amp repair cost too high??


Following up on the post <<is this tech charging too much on amp restoration/repair?>>

Maybe we can open discussion up as to when we should retire a  piece of equipment, or is the unit worth the upgarde/repair.
The amp in discussion, not sure what the used price goes for, but he mentioned repair/ship about $1500.
Seems to me, after a  decade+ of usage, perhaps it was time to bury the old amp and consider putting that $1500 towards a  used or new amp.
So the Q is , what factors  should we  take into consideration when comes time to repair or modify a  unit?
Hopefully this topic can open up ideas which we can all benifit from when it comes our turn to either repair, restore, or sell the unit.
The amp in the topic was a  Musical Fidelity I believe,, not sure what the used bluebook value is, but after 15 yrs seems would not have much resale value, Still , is it a  good idea to put $1500 into a  amp that can not fetch more than say $1200ish on the used market?



mozartfan

Showing 1 response by millercarbon

Resale (used prices) don't factor in much. Probably a term for it, kind of like what economists call the fallacy of the sunk cost. Anyway, the amp you have cannot be compared to some random used amp, because you have no idea what that other amp has been through. So the real question is not what will yours sell for used but what else could you do with that repair cost money? (If the amp still runs, and you can sell it, that’s a little bit different situation.) If you know you can’t find another amp anywhere that you will like better then its probably worth the repair cost.

Its unlikely this is the case. If it lasted a decent amount of time then after say 10 years or more pretty much everything is so much better you should have no problem finding superior replacements for your repair cost money. About the only thing I have seen in over 40 years, going back to the 1970’s, where this does not happen is turntables. Even then not all of them.

With amps, heat cycles eventually do them all in. Tube amps last the longest because the parts that cost the most (transformers) last almost forever, almost all the parts are in wide open spaces easy to keep cool (and access if need be) and the parts that do wear out (tubes) are designed to be easily replaced.

Solid state amps tend to be a nightmare of parts crammed in difficult (read, expensive) to access locations with no thought given to replacement. Which makes sense, given the reliability and longevity of the parts is so much greater. Still, the end result after enough years is guaranteed to be a really expensive doorstop.