Horrible experience with Naim Audio!!!

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stevebrock

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Chebby,

I really think you are far off the mark here mate, I certainly wasn't dissing Naim - just purely stating that IMO the Brio R sounds better than the UnitiQute - and as for Rega being **** - has someone actually said that?
 

chebby

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floyd droid said:
chebby said:
stevebrock said:
...end of

'End of' what?

The world as we know it :shifty:

So it would seem.

Naim have always made inherently faulty Nait 5i-2s and CD5i-2s with full knowledge of the 'fault'.

I miraculously escaped this problem with mine (and had no reports of it from the people I sold them to despite them paying well over £550 a piece.)

Rega are now officially sh#te since the last two months. Serves them right for bragging about their 40th year in business. (Bunch of Essex wide-boys.)

Even AVI had some complaints here recently. (But - quite rightly - the complainants have now been tracked down and shot!)

Give it another few months here and the entire British hi-fi industry will be exposed for being a bunch of old tat merchants :)

I suggest we get those class A smug sods the Sugden owners next. (Smugdens?) Who ever heard of good hi-fi coming from a place called 'Heckmondwike Bar Tat' for goodness sake ? Got to be something iffy about them. (Even their gaff looks like an old whippet fur spinning mill.)
 

Hi-FiOutlaw

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altruistic.lemon said:
Hmm - yet Dynaudio say "The new Excite loudspeaker models combine high-end audio performance and pure musical fun.

This is because the Excite models make the most of any amplifier’s or receiver’s power, quickly and precisely following the music signal, while always sounding exceptionally balanced and natural. "

Maybe that 4ohm remains constant rather than dipping as many do.

Spot ON A.L.

The 4 ohm load is constant, that way they are amp friendly, like Dynaudio sais!

The same applies to the new Excite !
 

mitch65

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Hi-FiOutlaw said:
Thanks for sharing your "adventure" with Naim!

I'm consithering to demo the Naim UnitiQute 2 and your post make me wonder...

Nothing wrong with the Qute per se, just a little under powered compared to the 'big' Uniti but, to be fair, there's not much in it. I don't know what the Unitilite is like.

Sad that one bad experience should put doubt on an otherwise excellent reputation, I've had many Naim products over the years with no problems so thankfully I haven't needed to test their after sales service.
 

Covenanter

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mitch65 said:
Hi-FiOutlaw said:
Thanks for sharing your "adventure" with Naim!

I'm consithering to demo the Naim UnitiQute 2 and your post make me wonder...

Nothing wrong with the Qute per se, just a little under powered compared to the 'big' Uniti but, to be fair, there's not much in it. I don't know what the Unitilite is like.

Sad that one bad experience should put doubt on an otherwise excellent reputation, I've had many Naim products over the years with no problems so thankfully I haven't needed to test their after sales service.

But the guy is surely right to report his problems, especially when he tells us he has an email from the manufacturer acknowledging the fault. The reputation is only damaged if they fail to resolve the issue in a customer friendly manner.

Chris
 

Bigsounds

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I bet every single manufacture under the audio sun has complaints in form or the other, ranging from a shoddy dealer, to I couldn't give a damn distributor, to something failing, be it a on/off button, laser not reading the disc, scratched fascia or whatever, they make mistakes and are human, the important thing is how well do they respond, not everyone in a company is privy to information.

I don't think one brand is better than others, just personal preferences.
 

mitch65

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Covenanter said:
mitch65 said:
Hi-FiOutlaw said:
Thanks for sharing your "adventure" with Naim!

I'm consithering to demo the Naim UnitiQute 2 and your post make me wonder...

Nothing wrong with the Qute per se, just a little under powered compared to the 'big' Uniti but, to be fair, there's not much in it. I don't know what the Unitilite is like.

Sad that one bad experience should put doubt on an otherwise excellent reputation, I've had many Naim products over the years with no problems so thankfully I haven't needed to test their after sales service.

But the guy is surely right to report his problems, especially when he tells us he has an email from the manufacturer acknowledging the fault. The reputation is only damaged if they fail to resolve the issue in a customer friendly manner.

Chris

I'm pretty sure I didn't say he couldn't report his problems, I was just saying it was sad.........
 

hone_u2

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chebby said:
floyd droid said:
chebby said:
stevebrock said:
...end of

'End of' what?

The world as we know it :shifty:

So it would seem.

Naim have always made inherently faulty Nait 5i-2s and CD5i-2s with full knowledge of the 'fault'.

That's actually really sad...

The fact that I was told that they knew about it, every single time I complained, was what actually really irritated me about the company...

sure, as they say, the real world is different and a company is a company that has to make money at the end of the day... It's true!

But since i'm a customer who detected a fault with each and every one of the components I purchased, it really leaves a sorry state of the company in my opinion! I mean I don't understand how a company can be so shameless and say, "yes! we know..." everytime! Also, not telling your distributors and other people who work hard to support the sales of the company?! That just feels like poor communication and sluggish corporate behaviour! If not to the customer at-least give information to your distributors who take the heat from the customers because of problems that exist because of the company's carelessness!
 

hone_u2

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Also, if i keep aside this experience...

I do appreciate the Naim amps for their power...

However, I wasn't particularly impressed by the Uniti series at all... Although, I do agree for the price they are quite good.

They sound to be the most unnatural sounding naim things to exist for me...

Even with the pace, rhythm and timing, they don't do wonders for me, because it lacks that definition and broad open soundstage that I'm used to...

I thought they imaged pretty well... but I'm guessing that was just because I heard them through R100s...

And about transients... I don;t think i can bare even a single Helene Grimaud piece, even the soft and subtle, slow piano pieces the uniti struggled in my opinion...

It does have that oomph! But when you hear closely, it just lacks that texture in the mid range, and I thought the bottom end was quite flabby...

I would still say the seperates will be better... see if you can save up for a good pair of pre-power! :)

But either ways... The rega is quite impressive! :D
 

chebby

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You have partially quoted me paraphrasing you.

I don't actually think they do anything of the sort.

If you read my whole post you would see I was exaggerating. (I also mentioned AVI tracking down complainants and shooting them! Do you think that was true as well?). It's my warped sense of humour. Sorry.

I have personally owned the Nait 5i and CD5i and never experienced the problems you described.
 

Sospri

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hone_u2 said:
Also, if i keep aside this experience...

I do appreciate the Naim amps for their power...

However, I wasn't particularly impressed by the Uniti series at all... Although, I do agree for the price they are quite good.

They sound to be the most unnatural sounding naim things to exist for me...

Even with the pace, rhythm and timing, they don't do wonders for me, because it lacks that definition and broad open soundstage that I'm used to...

I thought they imaged pretty well... but I'm guessing that was just because I heard them through R100s...

And about transients... I don;t think i can bare even a single Helene Grimaud piece, even the soft and subtle, slow piano pieces the uniti struggled in my opinion...

It does have that oomph! But when you hear closely, it just lacks that texture in the mid range, and I thought the bottom end was quite flabby...

I would still say the seperates will be better... see if you can save up for a good pair of pre-power! :)

But either ways... The rega is quite impressive! :D

I'm a bit supicious of a thread when you only gat one side of the story.

I have had Naim products ( along with other manufacturers ) for many years, and never had a problem, also I know of other Naim users who have found Naim service dept second to none.

Hmm rats and odour spring to mind.............
 

shropshire lad

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Sospri said:
hone_u2 said:
Also, if i keep aside this experience...

I do appreciate the Naim amps for their power...

However, I wasn't particularly impressed by the Uniti series at all... Although, I do agree for the price they are quite good.

They sound to be the most unnatural sounding naim things to exist for me...

Even with the pace, rhythm and timing, they don't do wonders for me, because it lacks that definition and broad open soundstage that I'm used to...

I thought they imaged pretty well... but I'm guessing that was just because I heard them through R100s...

And about transients... I don;t think i can bare even a single Helene Grimaud piece, even the soft and subtle, slow piano pieces the uniti struggled in my opinion...

It does have that oomph! But when you hear closely, it just lacks that texture in the mid range, and I thought the bottom end was quite flabby...

I would still say the seperates will be better... see if you can save up for a good pair of pre-power! :)

But either ways... The rega is quite impressive! :D

I'm a bit supicious of a thread when you only gat one side of the story.

I have had Naim products ( along with other manufacturers ) for many years, and never had a problem, also I know of other Naim users who have found Naim service dept second to none.

Hmm rats and odour spring to mind.............

Well , you could always start a " I think Naim are wonderful and I've never had a problem with them " thread to balance things out .
 

Sospri

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shropshire lad said:
Sospri said:
hone_u2 said:
Also, if i keep aside this experience...

I do appreciate the Naim amps for their power...

However, I wasn't particularly impressed by the Uniti series at all... Although, I do agree for the price they are quite good.

They sound to be the most unnatural sounding naim things to exist for me...

Even with the pace, rhythm and timing, they don't do wonders for me, because it lacks that definition and broad open soundstage that I'm used to...

I thought they imaged pretty well... but I'm guessing that was just because I heard them through R100s...

And about transients... I don;t think i can bare even a single Helene Grimaud piece, even the soft and subtle, slow piano pieces the uniti struggled in my opinion...

It does have that oomph! But when you hear closely, it just lacks that texture in the mid range, and I thought the bottom end was quite flabby...

I would still say the seperates will be better... see if you can save up for a good pair of pre-power! :)

But either ways... The rega is quite impressive! :D

I'm a bit supicious of a thread when you only gat one side of the story.

I have had Naim products ( along with other manufacturers ) for many years, and never had a problem, also I know of other Naim users who have found Naim service dept second to none.

Hmm rats and odour spring to mind.............

Well , you could always start a " I think Naim are wonderful and I've never had a problem with them " thread to balance things out .

Why would I want to quote the obvious

( that will get the spoilers and others with agenda's going ).............
 

hone_u2

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chebby said:
You have partially quoted me paraphrasing you.

I don't actually think they do anything of the sort.

If you read my whole post you would see I was exaggerating. (I also mentioned AVI tracking down complainants and shooting them! Do you think that was true as well?). It's my warped sense of humour. Sorry.

I have personally owned the Nait 5i and CD5i and never experienced the problems you described.

Oh okay sorry about that then! :p
 

hone_u2

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Sospri said:
hone_u2 said:
Also, if i keep aside this experience...

I do appreciate the Naim amps for their power...

However, I wasn't particularly impressed by the Uniti series at all... Although, I do agree for the price they are quite good.

They sound to be the most unnatural sounding naim things to exist for me...

Even with the pace, rhythm and timing, they don't do wonders for me, because it lacks that definition and broad open soundstage that I'm used to...

I thought they imaged pretty well... but I'm guessing that was just because I heard them through R100s...

And about transients... I don;t think i can bare even a single Helene Grimaud piece, even the soft and subtle, slow piano pieces the uniti struggled in my opinion...

It does have that oomph! But when you hear closely, it just lacks that texture in the mid range, and I thought the bottom end was quite flabby...

I would still say the seperates will be better... see if you can save up for a good pair of pre-power! :)

But either ways... The rega is quite impressive! :D

I'm a bit supicious of a thread when you only gat one side of the story.

I have had Naim products ( along with other manufacturers ) for blem, also I know of other Naim users who have found Naim service dept second to none.

Hmm rats and odour spring to mind.............

As i said before... i have been a naim fan for quite sometime...

There are always goods and bads to a company... I appreciate Naim for a lot of things, have been a proud customer myself!

But when extraordinary things like this happen, I felt the need to talk about it, not because I wanted to throw them in the mud (which i do realize it seems like I wanted to), but because their arrigance and behaviour in general concerned me, and I felt they shouldn't take customers for a spin!

Naim have a great reputation and for they've delivered they do deserve it! but bad incidents should also be considered... hence this post...
 

hone_u2

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chebby said:
You have partially quoted me paraphrasing you.

I don't actually think they do anything of the sort.

If you read my whole post you would see I was exaggerating. (I also mentioned AVI tracking down complainants and shooting them! Do you think that was true as well?). It's my warped sense of humour. Sorry.

I have personally owned the Nait 5i and CD5i and never experienced the problems you described.
I did enjoy reading that reply of yours though! Always good to have some sense of humour... though i have to admit that I couldn't catch it at first! :D
 

Sospri

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hone_u2 said:
Sospri said:
hone_u2 said:
Also, if i keep aside this experience...

I do appreciate the Naim amps for their power...

However, I wasn't particularly impressed by the Uniti series at all... Although, I do agree for the price they are quite good.

They sound to be the most unnatural sounding naim things to exist for me...

Even with the pace, rhythm and timing, they don't do wonders for me, because it lacks that definition and broad open soundstage that I'm used to...

I thought they imaged pretty well... but I'm guessing that was just because I heard them through R100s...

And about transients... I don;t think i can bare even a single Helene Grimaud piece, even the soft and subtle, slow piano pieces the uniti struggled in my opinion...

It does have that oomph! But when you hear closely, it just lacks that texture in the mid range, and I thought the bottom end was quite flabby...

I would still say the seperates will be better... see if you can save up for a good pair of pre-power! :)

But either ways... The rega is quite impressive! :D

I'm a bit supicious of a thread when you only gat one side of the story.

I have had Naim products ( along with other manufacturers ) for blem, also I know of other Naim users who have found Naim service dept second to none.

Hmm rats and odour spring to mind.............

As i said before... i have been a naim fan for quite sometime...

There are always goods and bads to a company... I appreciate Naim for a lot of things, have been a proud customer myself!

But when extraordinary things like this happen, I felt the need to talk about it, not because I wanted to throw them in the mud (which i do realize it seems like I wanted to), but because their arrigance and behaviour in general concerned me, and I felt they shouldn't take customers for a spin!

Naim have a great reputation and for they've delivered they do deserve it! but bad incidents should also be considered... hence this post...

Yes, you have a perect right to report an incident such as yours, I just find it so unusual,

I hope you get it sorted to your satifaction................
 

altruistic.lemon

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So:

There was a crackle in your amp when you increased the volume using the remote.

Your CD player skipped intermittently and you had problems with your dealer and distributor but when you contacted Naim they sorted it for you

Your XS had marks on the fascia which Naim initially refused to do anything about but, when they did, you refused a replacement because they wanted to go through your distributor, which is technically the correct thing to do.

There was a cockroach in the box - you're not based in Sydney, are you? Cockroach city at times!

Despite these problems, how did the gear sound?
 

hone_u2

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altruistic.lemon said:
So:

There was a crackle in your amp when you increased the volume using the remote.

Your CD player skipped intermittently and you had problems with your dealer and distributor but when you contacted Naim they sorted it for you

Your XS had marks on the fascia which Naim initially refused to do anything about but, when they did, you refused a replacement because they wanted to go through your distributor, which is technically the correct thing to do.

There was a cockroach in the box - you're not based in Sydney, are you? Cockroach city at times!

Despite these problems, how did the gear sound?

OK. I understand where you're coming from...

But, for all those problems... the sound was not at all worth it.

I understand you're a Naim fan, and I do agree this is a very unusual situation, I felt it to be an absurdity myself.

No, I'm based in New Zealand.
 

BigH

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Sospri said:
Yes, you have a perect right to report an incident such as yours, I just find it so unusual,

I hope you get it sorted to your satifaction................

"So in the end I just refused to take them and sold off my naim equipment! Even for the money I lost, I'm happy that I got rid of them!"
 

BigH

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hone_u2 said:
altruistic.lemon said:
So:

There was a crackle in your amp when you increased the volume using the remote.

Your CD player skipped intermittently and you had problems with your dealer and distributor but when you contacted Naim they sorted it for you

Your XS had marks on the fascia which Naim initially refused to do anything about but, when they did, you refused a replacement because they wanted to go through your distributor, which is technically the correct thing to do.

There was a cockroach in the box - you're not based in Sydney, are you? Cockroach city at times!

Despite these problems, how did the gear sound?

OK. I understand where you're coming from...

But, for all those problems... the sound was not at all worth it.

I understand you're a Naim fan, and I do agree this is a very unusual situation, I felt it to be an absurdity myself.

No, I'm based in New Zealand.

What system do you have now?
 

hone_u2

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BigH said:
hone_u2 said:
altruistic.lemon said:
So:

There was a crackle in your amp when you increased the volume using the remote.

Your CD player skipped intermittently and you had problems with your dealer and distributor but when you contacted Naim they sorted it for you

Your XS had marks on the fascia which Naim initially refused to do anything about but, when they did, you refused a replacement because they wanted to go through your distributor, which is technically the correct thing to do.

There was a cockroach in the box - you're not based in Sydney, are you? Cockroach city at times!

Despite these problems, how did the gear sound?

OK. I understand where you're coming from...

But, for all those problems... the sound was not at all worth it.

I understand you're a Naim fan, and I do agree this is a very unusual situation, I felt it to be an absurdity myself.

No, I'm based in New Zealand.

What system do you have now?

I'm looking at a few... Unfortunately I'm selling my LS50s that I love dearly! i bought those because I loved them with the Naim separates...

But now I guess I'll probably settle in for the ATC Actives with Chord codex...
 

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