I know somebody who sent an old integrated for repair, he was charged £150 and they even replaced knobs that had a bit of cosmetic damage.
They are not offering the same as Naim (returned to customer in, as new condition), just repaired.
A lot of Japanese brands are similar. Denon, Luxman etc. (to name brands at opposite ends of the scale) put recapping charges on their website as well as other types of maintenance and the prices are very low and you can deal with them direct.
So although hifi is exempt from right to repair, $150 to have my Denon amp recapped seems great. My time is worth more than that and at that price, the incentive isn’t to upgrade but to keep it so it’s green too.
A good servicing department that is affordable really helps the value of older gear and the environment.
On the other hand, people have lost valuable skills. Changing caps and testing components for replacement was far more commen for owners of home appliances and then suddenly died out in the 80s. It think Naim could and should consider publishing service manuals for products that have been discontinued for 5 years (no in warranty new units in the field). Purely on environmental grounds, people should be encouraged to keep things alive rather than constantly replace. I love that things can be serviced officially to a guaranteed standard. But I also like having the choice.
My entire Naim system is out of warranty and will be due for recapping in a few years. There is no Naim service agent in my country and current prices are prohibitive. If I keep it, I’ll recap it all myself.
Thats a very good point.
People living in UK are lucky easy access to service centers.
Being in EU its a nightmare even thinking of Naim servicing at the factory with the process very expensive and long lasting, I understand if for someone its a no-go.
Must be even worse in the Far East.
What we need is a Naim EU based servicecenter (country not important, Germany, France whatever) to offer support.
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People wouldn’t have considered suing the issuer of the service manual back then, after they electrocuted themselves or burned the house down 
IIRC there are a number of places who will service Naim kit within the EU; Focal Naim Germany, Latham Audio in Benelux, LASA in Italy.
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You can also forget to put brake fluid in your own car. To some degree people have to be responsible. Unlike hifi, right to repair does cover washing machines and fridges. Far more scope for fatal error there.
I’m very surprised to hear this, David, as I thought that QUAD had departed these shores long ago. Is there a service centre still in the UK somewhere?
I’m not disputing you at all, just highlighting the ridiculous reality of the change in peoples thinking - if it goes wrong, find someone to blame and try to make some money out of the situation…
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I don’t agree with you there, PerF. Naim servicing is both inexpensive and quick, and you end up with a unit that is pretty much as good as new.
If you live in the EU, your dealer will incur charges in having your kit couriered to/from Salisbury, but I can’t imagine that courier charges would be prohibitive, compared to the value of your newly refurbished kit.
And consider the alternative. Most other manufacturers don’t have any service department worth speaking of these days. If their stuff fails, your only option is to bin it and start again.
PS: I imagine that Naim would regard setting up a service centre in the EU with horror. Just imagine the cost of holding the huge stock of spare parts that would be necessary to carry out the most basic repairs to equipment which might be 50 years old or more. And the wage bill for the extra service technicians. Far better, surely, to keep the Service Department right next to the Factory.
Yes. It’s still in Huntingdon.
Quad HiFi, IAG House, 13/14 Glebe Road. PE29 7DL + 44 (0)1480 452561
Goodness, I didn’t know that. All their manufacturing capacity was dumped somewhere in China years ago. Peter Walker must be turning in his grave
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The brand was bought by IAG and yes manufacturing moved to China. But actually the Chinese are quite good at that. And you can still buy new Quad equipment if you want to.
I recently bought a Quad “Artera Stereo” power amplifier which is a proper 140 watts per channel amplifier using the same “current dumping” approach that was first used in the 405. It works very well and costs just £1500.
I am using it between my Nova and my SL2s. It was a big improvement over driving the SL2s direct from the Nova and a fraction of the cost of a NAP 300 DR.
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Fair enough, David. We each make our own decisions.
I regard ‘real’ QUAD products as those made in Huntingdon originally and those made or refurbished by Manfred Stein’s team in Germany now.
I don’t buy any products made in China, because of their appalling human rights record. As I say, we each decide for ourselves.
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Yes I still have several “real” Quad products in my loft, including a 44 preamp, a 405 and 606 power amps. And have owned and sold many other “real” Quad products.
But China is a big place and the Chinese Government’s human rights record is nothing to do with the people working in the factories making consumer products. A large part of Apple’s product line is made there too of course.
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Even if you don’t buy the final product, a vast number of components and raw material from China is in products made in the West.
DG…
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I wonder if the Artera isn’t a natural match for the Atom HE …
Yes.
The main PCB in the Ndac is obviously made in China.
I believe ATC offer a factory service and repair process which claims to return products to as-new condition. I’ve no idea how much it costs and have not used the service myself.
Roger
I don’t have an Ndac, and I don’t know what it does. I only buy Olive anyway.
Why do you think that ?