naim sent it back, they didn’t pack it properly and the casing was damaged during shipping. It had to go back again to get that replaced, at Naim’s expense.

When I had a 42.5/HC/140 system in the 80s/90s the 140 had an issue with over heating and had to be repaired. I no longer remember the cost, but it wasn’t a free repair.

I’ve never had a fault with Naim electronics.
Cyrus, on the other hand ….

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My CD555 has had the same fault twice. Lid refuses to work. Seems like a design fault. I wish they’d put a lid on it that wasn’t electrically controlled. It wasn’t too arduous to lift a lid with my finger on the earlier Naim models I’ve owned!!
However, nothing else has gone wrong. Ever.

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Thankyou all for replying…interesting and actually quite reassuring

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I have had issues with the DAC-V1 (USB connector & Display Screen).
I never had issues with the older CB/Olive gear.