Cambridge Minx Air 200 issue

stantheman8

Hey John Mac & crew.
I'm having an issue with my Cambridge Minx Air 200 in May 2014. It isn't connected to any of my input devices and internet radio stations won't play so I'm fearing it has given up the ghost. 
I've e-mailed Cambridge for troubleshooting help, but if that doesn't resolve the issue could you help me understand how to invoke the Boardies 6 yr warranty? 
Thanks, Stan  

Richersounds.ie: DavidS

stantheman8 wrote: »

Hey John Mac & crew.
I'm having an issue with my Cambridge Minx Air 200 in May 2014. It isn't connected to any of my input devices and internet radio stations won't play so I'm fearing it has given up the ghost. 
I've e-mailed Cambridge for troubleshooting help, but if that doesn't resolve the issue could you help me understand how to invoke the Boardies 6 yr warranty? 
Thanks, Stan  

Hi Stan,

Sorry to hear you're having issues with your Cambridge Air!

Unfortunately the Cambridge only comes with a 2 year warranty and we are unable to offer a 6 year warranty on portable speakers. We do offer a free 6 year guarantee on TVs but our Hifi warranties are chargeable however in this instance you wouldn't have been able to purchase a 6 year guarantee as it doesn't cover portable speakers.

If your troubleshooting with Cambridge doesn't work we can certainly try to book it in for a chargeable repair however there would be a £50 non refundable estimate fee so we can send it to Cambridge for inspection and they will come back to us with a quote for repair.

Let me know what you think!

Kind regards

David

stantheman8

Thanks for getting back to me David.
I'd hardly describe the Minx Air 200 as a portable speaker (>5kg and does not run on batteries) ....but mea culpa for not reading the small print.
I'll see what Cambridge suggest.
Stan

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

stantheman8 wrote: »

Thanks for getting back to me David.
I'd hardly describe the Minx Air 200 as a portable speaker (>5kg and does not run on batteries) ....but mea culpa for not reading the small print.
I'll see what Cambridge suggest.
Stan

Hey Stantheman8.

No worries, let us know what they say.

stantheman8

Hi Kenny.
They came back on why the internet radio isn't working (which isn't a great story to be fair):

"Internet radio on this unit is provided by Reciva - our old radio provider.

Reciva are now winding their business down, and as such, their streams are going offline. It is therefore not possible to stream internet radio 'natively' to the unit, however it is of course still possible to use Airplay and so on."

But no response on why I can't Airplay from my iOS device.
I'll go back to them again & let you know. 

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

stantheman8 wrote: »

Hi Kenny.
They came back on why the internet radio isn't working (which isn't a great story to be fair):

"Internet radio on this unit is provided by Reciva - our old radio provider.

Reciva are now winding their business down, and as such, their streams are going offline. It is therefore not possible to stream internet radio 'natively' to the unit, however it is of course still possible to use Airplay and so on."

But no response on why I can't Airplay from my iOS device.
I'll go back to them again & let you know. 

Hey Stantheman8.

Thanks for the update.

Well that doesn't sound too good for Minx Air owners.
I'll keep this in mind should I get any other customers with the same issue.

Please do let us know what they say regarding the other issue.

stantheman8

It doesn't get any better I'm afraid Kenny - see response below. 
I also asked about how they were communicating the fact that their systems no longer provided native internet radio, but didn't get any response on that.
Poor form from Cambridge - wouldn't be recommending them.
Stan

"Hi Stan,

If the unit is not responding via AirPlay, this may point to an internal fault.

Unfortunately, as the unit is quite significantly out of warranty, I would say that the cost of having it repaired may outweigh the benefit of doing so.

Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience and disappointment.
Best regards, 
Chris
Cambridge Audio "

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

Hey Stantheman.

Sorry to hear there seems to be no straight forward fix for the Airplay issue.

Its not even something we could offer to look at in store for you as all Cambridge products go back to them for evaluation and repair.
As its out of warranty this would incur charges which going from Cambridge's email above they feel would not be cost effective.

stantheman8

It's a very poor outcome Kenny. 
I wouldn't expect a €400 speaker, that wasn't moved or abused, to just stop working and be told to scrap it.

I have asked them to at least inform their resellers and customers of the removal of support for native internet radio.

So bottom line I guess that leaves me in the market for a replacement - what would you recommend? 

Richersounds.ie: John

Stan,

Apologies for the delay getting back to you - unfortunately Kenny is off today, so I am replying on his behalf - I do hope that is okay?

Apologies for the issue with your Minx 200 - Cambridge do not extend their warranty to 6 Years unfortunately and most manufacturers will not guarantee that any linked app providers will remain working as of course these are very difficult to control if they are external companies.

If you want to send us the unit we will happily send it to a Cambridge agent to have it checked over when the current Covid-19 issues settle down but again I do think that as tech has moved on that the cost of even the shipping both ways would outweigh the possible benefits.

Specifically if you were looking for a replacement we have the Monitor Audio S150 Bluetooth speaker available at just £59 / 79€ in Black White or Limited Gold finishes:
https://www.richersounds.ie/cssearch.aspx?searchterm=S150#pgnum=&sort=

The S150 is a dedicated Bluetooth Home speaker and does not have integrated Web radio

If you wanted to add Airplay the bigger brother S200 adds Airstream and local input and USB capability at just £99 / 99€:
https://www.richersounds.ie/p-200939-monitor-audio-s200-black-black-wireless-music-system.aspx

Please note that these come with a 2 Year warranty as standard - not a 6 year warranty,

If you check out the prices of these against the possible service costs of your Minx 200 I do think that unfortunately it backs up the unfortunate economics of replacement rather than repair - or of course you could just use the Bluetooth function on the Minx 200 rather than Airplay to stream your music and Internet radio stations and just keep on using it?

Apologies again for any inconvenience,

ATVB,

John Mc & Crew

stantheman8

Thanks for the response John.

On using Bluetooth to run the Minx 200, I've tried it and it also doesn't work - I get the same high pitched, swirly sound as when trying to use Airplay. 

The 2 monitor speakers look fine - but well short of the Minx 200 spec & sound.

What are the options for a speaker that would double as a soundbar for my TV?

Thanks,
Stan

Richersounds.ie: DavidS

stantheman8 wrote: »

Thanks for the response John.

On using Bluetooth to run the Minx 200, I've tried it and it also doesn't work - I get the same high pitched, swirly sound as when trying to use Airplay. 

The 2 monitor speakers look fine - but well short of the Minx 200 spec & sound.

What are the options for a speaker that would double as a soundbar for my TV?

Thanks,
Stan

Hey Stantheman8.

You could maybe look at the Yamaha YAS109 priced at 269 Euro
https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-204275-yamaha-yas109-black-soundbar-with-alexa-built-in.aspx

This has a good amount of features that allow for streaming music, blue tooth connectivity and HDMI for connecting to your TV.

If you went into the Yamaha MUSICCAST range there is the BAR40 priced at 319 Euro.
https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-203663-yamaha-musiccast-bar-40-4080-streaming-soundbar.aspx

Let us know what you think.

Kenny.