The eagle has landed!!!!

Posted by: Timbo on 10 September 2001

First the negative bits.
Picked up my new 52 from the dealers on Friday. Got it home and connected up, sounded a bit cold and brash + the motoried volume control was a bit noisey, not unexpected. However when I flipped over to the phono channel the right speaker cone was popping in and out, oh dear what could be wrong. I swapped channels with the phono leads and still did it on right channel, disconnected phono leads - still the same. All other inputs were OK but was also getting this output on the tape loops. So labouriously disconnected it and decidied to check inside. I found that all the rubber feet were screwed in tightly but didn't meet the case, couple of millimetres gap. Took out the inside tray and took out, checked over and re-seated the phono boards. Had a quick scan to see of anything else was adrift (sure is a lot of electronics inside) and put it back together, this time made sure rubber feet were screwed in properly. Connected up and all seemed fine perhaps the car journey loosened some bits, it is a 90 mile round trip to my dealers.

This prompts the questions: should Naim fit and check phono boards before it leaves the factory, should the dealer be able to check correct operation - although dealer can't be expected tp possess every single type of cartridge to do this.

Now the positive bits
After checking all was fine on Friday night I was up fairly early Saturday morning and first thing I did was to give a record a spin to check out if the phono boards were still OK. The difference in sound quality was huge, my god only after 12 hours. So after a couple of hours music I had to go out. Saturday evening still better. Last night had about 5 hours of music from CD, phono and Dat and I was amazed at how articulate the thing was, like my old 82 but more relaxed, even arrogant at the way it portrayed the music. Trouble is a crap recording sounds like a crap recording. After Friday nights episode I haven't relaxed with it yet but things seem to be getting better.

Tim

Posted on: 10 September 2001 by David Dever

Sounds as if you had mis-installed phono boards (one pin-retainer loose, which is much easier to do in 52x-series phono boards)--this would, of course, carry over to the tape outputs (by default, INPUT 1 is fed to the tape outputs on startup).

The phono boards are, naturally, tested before they leave the factory. However, it is not practical to pre-fit the boards, as they interminably come loose during shipping, especially in export situations--the alternative is to firmly fix the boards down with hot glue or adhesive, which would certainly affect sound quality by increasing microphonic coupling.

Dave Dever, NANA

P.S. This isn't an issue with a Stageline or Prefix, of course.

Posted on: 10 September 2001 by Michael

I had exactly the same experience after receiving my 52 back from a service..one of the phono boards had been shaken from its mountings and was not working... so like you had to just remove the feet and bolt with the supplied Allen key and remount the board..then everything was fine.

I know it certainly makes your heart miss a beat when you go to play a record and there is stone cold silence..then a bit of logical thinking comes into play and the problem is resolved in about 1 minute!

Hope this might save a few worries to members in future!. confused

Posted on: 10 September 2001 by Don Atkinson

Picked up my new 52 from the dealers on Friday. Got it home and connected up,

Timbo,

We are talking about a second hand or ex demo piece of kit here ??

The use of the word 'new' gives me some slight doubt. Could you clarify ?

Cheers

Don

Posted on: 11 September 2001 by Timbo

Thanks for the info re the phono boards, I didn't get silence but noise on the right channel which caused popping of the right hand speaker cone and also the right hand record level meter of my cassette deck to go off the scale. I appeciate your comments Dave, its just that my heart did stop beating for a few seconds, plus I didn't relish another round trip to the dealers.

Don - The 52 is brand spanking new from Naim.

Tim

Posted on: 11 September 2001 by Don Atkinson

The 52 is brand spanking new from Naim.

New 52/supercap costs £6,000
Dealer's share is 40%=£2,400
at £60ph (rate includes overheads and non-productive demos to b*****ds who use his facilities but then buy from box-shifters)
Dealer's input should be about 40 hours including dem, ordering, taking delivery, checking (bit of a joke)etc
Distance from you to dealer is 45 miles (90 mile round trip) so no excuse for not delivering.

The new kit doesn't work. (Of course you might just have connected it up wrong and blown your entire system to pieces)
You have to fix it.

Am I missing something here??

Let me guess - you bought it at a massive discount from Richest Sounds, or perhaps a box-shifter.

It couldn't possibly have been from a franchised dealer -I hope. Nah, I'm just dreaming, or having a nightmare. I'll wake up tomorrow and find this thread gone, never existed, just a bad dream.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Don

Posted on: 12 September 2001 by Timbo

I see your angle Don, however I seem to be one of those people who give the dealer an easy time and I'm not sure what to expect or demand in the way of service - it would have been nice if they had delivered and set it up.

I did buy it from a franchised dealer who is also a BADA bonded dealer, I did get a 5% discount, and didn't part exchange anything.

Assuming I did become extremely unhappy with it or a component failed, can I expect the dealer to come look at it or collect it? I'm under the impression that the dealer could do nothing about it just return it to Naim for repair!!

Would appreciate Naims comments as well on this one.

Tim

Posted on: 12 September 2001 by Don Atkinson

In the front of each of my Owner's Manual are the following words

"Normally your Naim Audio equipment will have been installed by the dealer who sold it to you, even if you live outside their immediate area. Your dealer is responsible for making sure that the system sounds exactly as it should, and information given here is not intended to reduce this responsibility in any way". Naim clearly don't want you to screw up your new kit, or their reputation.

Now there are two slight glitches in your case Timbo, as I see it. First, (and this applies to everybody) the above statement starts with the word 'normally'. I personally have difficulty envisaging anything other than 'normally'. Second, with a 5% discount (£300 @ £60ph =5hrs=approx round trip and installation for one body) you might have agreed to install it yourself. Or, for 5% you might have agreed to accept some other reduction in dealer service. Or, perhaps the dealer was just being generous, ie reduced price but no loss of service.

As to the future, well your new kit is covered by the contract between you and the dealer (sale of goods act, at least) and is also backed up by a pretty good (IMHO) guarantee from Naim. I doubt whether either has been affected by your discount. So if you do have a future problem (very unlikely IMHO) I should pop back to the dealer and ask for his help and guidance.

Meanwhile, I hope the new kit is running in nicely and giving great pleasure. Reports here indicate it can take WEEKS for kit to run in or warm up properly, so things should get even better than now.

Cheers

Don

Posted on: 13 September 2001 by Timbo

.... as things are settling in nicely, i.e. nothing else has gone wrong and the kit sounds fabulous, I'm not going to complain.

However I will seriously consider changing my dealer for the next purchase, my confidence has been slightly dented with this one. I wish I had a dealer nearby like Larry from the Audio Counsel, he seems to pop out and visit his customers. I've just purchased a vintage 250 from him to match mine so I can go active. Whilst talking to him on the phone nothing was too much trouble - he seems like a person I'd like to deal with in the future, but Oldham is a long way from me.

best wishes

Tim

P.S. The 52 seems to be a lot louder than the 82, perhaps I'm hearing more + the bass seems to come out of nowhere. Regular CDs and records I thought I knew back to front are becoming a new voyage of discovery.

Posted on: 13 September 2001 by Don Atkinson

records I thought I knew back to front are becoming a new voyage of discovery

Thats what happens when you upgrade within the Naim range. Very well put Timbo.

Cheers

Don