Amplifier Repair

[fuzz092888]

Anybody ever have one of their amps repaired? Can't get a place near me to return an email, at least anywhere I can find. Will ship, but would prefer northeast where I could potentially drive to.

TIA

 

[lovinthehd]

I wonder if the covid thing and people using gear at home more kept more technicians alive? A year and a half ago I had a soon-to-retire tech in the nearby city (and seeing an article in the paper about it) and had a couple long-in-the-tooth amps sitting around where a third similar amp had fried on its last use (but wasn't using these amps much for a while before that too). So thought it would be a good idea for a tech to go thru them and maybe put them to use or sell them, but to do so with more confidence. He didn't find much wrong, tho. I think there is one other tech now (one guy) who does that now. Might take some hunting around and not relying on just email....good luck! Hopefully some suggestions from those in your area (I'm on the other coast)....

 

[Verdinut]

Anybody ever have one of their amps repaired? Can't get a place near me to return an email, at least anywhere I can find. Will ship, but would prefer northeast where I could potentially drive to.

TIA

Have you tried contacting the amp manufacturer if it's still in business? They might be able to recommend you one. If there's an electronics school nearby, maybe you could try to get hold of one of the teachers to attempt to fix it.
My 2 cents.

Cheers,

 

[slipperybidness]

Anybody ever have one of their amps repaired? Can't get a place near me to return an email, at least anywhere I can find. Will ship, but would prefer northeast where I could potentially drive to.

TIA

Contacting the manufacturer is certainly a good option, at least to see if they can help you find someone.

In general, it would likely be best/cheapest to find a small independent tech to do the work. But, in central TX, we do have a few operations. One of them is the Denon/Marantz authorized shop, the other is Straight Music Company. They tend to work more on the commercial gear, but I would guess they may work on consumer level gear too. So, perhaps look for a larger music shop that may also deal with repairs. One of my friends is a tech at this place.

Beyond that, here is an idea "out of the box"! Maybe see if you can find a contact for the electronics technician program at the local community college. That may be a slightly riskier option, but I bet if you find the right person, they would do the work cheap or free. The idea is that type of work would be very valuable for hands-on learning in the electronics lab. Ideally the prof would perform the work, or done under his direct supervision. The people that perform and teach how to work on electronics tend to be passionate about it, and take each job as a personal challenge, "can I fix this?".

 

[fuzz092888]

One amp manufacture and the OEM are gone and the other is an Adcom. Looked on Adcom’s website and emailed a couple places listed on their website, but still waiting for a reply.

I’d love to snag an engineer from RPI or something, but not sure how to go about it. I guess I could email some professors and see if they have any students that might be interested.

Pretty scary to let a student handle a 400+WPC x 6 channel amp though lol.

Have you tried contacting the amp manufacturer if it's still in business? They might be able to recommend you one. If there's an electronics school nearby, maybe you could try to get hold of one of the teachers to attempt to fix it.
My 2 cents.

Cheers,

Contacting the manufacturer is certainly a good option, at least to see if they can help you find someone.

In general, it would likely be best/cheapest to find a small independent tech to do the work. But, in central TX, we do have a few operations. One of them is the Denon/Marantz authorized shop, the other is Straight Music Company. They tend to work more on the commercial gear, but I would guess they may work on consumer level gear too. So, perhaps look for a larger music shop that may also deal with repairs. One of my friends is a tech at this place.

Beyond that, here is an idea "out of the box"! Maybe see if you can find a contact for the electronics technician program at the local community college. That may be a slightly riskier option, but I bet if you find the right person, they would do the work cheap or free. The idea is that type of work would be very valuable for hands-on learning in the electronics lab. Ideally the prof would perform the work, or done under his direct supervision. The people that perform and teach how to work on electronics tend to be passionate about it, and take each job as a personal challenge, "can I fix this?".

 

[slipperybidness]

Pretty scary to let a student handle a 400+WPC x 6 channel amp though lol.

Nah, that isn't scary at all.

Now working on tube amps and/or CRTs, that's the SCARY stuff! Especially CRTs, you best know what you are doing or you can kill yourself quick.

Maybe working on X-Ray gear can be a bit unnerving! I have personally worked on Total X-Ray Fluorescent instruments (and other various advanced lab instruments, GCMS, ICPMS, etc). The "FUN" part begins when you start "Defeating Safety Devices"......I'm not kidding, that must be done to perform certain tasks, clearly it is reserved for the highest level of expertise only.

On the job, we have an internal electronics repair shop. So, I take them any component or PCB level work. Not to say that I could not do the work myself, but I don't have the tools nor the workstation at work, and these guys do this type of work all day every day. I have had them completely recap PC mobos for me in the past, resolved my BSOD problems.

 

[fuzz092888]

Welp $160/amp for diagnosis. Hoping I hear from the other place since I’d rather not drive into NYC

 

[lovinthehd]

Welp $160/amp for diagnosis. Hoping I hear from the other place since I’d rather not drive into NYC

That's not that surprising a price....depending on how thorough that analysis/diagnosis is....

 

[fuzz092888]

That's not that surprising a price....depending on how thorough that analysis/diagnosis is....

I’m fine with the price, especially since they said it gets deducted from the repair price. I just don’t want to drive to where they are and shipping would probably double that.

 

[adk highlander]

I have nothing useful to add. I just wanted to say Hi Alex! Where the flock have you been?

 

[fuzz092888]

I have nothing useful to add. I just wanted to say Hi Alex! Where the flock have you been?

I haven’t really done anything home theater-y since I built my dual 21” sub lol. I’ve redirected my woodworking stuff to building a few decks/porches, coffee tables, desks, cutting boards, and other assorted items. I do the epoxy pour tables too. Plus.......you know.....my actual job which I do sometimes, although according to my wife teaching from home shouldn’t count. The dogs have enjoyed it though.

 

[highfigh]

Anybody ever have one of their amps repaired? Can't get a place near me to return an email, at least anywhere I can find. Will ship, but would prefer northeast where I could potentially drive to.

TIA

Where are you and what models of equipment?

Google 'Audio/Video repair in Anytown USA' (use your city) and see what you find. Also, call AV stores and ask where they send out of warranty repairs.

 

[fuzz092888]

Where are you and what models of equipment?

Google 'Audio/Video repair in Anytown USA' (use your city) and see what you find. Also, call AV stores and ask where they send out of warranty repairs.

As stated above somewhere, I’ve already done the google thing. Hence, the can’t get anyone to respond to my emails comment. The A/V stores warranty repair is a good idea. I emailed a place that’s supposed to be an authorized repair place for Adcom, although I loathe driving in the city so I’m still actively trying to source another location.

Finding an A/V store these days may be challenging, at least outside of the city.

 

[highfigh]

As stated above somewhere, I’ve already done the google thing. Hence, the can’t get anyone to respond to my emails comment. The A/V stores warranty repair is a good idea. I emailed a place that’s supposed to be an authorized repair place for Adcom, although I loathe driving in the city so I’m still actively trying to source another location.

Finding an A/V store these days may be challenging, at least outside of the city.

Still, it might help to give more info about location- I'm sure someone does this, but may not advertise.

 

[Volt]

I just brought my Denon 6700 in for warranty service work at a local place in Los Angeles. When I first started looking into it, I initially had some difficulty getting a hold of people. Keep in mind that with the pandemic you have a whole lot more people staying home. They are bored. They are seriously getting into home theatres. Just like me! People are buying things. And getting old things repaired. The tech at the place I brought it to told me there is a 3 week wait period before their tech can look at it.


I first went to Denon's website to see what I could do about warranty repair. For I wanted to get it fixed for free. They had a list of about 15-20 places throughout the US. I contacted the 2 nearest places to inquire. One place called me back the next day to tell me they no longer do warranty repair. But suggested sending it to United Radio in East Syracuse NY. For they are a very large repair place. He also said that sending it to the local place may take longer due to being smaller, and possible delays for ordering parts. I ended up deciding to go local. I also wanted to try them out, in case I need other audio things repaired. And it would be nice to have some place local to take it to. And thankfully I still have my old Yamaha AVR to use. So I can be without the Denon for a while and still enjoy my home theatre.

AMP/AVR repairs seem to generally be expensive. I think I saw base prices of $80-160 to look at and diagnose your unit. With that amount going towards repairing, if you continue to use them.

United Radio also got kudos for repair from Crutchfield. When I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my Denon, I called their tech support. I've bought most of my new speakers from them. But not my Denon. It was sold out at the time. The tech there was nice enough to still talk to me about the Denon. And gave high praise to United Radio as a repair place. He also advised against using the repair place in New Jersey. He couldn't remember the name. But based on what he said, and what I've seen in other posts I assume he meant Panurgy OEM.

United Radio - Main Page

United Radio serve as a trusted partner for some of today’s top national and international manufacturers. Come and see what we have to offer.

www.unitedradio.com

 

[TLS Guy]

It is really hard to find people who will do electronics repair. Receiver and TV repair usually comes down to board replacement, if you can get the board. They usually charge a fortune for them, if they are available. This makes a lot of repairs uneconomic.

Power amps are a different matter. Investing, and learning how to use test equipment is certainly possible and within the realm of the home audio enthusiast.

This brings me to the point of power amp selection. I can tell you one thing about them, that quality is in definite inverse ratio to part count. For certain reliability and long life span have a definite inverse ratio to part count.

Almost all of the current power amps, are needlessly complex to their great detriment.

 

[slipperybidness]

It is really hard to find people who will do electronics repair. Receiver and TV repair usually comes down to board replacement, if you can get the board. They usually charge a fortune for them, if they are available. This makes a lot of repairs uneconomic.

Power amps are a different matter. Investing, and learning how to use test equipment is certainly possible and within the realm of the home audio enthusiast.

This brings me to the point of power amp selection. I can tell you one thing about them, that quality is in definite inverse ratio to part count. For certain reliability and long life span have a definite inverse ratio to part count.

Almost all of the current power amps, are needlessly complex to their great detriment.

Your statements about complexity and parts count directly line up with the literature of the amplifier construction manuals that I have read.

To the point--SMPS and CLASS D amps are more complex machines than linear unregulated PS and Class AB amps.

SMPS and Class D require many more engineering hours, but once they have been properly engineered, the boards can be rapidly spit out via automated methods.

Granted, I am certain that modern Class D amps have out-engineered the problems of the first few generations, but that engineering has added complexity.

The simple solution is the best solution. Only add complexity to solve a particular problem.

In this case, the "problem" needing complexity was large transformers, heavy weights (shipping costs), and poor efficiency.

With all of that being said, my next amp purchase very well could be a Crown XLS.

 

[TLS Guy]

Your statements about complexity and parts count directly line up with the literature of the amplifier construction manuals that I have read.

To the point--SMPS and CLASS D amps are more complex machines than linear unregulated PS and Class AB amps.

SMPS and Class D require many more engineering hours, but once they have been properly engineered, the boards can be rapidly spit out via automated methods.

Granted, I am certain that modern Class D amps have out-engineered the problems of the first few generations, but that engineering has added complexity.

The simple solution is the best solution. Only add complexity to solve a particular problem.

In this case, the "problem" needing complexity was large transformers, heavy weights (shipping costs), and poor efficiency.

With all of that being said, my next amp purchase very well could be a Crown XLS.

Yes, class D does have a built in complexity. However I have a huge beef adding the complexity of regulated power supplies to linear designs.

It is true they eek out a small amount of power from the same power amp if you uses a regulated power supply, versus an unregulated one. I personally prefer unregulated power supplies for power amps, for lots of reasons.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I got very little useful to add, but I will add it anyhow (sue me).
5 years ago my Pana Plasma TV broke. I basically followed youtube guides on trying to find a circuit with a short using nothing but the most basic dollar store multimeter.
After finding the board in question I used these guys to do replace actual chips (surface mounted)

Contact Us - Coppell TV Repair LLC

Component level repairs for main boards, power supply boards, sustain boards etc. for LCD,plasma,LED,OLED TVs by LG,Samsung,Vizio,Insignia,Panasonic,Toshiba,Hitachi etc.

www.coppelltvrepair.com

Replacing regular (non-SMT) components should pretty easy with a moderately cheap setup.
A decent multimeter is $40-50. PC based scope about $100
a Hakko or Weller Digital Soldering station - another $100
but look at this way: 2-3 repairs and you'd be ahead

 

[TLS Guy]

Anybody ever have one of their amps repaired? Can't get a place near me to return an email, at least anywhere I can find. Will ship, but would prefer northeast where I could potentially drive to.

TIA

What amps are you talking about? A really major issue, is whether the circuit and service manual are published. If not, only the manufacturer can repair it.
In times passed these items were readily available. Now they seldom are, which is a disgrace. If you post what you want repaired, I can do a search and tell you your prospects. I do repair amps, in fact I repaired a Quad 405 last week.