what on earth is motorboat, never heard of this malfunction.
It’s a sort of feedback that sounds like an outboard motor, almost, maybe louder, you’ll know why it’s called that when you hear it.
I think mine was due to a capacitance bridging signal and ground in the tonearm. I could trigger it with a stylus brush, the garage light switch or Metallica turned up loud. It didn’t matter if the stylus wasn’t on the record but the feedback loop did involve the volume control as turning it down stopped it, probably the power amp was involved too. Since Naim’s mod to the superline there is now an 2.5Ω between it’s ground tag and earth instead on 0.5.
When I took delivery of my Solstice I assumed I’d sell off my 15 year old Superline. When it became clear the NVC-TT was not in the same class I looked into recapping the Superline. The service at AV Options was so expensive I chose to replace with a new Superline. Did the replacement sound better? Not really, but I’m glad I did as it should serve me well for a long time.
I marvel everyday how good the Superline/Supercap DR performs. It’s a magic box that makes magic.
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So far we can’t find any trigger point. The most infuriating is that West could not duplicate the symptoms at his shop.If we could figure out what’s causing it maybe we can fix this for good!
This!
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So the ground plane on the ND555 does not have this issue? Which would imply Naim knew about the unservicability of the NDS when designing the ND555? Or am I missing something?
Or is the ND555 also not serviceable?
Is that the only thing Naim changed to remedy motorboarding on SC DR?
Or did they change anything else?
There’s no mention of any servicing issue with the ND555.
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So it’s possible to service the ND555? In that case they must have changed the layout of the ground plane which was/is the issue with the NDS. If so one would want to know why they changed it to a layout that is serviceable? Naim should have been explicit about the fact that the NDS can’t be serviced from the start.
Superline released 2008.
NDS released 2012.
16 years later service dept goes like “guys I don’t think we can desolder these. Anyone else experienced the same?”
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Nd 555 release 2018?
So have naim built serviceability into nd555 and ndx2 ? Or is not known because these items have not yet been returned for service ?
They have both suffered reed relay failures which would need resoldering?
The answer depends on how the defect ( duff relay) was fixed. They could have swapped out an entire board rather than get the soldering iron out. Unlikely but possible.
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Well, in the light of this issue I’ve been told that Naim are undergoing an investigation into current products. That’s all I know at the moment.
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This sounds like politics… French politics. And is it NO servicing at all or isolated around certain components and if so which?
So you’re suggesting some known insight - wrt to design flaw in relation to NDS serviceability - during development of ND555 - through maybe 2016-17-18, then built in to changed thinking and design ( for better serviceability) from NDS to ND555, when it was released in 2018 ?
In which case it may be a reasonable assumption, or deduction, that this general issue was maybe known or at least the potential was understood, before SuperLine’s started to appear for service, from 2020 or when ever …
Hmmmm 
It sounds like the former.
Given other recent decisions that Naim (Focal) have made; Website debacle, new products with no thought as to how to connect with old products, Solstice cartridge.
Are they now just going to become another mainstream electronics company, selling items with no further interaction.
DG…
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Good. I think all we can ask for is clarity into what support can be offered to boxes going forward.
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I highlighted the relevant piece from the Naim statement, as I was getting somewhat confused. But it clearly says that the NDS cannot be serviced due to its design.
This is an extraordinary statement. Surely NDS’s have been serviced up to this point? Is it related to new work practices? Economics?
And as people have rightly pointed out, what other products are affected.
This is quite a development.
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Completely agree.
On my part, would go as afar as saying a “seismic event”. As I genuinely think the ground has literally shifted under my feet.
For some years have believed that Naim is different from all the other Hi-end HiFi manufacturers. Not just their engineering approach or their sound signature or any other positive brand characteristics. But specifically, their ability to support and service in production and legacy products. For me and my buying decisions that aspect has had an instrumental influence on purchasing Naim and system building over many years, with complete confidence.
So, buying a SuperLine as new, then 12 months later discovering it cannot / will not be serviced is literally “extraordinary” as you suggest.
I’ll repeat, again, I feel so strongly about this.
For now, I’m focused on my SuperLine and what happens next. But, also have questions about other Naim items that I might add in the years to come. That’s also in mind over this situation. I now have questions about product serviceability I never had before.
R
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