Rok2id
It's kind of nice to know I have more money than brains-makes me feel like I've arrived or something. But even if I now have more money than brains it still doesn't mean much if I don't have a lot of brains left.
Snackeyp,
I agree with other posters that you must have had an unlucky streak. My stuff has been almost flawless for many years except for one on/off switch on a Rotel amp ($4.00 part). Only other issue was a BAT preamp I sold to another member who said it had hum but worked fine in my system after we worked out a return and refund. Later sold to a happy member w/o hum.
Sorry to hear about your frustrations that must distract from your musical enjoyment. Maybe my stuff hasn't been high-end enough and I need to raise my aspirations in order to acquire dissatisfaction. |
The mechanical components seem more problematic. Dont see much talk about speaker failures for eg. It is very hard for a small exotic manufacturer to be able to afford to invest the time and money in rigorous testing, and they also dont have the extensive field experience that a manufacturer of millions of units has, so to me it is no surprise. I have been mostly lucky but i accept that reduced reliability can be a part of the experience at this level. A trustworthy dealer and a manufacturer that will be supportive makes all the difference. I think this is why relationships are critical in this industry. I dont want a relationship with the guy who sold me my $100 DVD player, but i really have to trust the dealer who sells me a $50k turntable! |
So far most everything has worked out well. I have had very few problems over the years except with some "vintage" gear and some self inflicted wounds. It sounds like you have had a string of bad lick. OTOH this industry now is pretty small in many instances. The pieces are virtually one of a kind and hand built in small numbers. I wonder if bigger concerns would have better Quality Control and have tested things more thoroughly? |
Personally i've never experienced such things on hifi but it happens.
Some companies quality control is failing in some way. |
I had trouble with a conrad-johnson preamp about 27 years ago (which was taken care of quickly and courteously as a warranty service), but can't think of any other product that's given me problems. Not that I buy lots of stuff, but everything I've had from Thorens, Naim, Linn, Rega, Vandersteen, Audio by Van Alstine, and Grado has worked great. Part of this may be due to my having purchased everything except the Audio by Van Alstine gear from local dealers, who typically check everything out prior to a sale to make sure you get a complete, properly-functioning unit, and the AVA stuff is built to order and tested prior to shipment. |
Dunno but when paying megabucks for anything, including expensive audio gear, reliability is an important thing to consider as is availability of quality service.
Its easy to get caught up in the looks, apparent build quality, and sound, but I really prefer to go with proven reliable companies with a track record. For less expensive items, I am more willing to take more chances. |
i think one can say that some high-end products are unreliable. there are so many, and only a small sample of them have been mentioned.
for example, audio research, cj, magnepan, martin logan, vandersteen, ayre,halcro, levinson, krell, magico,hansen, lamm, esoteric etc., have not been mentioned as unreliable. |
I don't consider an old Well Tempered table, Lehmann, or Cambridge "high end".
IMO |
The Japanese designed their equipment to be problem free, mainly because, at the heyday of Japanese electronics, it was a cutthroat business. No one could afford to put out junk and survive. Today the high end business is aimed at a very few folks, most with more money than brains, so, It could be that the Boy geniuses working in their garage or the boutique makers in the mountains, are a lot better at desiging the outside than they are at designing the inside. More into magic / hype, than audio engineering. The make beautiful stuff, just not very reliable.
Lo-Fi Rules!
Peace. |
It's not just you, lousy reliability seems endemic to WAY too many audio products. I've just reconciled myself to this being the usual state of affairs and keep a reserve spare for every component (except turntable) in the audio chain. I admit my preconceived stereotypes about Italian product reliability have been proven wrong (to this point) and happily report that my Aloia amp/preamp combo have operated flawlessly for many years. Every cd player I've ever owned developed problems reading discs (Denon, Marantz, Cambridge Audio, Sony, among others.) My VPI and Acoustic Solid tables have also been very reliable. |
You may not get too many responses as many members are frequently trading back and forth to sample different components......and the last thing a members wants is to admit they had a problem or defect with something they're trying to re sell |
Few electronic manufacturers do any 'burn in' any more. The business model is to pass that on to the consumer/dealer, it is just more cost effective to do so. As most know, if an electronic product will fail, it most likely does so in the first 10 hours of use. Also, when a dealer is involved they 'eat' the out bound shipping and handling cost involved. Perhaps some dealers on the 'gon' could fill us in on failure rates. |
