n-Vi Crashing Again - System Fault

Posted by: rayb on 07 April 2006

I've had the fortune / mis-fortune to own an n-Vi since early Feb along with n-Sat / n-Sub speakers.

Fortune - because when it works it's without doubt very good in terms of picture and sound.

Mis-fortune - because I'm now on my THIRD system. The first two (software v. 2.6.6.157) crashed on average every day! Usually with a "Power Out - System Fault powering down message.." The THIRD unit (v 2.6.6.163) is marginally better and now only crashes once every week! The reason for the posting at 10.00 on a Friday night? - I've just spent half an hour trying to get the system to start talking again to my Pioneer PDP-506XDE (excellent beyond comparison!) just to wind down and watch a DVD at the end of a hard week.

The n-Vi is WITHOUT DOUBT the LEAST RELIABLE piece of consumer electronics I have ever purchased.

I'm lucky that my dealer has been fully supportive and now advised that Naim have admitted that there's a problem with the n-Vi's power supply which causes the system fault - so I'm now waiting, without any promised date, for my FORTH unit.

My advice - steer WELL CLEAR of any n-Vi system unless you have:
1 - a very supportive dealer that will guarantee an upgrade when they finally get it working
2 - the willingness to power up & down the unit once a day/week when it crashes
3 - a supportive family that will not complain when they can't watch a movie because your new expensive system will not work again!

This unit must be seriously tainting Naim's brand image - it certainly does not live up to their slogan "World class sound with vision" to be honest my £500 Denon DVD system in the bedroom is getting more use!



My dealer has been excellent
Posted on: 10 April 2006 by rayb
All - thanks for your input on this...I'd still be interested to know how many other n-Vi users are affected?

I'll keep the forum up to date on progress when I get my forth unit to play with.

Those that are waiting - rest assured it is a very good piece of kit when it works - but I do tend to agree with some of the comments above that it was released to the market too soon - after all not all the problems I first experienced were due to the PSU - hence the firmware update.

My recommendation if you do own an n-Vi or are about to get one delivered is to make sure it has the latest firmware...and then hope you don't have one from the faulty PSU batch!

RayB
Posted on: 10 April 2006 by graham55
The very 'green' picture on the home page of this site shows a rather pissed off chap looking at an n-Vi. Was he an early adopter who's now suffering all these teething problems?

G
Posted on: 10 April 2006 by Mr Underhill
quote:
Originally posted by graham55:
The very 'green' picture on the home page of this site shows a rather pissed off chap looking at an n-Vi. Was he an early adopter who's now suffering all these teething problems?

G


Big Grin
Posted on: 11 April 2006 by Duncan Fullerton
Well it looks like my machine is coming out in sympathy. I came down this morning to find it bleeding all over the living room floor. A quick re-boot via the back panel and it's feeling much better. I'm not, however, as I've got to wrangle all the settings in again. Bugger. Red Face

A phone call to my dealer this morning methinks ...

It's a shame really as it is a good machine when it works. But is that acceptable at this price point?

Duncan
Posted on: 11 April 2006 by john R1
optical cable arrived today, as it seems to be the only way to activate dpl11 from a stereo source on then-vi, only problem is can only plug it in one end still seems to ba a bit missing ?
Posted on: 11 April 2006 by Duncan Fullerton
On the n-Vi digital input D1 is the optical input. It has a "shutter door" type arrangement so just push the cable into it. On your source you may well find a covering plug that needs to be removed to reveal the socket.

Duncan
Posted on: 11 April 2006 by john R1
duncan, just hope the telewest tv-drive out-puts ok through the optical, can't see anywhere to change oup-put from analogue to digital, have read on av-forums of people using the optical without any problems,
Posted on: 11 April 2006 by Duncan Fullerton
John,

Looking at this picture you just need to run your optical cable from "Optical Audio Out" on your TVDrive to "D1" on your n-Vi. The TVDrive also seems to have a "shutter door" type socket, so just push in the cable.

If it's like Sky+ then there will be a setup option to enable audio out on the optical.

Duncan
Posted on: 11 April 2006 by john R1
have looked up on the menu on tv-drive could not see any settings for optical out, hopefully when i plug the optical in and unplug the phono leads it detects it ?
Posted on: 11 April 2006 by Duncan Fullerton
If there's no menu switch, it may well be that all audio outputs are permanently "live".

Duncan
Posted on: 11 April 2006 by john R1
spoke to telewest and he said once i switch connections and power it back up it should detect automatically , wonder if we will get an update from richard sometime this week regarding the testing of the n-vi, i presume naim will be closed over easter ?
Posted on: 12 April 2006 by Brett 10
I've been having a few problems with my n-Vi, and looking at the posts it's not unique.
Problem 1 > no sound from the left and right surround speakers and yes I've swoped the speakers over and the front left/right and center are fine (all ProAc). Spoke to Naim yesterday and they suggested a re-set and then a re-boot but still didn't work. I'm using the n-Vi as a stand alone at the moment.
Problem 2 > the n-Vi powers down after about 40/50 mins when playing a DVD. This has happened everytime, (but it's fine with a CD). It's doubly annoying because the unit doesn't remember the DVD . . .
Anyone else had these problems, is there a solution, I do want to keep the n-Vi as it's great when it's running.
Does anyone know if I can link the n-Vi straight to a power amp for stereo-out for CD's, if so which one?
Posted on: 12 April 2006 by john R1
brett, don't know how long you have had your n-vi, but if its one of the first batch i would take it back and say you want it replaced with one fron the new batch when its released, i would not accept it being repaired just to go wrong again, just look at some of the earlier posts on this subject,
Posted on: 12 April 2006 by Brett 10
John, it's actually new in the last 2 weeks and one of the latest batches.
Posted on: 12 April 2006 by john R1
if you look back at richards post, they only started testing them again on monday, so as i say i would want one of the ones being tested now, not any from the old or orignal batches
Posted on: 12 April 2006 by Duncan Fullerton
quote:
Does anyone know if I can link the n-Vi straight to a power amp for stereo-out for CD's, if so which one?


Brett,

Yes you can. I have mine plugged straight into a 250.2 for front left/right. You just need to ask Naim to make up the appropriate cable. In my case 5-pin 180 DIN (n-Vi) to XLR (250.2).

Duncan
Posted on: 14 April 2006 by john R1
duncan, wife said she wanted plasma moved to the other side of the room, so plugged in the optical cable from tv-drive into 3805 assigned opt 1 to tv all works fine,