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Lounge Audio

I feel I should warn folks who have bought a Lounge Audio product or are thinking about buying one.

I own a Lounge Audio LCR MkIII Silver Ed. and Copla. I originally bought both units new about 5 years ago.

Around 2 yrs ago I sent the LCR MkIII in to be upgraded to the Silver Ed. and have a Mono switch installed.

I got it back in good time except the Mono switch was installed but not wired. I decided not to send it back in this instance as I could live without the mono switch and I could probably repair it myself sometime.

Not long after, one of the channels in the Copla went out. I called Robert and he said that it's more than likely an LED that went out and that he's since been using better/more reliable LED's in the unit. He said to send the unit in and he would get to it as soon as he could. I decided to send both units in so he could fix that mono switch in the LCR MkIII as well.

He did warn me that it may be some time before he got to it because he was swamped with orders. Apparently, the Copla received a minor positive review in Stereophile Magazine in Feb. just before I sent it in. To be fair, he doesn't charge for repairs for the life of the unit/s. That's a nice gesture but I think I would rather pay for the repair and get it done in a reasonable amount of time rather than have wait for months to get it done for free.

I'm coming up on five months now and haven't seen my units. I called him a couple months back and he basically said he would get to them soon and he didn't say he was having supply issues like some companies were having during the pandemic period. I'm not sure what his definition of 'soon' is but it's not the same as mine is all I can say.

He also said that because of the amount of interest in Lounge Audio since the review, he hasn't been answering emails because most people were just "fishing".

I sent him some texts but haven't received any replies. I also emailed him again because that's the only Contact info provided by the Lounge Audio website. I don't know if he's not answering his calls/texts or his number is not good anymore.

I've been using a MoFi Studio phono pre in what I thought would be a temporary situation. I've since pretty much given up and bought a Sutherland Insight last week.

Thanks in advance for reading my rant.

Perhaps some folks will think I'm being unreasonable but I can't recommend Lounge Audio in good conscience to anyone who wants to buy one of their products and then may have to send it in for repairs.
IMO no one should have to wait this long.
nicktheknife
sokogear
1,095 posts
 

@nicktheknife  - The Sutherland for me was my first (and only) external phono stage from my integrated, a Plinius model that has an adjustable MM to MC switch, but that's it for adjustability.That phono section is supposedly pretty good. My long trusted dealer (for 30+ years) recommended Sutherland as all they make is phono stages and he told me I would be very happy either with the Insight or the 20/20 which is 50% more. I was lucky to find a used Insight in perfect condition for under $900. My dealer sells some very high end lines in addition to some that are reasonable in my mind. I am pretty conservative and don't change gear very often (my previous speakers I had for 25 years I bought from the dealer off demo, and my amp is 18 years and going from him traded in to him, and my cartridge for about 12 years - also from him with a same model replacement when the stylus literally wore off after 9 years). He understood me getting the used Insight, and to him it is such a small amount of money, he didn't seem to care. The LPS was such a new option, he wasn't even aware of it.

The LPS is being offered as an option from the factory or as an upgrade. It is actually just a board, which helped keep the price down (it was $350). Ron Sutherland said he would perform the upgrade service for free if I shipped it to him, or he would guide me through the board swap, which is easy if you are at all handy (which I am minimally - I can change a light switch if I can figure out which breaker it is on). If you bought your Insight from a dealer, I would ask them to do the upgrade, if not, you can give Ron a call.

I don't think you can use the LPS board from the Insight as an upgrade for any of his other phono stages - I believe it is standard with some of his higher end ones, and I know on the 20/20 it it an option and is a whole external box (which means more wires) and a higher price (I think it is $450, but it may actually be 2 boards as that model has 2 separate channels in it).

The Insight ​​​​​It is an extremely quiet phono stage with about 6 different load and gain settings and works well with my van den Hul MC One Special cartridge that has an output of .65uV according to the specs or .75uV as shown on AJ van den Hul's signed hand written cartridge specs (which I trust more), so medium output. If I had a really low output MC, I might look at the newer ones that you don't set, of which Sutherland makes a couple of those. I think the Insight is an excellent phono stage for the money. Good luck, and sorry to hear about Lounge. I try to stay away from the "hot" items. Lots of times those companies don't care about their customers because they are so busy filling orders.

timmerswalking's avatar
timmerswalking
11 posts
 

Not all mom and pop ops are the same; some have a robust operation that works pretty well. My personal exp comes from ownership of the Hagerman Cornet 3. Not only is Jim H available and visible on various forum sites, he answers questions in a very timely matter. I would buy from Hagerman again.

IMO, any private cottage operation is a direct reflection of the owner and their personal way of conducting business. Sounds like the subject of op’s product is in need of help.

sauce206's avatar
sauce206
2 posts
 

I bought one and the sound is phenomenal and a great value. This is a one man operation producing a quality piece of electronics. Everyone that buys these is at least partially motivated by how much money they are saving. Well that savings is going to be due to a singular focus on creating the phonos at the expense of short lead time and email communication. With a one man operation you can't shift around tasks to different inputs or handle any task in parallel. It's all one long queue and every phone call or email will present a decision to delay production by x minutes, which can aggregate over time to longer delays. I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement in lead time or communication, but the very issue at hand of lead time and communication are tied directly to the savings on the unit cost. When quick turnaround and customer service is a priority? You'll pay more and I think most folks would direct you to companies with more than one employee. There's a reason so many small firms focus on higher ticket items, fewer orders is often advantageous for a smaller business. The sweet spot of low cost and high performance is great for a customer but not necessarily a sweet spot in terms of business operations. I waited five monthes or whatever for my phono so I had time to think about this stuff. But trying to rally the internet around this issue seems a little? I'm looking for a polite word for it but oh well. Basically I think if you approached the problem from looking at from the other persons point of view you might have learned some interesting dynamics about how businesses work. Understanding is the companion of patience or whatever. Apologies for the novel length response, I just really dig my lcr. 

mahler123
3,318 posts
 

Whatever happened with the OP?

nicktheknife OP
194 posts
 

I finally received my units.  It was over six months since I shipped to getting them back.  

The owner, Robert Morin finally contacted me and kept me informed.  I always thought he was a good guy and I like both the LCR  MkIII and the Copla.  

I wasn't just dissatisfied with the long wait,  I was under the impression it wouldn't  take over half a year to get my units back.  I was more miffed at the fact that I wasn't able to get him to answer my requests for some info on when I could expect my pieces back.  I had a unit go to Italy and back in less than a month and it wasn't under warranty.  

When you have to wait that long for a repair, the company should give you fair warning that it may take much longer than normal due to the current workload.  Robert did warn me that it would take a little longer than normal.  I sent the LCR MkIII in for the Silver upgrade and it was back in less than two weeks. What was I to expect when he said it may take a little longer than normal?  A month?  Six weeks?  Maybe.  Not over six months.  And, not without an explanation  on what is taking so long.  

In the end, it turned out well.  I bought another phono pre in the meantime and had a MoFi Studio phono pre to use when I first shipped the Lounge units out.  

If any of the Lounge units need to go in for repair again which I hope won't be necessary, I will know exactly what to expect.  And, hopefully others will too.

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