Is Tom Evans Audio Design out of business?

There is no excuse for this crap. No wonder he is out of business. I won't be buying any Tom Evans stuff thanks for the heads up.

If what you say is accurate, then your recourse is with the dealer. He took possession of your preamp and he is responsible for its return.

Well, I just want to be clear that I'm not posting this to smear Tom Evans or start any rumors. I just want my Groove phono preamp back. He's had it for over 6 months and I can't get in touch with him. To be fair to the dealer, he never had possession of my preamp and I didn't purchase it from him. But he did agree to handle the transaction and arranged it with Evans, since he is/was a Tom Evans dealer. I owned the unit for about 3 years, and then the right channel went dead. I was told I could also get it upgraded to the "Anniversary" edition along with the repair, and was quoted what I thought was a very reasonable price. I shipped it directly to Tom Evans Audio Design at my own expense. Unfortunately, the unit was damaged in shipping, and I can understand this would cause a delay for additional repairs, but I think the lack of communication is unacceptable.

I hope your situation resolves itself somehow.I would hope by now with what we all know of audio products on the internet that only extremely unsophisticated folks,and there are thousands,would know to deal with companies in the USA that have track records.Preaching to the choir......cheers,James

may i suggest you try to contact a UK dealer? they will know a bit more. the list is on the site, under "purchase"

http://www.audiodesign.co.uk/

"I was told I could also get it upgraded to the "Anniversary" edition along with the repair, and was quoted what I thought was a very reasonable price. "

Apparently it was too reasonable.

~ Ladok:

I will have T.E. look at this thread. I just received a new Groove Plus SE from him a few weeks ago! It is outstanding in every way. I assure you he is still working.

Maybe a personal event has taken place.

I have already forwarded this to him via my T.E. dealer.

** No flames until you hear back, please. False conjecture helps no-one!

The Vibe preamp was the last non-USA made piece to leave my system and it took me years, and about twice the price, to find a SS preamp I liked as well. His stuff is a bargin at the used prices it typically goes for over on this side of the pond.

Thanks for the info, Tom6897. I would like to point out that I have not printed any "flames" or "false conjecture." I have no intention of this being an attack on the company and I'm sorry some responders on this thread have made unkind remarks. I have only stated the facts. I have posted only to try to get information. The DEALER I have been working with is the one who has conjectured that TE may be out of business because he can no longer get in touch with him. Others have said he might be "on holiday," but I don't think that's an excuse for holding a preamp for more than 6 months and not communicating. If you have a means to contact him and forward my concern, that would be appreciated. I will also take Drplank's advice and try to contact a UK dealer.

By the way, Drpank, I have been on his website multiple times and there is no list of UK dealers that I can find. There is a US website with a list of about 7 US dealers, I've called several of them but none of them seemed to know how to contact him. His e-mail bounces back and the phone number is busy 24/7. I'd also like to say that the Groove phono preamp is the first and only solid state amp/preamp I've had in my system long-term in 35 years.

Ladok regardless of why you cannot contact him his lack of communication is unacceptable not to mention holding on to your preamp for 6 months.

Sorry to hear, might be time to move to a more reasonable business.

Dear Ladok,

Tom Evans is in business. I have just received a Master Groove from him.

I have forwarded this thread to him and I just finished talking to him on the phone!

Tom has had email problems for a while but his phone works fine. Regardless, there is no excuse for poor communication.

Please email me your phone number or call me. I asked Tom to call you directly and explain the situation to you.

If you do not have a spare phono stage, let me know. Perhaps I can loan you one while you are waiting for the repair.

Best regards,
Mehran
SORAsound

Tom Evans is still in business! One of you was kind enough to forward my concerns to another Tom Evans dealer. This gentleman, Mehran of SORAsound, assured me that he has recently spoken to Tom Evans on his private phone and it seems that things will move forward now on my Groove repair and upgrade. One thing I did not know, because nobody really told me, was that the unit was damaged so badly in shipping that a "salvage" was necessary, requiring ordering additional parts, suppliers weren't available, etc. That's all fine, but SOMEBODY should have told me this months ago.

Did you ship in the factory supplied boxes? Did you double box? Did you insure the shipment? Are you pursuing a damage complaint with the shipper?

I did not have the factory supplied boxes. No, I did not double box (I usually do but this box and packing seemed secure), I did insure the shipment with Fed-Ex. I filed a damage complaint immediately, they would pay only $100 since it was not shipped in the factory-supplied box. I agreed to pay for any additional repairs because it was my bad. However, none of this is relevant to the issue, which is little or no communication from the manufacturer for nearly 6 months, then a promise in mid-February that the unit would be shipped "next week," then complete cut-off of communication. Again, my only reason for posting is no one seemed able to contact the company and the dealer I was working with said he thought they might be out of business, which fortunately is not the case. I was promised today that my unit would be finished and shipped shortly, we shall see. Again, I wish only the best to Tom Evans Audio Design, he makes great products as far as I can tell.

"Did you ship in the factory supplied boxes?"

Good one Onhwy61. Have you ever owned Tom Evans gear? I have owned 5 Vibe preamps and 4 Pulse power supplies, and only the very last unit had anything even approaching a "factory supplied box," which was nothing more than a box that had a "Tom Evans" sticker on the side. There was no specific packing material, unless you consider bubble wrap to fall into that category. The gear sounds great but it always seemed to me to be sort of a "home brewed" operation. I will say that none of the units I owned ever broke down. I would still own the last one (Vibe 7, Pulse II) if I didn't need a balanced preamp. I am glad to hear they are still in business and I wish them well - I appreciate original thinkers who don't feel the need to follow the pack and I suspect Tom fits that mold.

I am glad to hear you are getting closer to some resolution, and your frustration is certainly warranted. A silver lining here is Mohra from Sora Sound stepping up and facilitating your repair. Kudos to him - his reputation continues to impress. Good luck with a piece of gear that you obviously enjoy.

These types of threads are becoming much too commonplace.

I appreciate talent as much as the next guy, but I’ve come across plenty of talented people that who have no business or even common sense.

Note to talent:

"Half of being smart is knowing what you’re dumb at”. There is nothing wrong with admitting that the rigors of your skillset make the business aspects of your endeavors are a dreaded distraction.

Ladok and others, who have posted similarly, are being wronged. There should be no doubt in you mind about that. A good business manager who can run the company and keep you on point will be worth every penny you pay him. World class chefs do this all the time. They cook while somebody else operates the restaurant.

Please receive this as well intentioned advise.

"I was never charged and i have not sent any payments".....
Please tell me why you would just not walk away from this,am i missing something?

Because he still has my phono preamp.

I think it's appropriate that I update this thread, since I am the original poster. My repaired/upgraded Tom Evans Groove arrived about a month ago, it's now the Groove 20th Anniversary model. I originally sent it to Tom Evans in August of last year, anyone interested in the details of why the transaction took so long can read the thread above. The person who made this all really happen is Mehran of SORAsound in Chicago, he is an Evans dealer who interceded on my behalf, he apparently has a good working relationship with Tom Evans. Mehran is a gentleman and a businesman of the highest order and I highly recommend him. He recognized my frustration with the situation and stepped in when he saw this thread. He and Tom Evans agreed to lower the price on the repair/upgrade to compensate for the LONG delay, which I did not even hint that I expected them to do, because I thought the quoted price was already reasonable to begin with. I also recognize that I could have done a better job packaging the Groove before shipping it. Now, about the Groove Anniversary phono preamp: It looks a lot like the original Groove, but it has a separate power supply, and also dip switches to allow for 9 different resistance and 5 capacitance settings. The unit is not broken in yet so I won't say a whole lot about how it plays music except to say that I loved the original Groove and even without being broken in, it's obvious that the Annivesary edition is even better. I am generally a "tube guy" and I consider the Groove to be some of the best that solid state has to offer. At this point, it rivals the phono section of my Shindo Monbrison (also not completely broken in), but I must emphasize that at this point, it's too early to make an evaluation. Let's just say that for now, I'm enjoying LP playback more than at any time in 35 years, and I'm beginning to believe the old cliche, "there is much more in those grooves of our LPs than we ever thought possible." Again, thank you Mehran and nice work Tom, you are a gifted designer who needs some business help.

His Malaysia distributor paid for 3 units of master groove more than a year
ago & till today did not receive a single unit & all Tom Evans did was to
kept on giving excuses & used the money ( full amount paid when master
groove was not even in production & full amount paid so that he has the
fund to build the 3 units - what a cheat ) to build units to be given to other
distributors . That is the integrity of the man

In response to audio blazer,
I too had to wait a year plus for my mastergroove which was paid in full on my own initiative. it was very frustrating dealing with tom evans the man as I tend to call him every other month on when to expect the mastergroove.
He always have an excuse for the delay. Anyway I was warned by dealers of his equiptments that a long wait for his mastergroove is to be expected.
I finally got mine a year and month after payment and all I can say is it is worth the wait. Amazing amazing phono stage, absolutely no regrets.
Thank you tom, finally.

I worked with him back in 1990. The guys untrustworthy and rips off other peoples work. Non of these comments surprise me. He is a con-man.

Has anyone over that side of the pond heard the new Mk2 phono amps from Tom Evans Audio ?

The specs are truly world class, even on the modestly priced Mk2 Groove A, it's signal to noise ratio ( noise and distortion ) is an amazing -114 db @ 68 db of gain !

I am told that further up the range you go the lower the distortion and noise, 50% per model. I just read this recent review (below), from what Jason Kennedy (the editor) said about the way it performs it looks like it's the real deal and he gave it 'best buy' award.
as for Tom being untrustworty he has always helped and if you require an upgrade he will help with that too ,

http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/tom-evans-audio-design-groove-anniversary-mkii-mc-phono-stage

Amazing phono stage...

I stumbled across this thread by by accident.Ive been looking to buy a matergroove,since inception.
A dealer whom I became friends with about 6 years ago, told me that he was expecting some Mastergrooves.In fact, he had sent Tom Evan a not inconsiderable amount of money, approximately, $16000.This was to help fund the build of the initial units.
Time past.A good few years.However, only a few of the ordered units ever arrived.Now 5/6 years later, many many calls and badgering Tom,The dealers order still remains incomplete.
Myself,I swerved buying a phono stage from Tom.Im a happy Weiss owner.
My dealer friend,has been rather good about this.Hes happy to believe Toms story about bankruptcy, and his promise that the units will eventually arrive.
Thats good news for Tom.My dealer friend,is a great guy.100% reliable and honest.However,he has a past.The kind that most people would rather not know about.
Not the kind of guy you mess with.Unlike the customer who tried to deny that he had his loan speakers.
Its suprising how being dragged from your bed at 3am, into the street can jog a memory.
I wonder how he would react, if he knew that Toms tales of woe and cash flow were smoke and mirrors,and that he had been taken for a mug just like the Malaysian dealer?
Some people are just too naive.Especially when and if the red mist arrives, and  only 100 miles away redemption calls.
Merry Christmas.

Tom Evans Audio is definitely still in business. There have been some problem but they have been overcome, as far as I know. I had the first and only pair (ever) of Linear B MK2 mono-blocks from there about eighteen months ago (they are truly amazing!) and I have an upgrade to my Master groove underway even as we speak. That said, yes, things do take a while, it’s a small concern with lots of upgrades and orders for new stuff from around the world. If you ever want to get in touch with them directly the UK number is 441443833570

I owned four different Vibe and Pulse preamps over the years and although I tried many other preamps, I obviously went back to the TEAD Vibe/Pulse multiple times, both as Tom upgraded them and for their musicality.  I never tried the phonostages (don't use vinyl) or the amplifiers (need more power) but I hear they too are very good.

All that said, IMO there is no excuse for slow or poor service with the technology available these days.  Other than the Vibe/Pulse, I used to think I would keep only gear manufactured within the USA but my excellent experiences with the extremely responsive Metrum Acoustics (DAC) and Antipodes (server) totally changed my perspective.

ciao Ladok
I've had the same issue a couple of years ago.. with a pair of cable it took me 1 year to get them shipped home. to upgrade my groove SRX it took him 4-6 months.. so keep trying