n-Vi Crashing Again - System Fault

Ray,

I had all sorts of issues with my DVD5 being, like you, an early adopter.

I reviewed a number of alternatives, and found none up to the Naim.

My dealer, and Naim, came through in the end.

Hope it works out for you.

Martin

rayb, have known about the psu problems for a few weeks, not sure why your dealer did not know, am still waiting for mine so am hoping most of the problems are solved before i get it,
if you are that unhappy about the situation demand your money back; because if its unsuitable for the purpose it was made for, you are entitled to a full refund, you are not talking about something that cost £25 from the local market>

Ray,

I'd be patient. Any company can get hit with component faults. It's usually an unfortunate set of circumstances that most companies would dearly love to not be in. Sometimes these things can be hard to identify as well, which can just make it the more infuriating for us end customers...was it 2 or 3 duff supplies they got, or was it a batch, what batch was it, which dealers did they go to.

I've had a AV2 and DVD5 for a while now and, besides the odd firmware glitch which has been handled very professionally and friendly, I dearly love them. Fabulous sound and picture. They are virtually on all the time we are in the house.

It does make it worthwhile on a Friday night to sit down and watch a good movie. I hope you get your problems sorted our swiftly and can just sit back and enjoy your new purchase.

Roy.

3 failures! It is not acceptable. Get a refund and buy something else. This shows that this product is NOT ready for consumers.

ray, your dealer seems to get hold of these very quickly, are they all earlier models, in which case surely a company with a reputation like naim should have re-called them knowing of so many exsisting faults, or perhaps they were hoping you might not notice ?

I am sure that Naim will give you your money back, they offered to return my cash.

Having worked through two DVD5s, before the successful third, I was more than tempted to take the money and run.

My dealer obtained some of the competing DVDs for me in the intervals, which I extensively auditioned. In my system they weren't a better option than the Naim.

Can you persuade your dealer to support you in a similar fashion? The possible alternatives include kit by Arcam and Linn. Why not see if you can do some extended auditions through your dealer. You can then make a more informed decision whether to stick with Naim.

If Naim fail to deliver at least you will know what direction to go in!

Martin

The situation with the N-Vi is that we have had a batch of power supplies that are showing faults during use. We are working around the clock with component suppliers to remedy the situation and all our dealers and distributors have been kept up to date.

Rayb, I'm sorry you have had such an experience. It seems that your replacements may have all been from the same batch. Rest assured that anyone with an affected n-Vi will not be left unsupported. Such a situation is always a test for customer service and with support from our dealers we pride ourselves on being the best in the business here.

The n-Vi is a really wonderful product which makes an occurrence like this frustrating for customer, dealer and manufacturer alike. We really appreciate everyone's patience here. If that has run out then of course, a full refund will be forthcoming. Be assured, we are on the case!!

Richard

Sounds like a product released too early. A hell of a shame, as it could have been the product to catapult Naim into the mainstream! It won't be that once news gets about that it doesn't work.

Graham

Um, I think that's being a bit unfair now. Being sent a bad batch of components from a supplier is something that is totally unrelated to design or product release.

In fact you'll find it can hit any manufacturer anytime during a run of product.

And the fact that these guys are doing everything possible to identify the batch and fix the issues while looking after customers who have bought them, really does show their customer care.

Roy.

Whilst its a real shame that a new product suffers a batch failure, this situation re-confirms the fact that we can RELY on Naim to look after its customers and get problems sorted out.

Apart from the superb sound/picture you get out of a Naim product, you get superb quality and reliability, and when things do ocasionally go wrong, you get superb customer care and real confidence that the problem will be sorted.

You can't ask for more

Cheers

Don

Amen to that.

Cheers,

Jon

Of course people harranging NAIM on the forum for a release date don't help either.
Mercedes cars are bloody unreliable too A) they are a darn sight more expensive and B) try getting your money back from them.
First release of most products seems fraught with problems IMHO.
Stay tuned for the SKY HD box problems I suspect.

Howard

rayb,

I am sorry to hear the debacle with an n-Vi.

My story will probably not make the matter better, but I can fully sympathise with your situation as I went through similar experience(s). ( that's right. Several times with several first generation digital gear )

The best one was with the Krell kps25s. ( this was a Krell's flagship player. Sort of like Naim's CD555. )

I've purchased it right after a home dem of the first production unit. It was first premiered at the CES few month earlier.
The best CD playback I have heard, then.

All was well.
Till it started to mulfunction within 3 months.
To make a long story short, after sending the unit to be fixed several times, the factory sent out a replacement unit.

It, too, failed within a month.

Another one was sent soon after, and it has been well even after 8 years later!
It took few months of going back and forth to settle the issue.

It was humiliating for a while, too.
'you bought a 20K CD player that goes dead in a month? Hey, my Sony discman is still playing'

What made, however, this negative product experience positive is how Krell handled the situation in the most prompt and professional manner throughout this ordeal.

I don't think they rolled out the product prematurely. They, too, wanted the situation/problems resolved quickly as possible.
It was their flagship product in that it was also embarassing for them.

Ironically, few years later, when I purchased their kps 28c player, it too has failed. ( went dead in 5 months ). This was also the first generation unit. This time around, however, they just replaced it with a new unit without even bothering to fix the unit.

I hope Naim would do the right thing by you.

It makes a world of difference and especially if you are fond of the product or the company's house sound, there are no other substitutes.

And I do appreciate the caring companies.

Do keep us posted of the progress.

I, for one, am curious to know how they handle it.

quote:

Originally posted by Roy Donaldson:
Um, I think that's being a bit unfair now. Being sent a bad batch of components from a supplier is something that is totally unrelated to design or product release.

In fact you'll find it can hit any manufacturer anytime during a run of product.

And the fact that these guys are doing everything possible to identify the batch and fix the issues while looking after customers who have bought them, really does show their customer care.

Roy.

What happens to the Quality Control process at Naim? It fails to detect this? a whole batch of failed products?

quote:

Originally posted by Tuan:

What happens to the Quality Control process at Naim? It fails to detect this? a whole batch of failed products?

Tuan,

They all tested fine, went through their 48 hour soak test fine and ran with no problem at the factory before being despatched. I don't know another hifi company who goes to such lengths testing and checking at each stage of the production cycle, culminating in a function check, listening test, and vision (in the case of DVD) test just before being boxed. The problem Seems to have arisen later on after more use. As I said earlier, we are on the case...

Richard

p.s. Did you go to the Son et Image show? I hope you got to see and hear the n-Vi in action.

Richard,

What type and make of HDTV's do Naim use internally when testing your AV stuff?

Richard

i am quite prepared to wait for mine, as having seen it demoed i don't know of any thing else that comes close to the picture and sound quality of the n-vi, for the money, as i said in an earlier post i did have a problem with a nap 250 a few years ago and that was sorted with-out any hassle, i just hope the n-vi gets sorted out very soon, as i can't wait to use it,

Just to add 'fuel to the fire' as it were, i pooped into my dealers on the weekend and they were having probs with theirs too. Mind you, when it was up and running it was absolutley outstanding in every way.

What i cant understand is...

We had exactley the same problems with the dvd5 and its faults and now the N-Vi?

Its a shame really as like what was stated above, its a fantastic product and should push them into the mainstream.

Cant fault the hi-fi tho

My recent history with AV products is as follows :

Sony 36 CRT TV (Cost £2500) failed after 18 months and was repaired under warranty (good) but took some 4 months to fix. Also the picture is now only around 80% of the new box.
Pioneer DVD player (cost £450) after less than 2 years use the power supply failed and is not repairable!!
Panasonic DVD/HDD recorded HDD drive failed after 9 months, repaired under warranty and still working after 30 months.
SKY+160, Consistent problems for 18 months , now on 5th box after some 10 visits but still suffering from sound drop out issues.
Like many others my expectation is that I can rely on Naim to sort out and fix any problems with their products, although, in 20 years of ownership and over 30 products (around 50% second hand) I have never never had a single problem with Naim equipment.
I have recently bought AV2 and Nsub, and am very happy with the sound quality and performance.
Gerry

question for richard, having read your post indicates you are still working on the problem, my dealer told me last thursday that the problem was sorted and you had started to send them out again,would just like to no one way or the other.

quote:

Originally posted by Elliott13:
Tuan,
Is it me or are you always trying to find a fault with Naim equipment?

It is you.

quote:

Originally posted by Elliott13:
Tuan,
Is it me or are you always trying to find a fault with Naim equipment?


It is you

...and me!

quote:

Originally posted by john R1:
question for richard, having read your post indicates you are still working on the problem, my dealer told me last thursday that the problem was sorted and you had started to send them out again,would just like to no one way or the other.

John,

we think we have fixed it but we need some time to run tests. No good if they all test fine but fail after a few days/few weeks. As such we won't begin shipping again until we are satisfied all is OK. We are endeavouring to keep all up to date on this.

Richard

Richard,

Please excuse me because, given Naim's reputed attention to detail, this is probably going to seem like a rather silly question. However, the problems that have been well documented here by some members with their n-Vi prompts me to ask, more out of curiosity than anything else, and also because I am interested in the possibility of buying one myself at some point in the future.

I am aware that Naim subjects its products to a "soak test" before they leave the factory, but is it possible these tests might need to be more rigorous to account for the many different ways an n-Vi, or a DVD5 even, can be configured? As I say, perhaps you consider they already are, but I just wanted to hear your take on it.

Thanks in advance for any reply.

Cheers,

Jon

thanks for the quick reply richard, looks like the dv-89 coming back out of the box for a while