Servicing CB/Olive amps

I doubt lead solder was ever used on Naim equipment.  I do posess lead solder but only use it on my 1950s radios  

Servicing is well worth doing and will be quite noticeble if the amp hasn't been serviced for some time.  Darran at Class A does Naim authorised serving for a lower cost than sending to the factory - makes getting older kit serviced even more worthwhile.

NB 250 amps require more frequent servicing as they have a regulated power supply.

Highly unlikely, as the kit tends to 'go off' (caps etc.) and it's not until it's serviced do people discover what they've been missing and how far performance degraded over time.

Guinnless posted:

I doubt lead solder was ever used on Naim equipment.  I do posess lead solder but only use it on my 1950s radios  

Servicing is well worth doing and will be quite noticeble if the amp hasn't been serviced for some time.  Darran at Class A does Naim authorised serving for a lower cost than sending to the factory - makes getting older kit serviced even more worthwhile.

NB 250 amps require more frequent servicing as they have a regulated power supply.

Hmm - I though solder had lead in it for some time after Naim started...

Some components of the early breed amps (like the blue can ITT filter caps) are no longer available-but the replacements are better in every way, as well as smaller and cheaper. Ditto the maroon caps sprinkled on some of the output boards. The early RCA sockets on the phono inputs were also lf quite low quality compared to what is currently being used. Even the supplied interconnects, power cords and Snaics are all demonstrably superior to their predecessors. 

I don't think Naim migrated to lead free  solder until the mid to late 1990s. 

Lead free solder arrived at Naim around 2006 with the arrival of EU ROHS compliance requirements.  Naim conducted an extensive ROHS program where every single component that contained lead or other potentially hazardous material was examined and tested and the best performing ROHS compliant substitutes were found.

It was a big project that had many unexpected ramifications - for example lead free solder requires an appreciably  higher temperature and that mean changes to PCBs, flow solder etc..  It had to be treated like all were new products, from an R&D and production standpoint.  Even the choice of the preferred lead free solder was an extensive project that had listening tests at its very heart.  But then you wouldn't really expect anything less from Naim.

Up until then Naim's preferred solder was Multicore Crystal 505, which is still used for service work on any pre ROHS equipment.

Current components, at least those that are replaced at service time such as capacitors, are in the main almost all superior to what was available when CB and Olive kit was new. Any component change is done only after R&D get involved to listen test and ensure that the new replacement component is the best performing of its type available.

Funny enough my Snaps which is part of my Naim 101 tuner combination started to play. So I sent the unit off to Darren of Class A to service it.

As the previous post said he’s an authorised Naim service centre at reasonable rates.

 Regards,

Martin

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies

One of the most significant service jobs done recently was to an olive flat cap. The circuit is very simple and service consists only of replacing one small reservoir cap and two tantalum caps as well as desoldering and refitting the voltage regulators. Of course we listened before and after with it powering a few different items, pre-amps and a CD player and the difference was astonishing.