I am new here but a long time lurker, just here to express my disappointment to find how many people have experienced relay board failure after doing my research on this forum. Only now that this has happened to me I have learned about this common issue.
Story goes as follows: my system, Elac Vela speakers, SN3 with Hicap DR & SMSL400 DAC with REL sub, lots of lovely cables and isolation equipment has been my pride and joy for almost two years now since I bought the SN3 & Hicap used.
Equipment seems to have been well looked after and has served me well without hiccups since my purchase. With no apparent cause or meddling with cables/connections in months the left channel is dead (no sound) after turning it on yesterday evening. I spent my evening playing process of elimination, switching cables round etc.
Confirmed the source, cables, speakers etc all work fine. I even tried using the AV bypass to further confirm my suspicions (which from what I understand uses a separate set of relays) and sure enough sound from both channels again.
This stings especially bad considering I’m quite certain I cannot register for warranty as I am not the original purchaser. Waiting to hear back from Naim and my local store regarding a repair now, so I will update as necessary. Hooping I can shed some light to any confused bastards like me in the future.
In the mean time… any suggestions for things I haven’t tried are welcome in the comments. Anything I’ve come across on the forum I’ve already attempted but it’s worth a try!
It’s not that common an occurrence - the forum tends to make it seem that way as anyone who experiences it will usually post here about it! - but it is certainly annoying if it happens.
If it’s a relay it might unstick with a power cycle but annoyingly if they do get stuck they usually stay that way and replacement is the only option. Luckily if it does happen with a bit of kit then it’s usually early on during the warranty period, although I guess if it was bought secondhand and you are the second user then that bird has flown already, unless you bought from a dealer and can leverage something from them.
That’s what the warranty is there for but I guess it’s tough on a secondhand buyer, so I sympathise. That’s probably where a dealer may be able to sort something out.
From what I remember if it’s under 2 years old it should still have warranty, it’s the extended 5 year warranty you can’t transfer so you might have some luck. Hope it works out.
Thanks all for the replies. I was able to check original owners date of purchase… I am two months after the 2 year warranty period So the timing of this is not on my side unfortunately! Off to the dealership tomorrow