jammy395 wrote:I must say this must be the FOM .....But fuk know's why, they all seem to be - Broken / about to break down / and a nightmare to fix.
Its amazing the amount of folks willing to jump on the band wagon at the drop of a hat & a few fond memories.
Get a Marantz - Job done....
If only it were as simple as just getting a Marantz...My SLP1200 cost me £145 delivered and I had about a year of trouble free use from it during which time I discovered it is pretty much the best CD player I have ever heard by a significant margin. Jerry's is working fine and he concurs with my view - and unlike me he has owned a fair few 'high end' players in his time. It is not all about fond memories. I don't think the players are inherently unreliable but you have to remember these are pro machines and most will have tens of thousands of hours put on them in broadcast studios prior to ending up in some enthusiast's home 30 years down the line. Consider how many people on forums are looking for replacements for multi thousand pound Naim players that have only lasted 5 years and probably no more than a few thousand hours of light domestic use. Some of us just like to try old kit for the sake of it, just to see what it is like, if we take a hit now and then we just chalk it up to experience.
Mmmm..... ....Possibly.
Enjoying Dire straits - Live at the Beeb - Cheers Macca, very nice indeed & stripped down to the bones........
I think Naim players last a bit longer than five years and the CDS2 was a damned fine player in anyone's book IMO and the main failures here are the Philips based mechs they use(d). At least Sony keep spares for a good few years after discontinuation. Philips abandon theirs once production ceases and it's down to the player manufacturer to keep stocks for ten years or so.
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way...The time has gone, The song is over, Thought I'd something more to say...
_D_S_J_R_ wrote:I think Naim players last a bit longer than five years and the CDS2 was a damned fine player in anyone's book IMO and the main failures here are the Philips based mechs they use(d). At least Sony keep spares for a good few years after discontinuation. Philips abandon theirs once production ceases and it's down to the player manufacturer to keep stocks for ten years or so.
I am just going by comments on other forums from users who are looking for replacements for packed in Naim players (particularly on PFM). If I dropped £4K on a new CD player I would expect twenty years use out of it at least. Not saying that they don't sound good but again at the price that should be a given. It's no excuse to blame the mechs because at that price they should use a mech that is not prone to faults and is easily replaced if it does fail. Sony players, even budget models IME rarely go wrong even after many years use. I've only had one fail ever after 15 years and a lot of use and that was a ribbon connecter, 5 minute fix cost me a fiver.
Naim don't make CD players, they buy bits from other manufacturers who do make CD players (normally the cheap ones) and put them in a case and add a power supply.
This is not unique to them, quite simply there is no such thing as a British CD player.
Well British or Bulgarian it doesn't really matter as the whole format is set to die steadily over the next decade I reckon. Who would have thought ten years ago that the most popular source component would be a telephone?
As much as I love their early players, Naim really should have stocked spare mechs. The thing is, with ones like the CDM9pro, it's bloody expensive. By the time you add their mark up and hugely expensive servicing, it would probably be cheaper to buy another working player with lighter use. With hindsight, buyers would've been better off buying spare mechs themselves when purchasing new.
Naim aren't alone though. Linn pulled the same trick with the crappy Hitachi laser on the Karik. They also said the only thing people could do was part-ex the thing against an ikemi (at £2300 IIRC). Funny how I was still buying the same Hitachi laser NOS just last year!
Then there was the disgraceful shambles of the MF Nuvista 3D. Some of the things lasted a year and there were no spares for the bargain basement laser anywhere!
If none of this wakes people up to the reality of "high end" companies today, they deserve all they get. As much as I dislike Marantz players, I can't argue with Jammy. At least you can cannibalise them and you can always find a donor one that's hardly been used.
There are only one or two CD mechs made now so choice is very limited. Naim used to make all their own driving electronics (I don't remember them using third party boards but could be totally wrong now) using stock chipsets etc. and dozens of the little tantalum caps they seem to like chucking in everywhere. Adding their own line output buffer (used in all their preamps I think still) adds the Naim sound and this ancient circuit demands careful supply, which could be done for pennies internally and right next to it, but Naim prefer a few hundred quid external solution as an 'upgrade.'
Sorry, gone off on another one there, but I despise this profit-based (rather than genuine superior engineering) commercial approach. Didn't know enough about it all back in the day and assumed their way was the best one.
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way...The time has gone, The song is over, Thought I'd something more to say...
....Possibly.
