They were repaired at a factory service center. I know exactly what the problem is. Thanks |
Ok, now I remember why I quit posting here years ago.
I am an electrical engineer. I read the repair order. I design amplifiers. The issue is bad output transistors. They have repaired it twice by replacing them twice. But there are like 4 dozen transistors in each amp. Chuck Hinton recommended the service center to me. Now can you please go away. Thank you.
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McIntosh has gone silent in my attempts to get them to help!
Ayre took back their amps, and even sent out an RMA for shipping them back (Charlie posted in another forum about it), whether they were under warranty or not. But McIntosh apparently doesn't care about their customers anymore. It's so unfortunate. It seems my friend will be on the hook for having all the output transistors replaced on his dime, despite the fact McIntosh sold defective amplifiers. I'm guessing it'll cost him $1500, maybe $2000, plus shipping. It's a big job. My brother and I also have ThermalTrak amps...I hope they will be ok.
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Good grief, you again. If you have doubts about my understanding of McIntosh, I suggest you read the 1000+ posts of mine from 15 years ago. Until then, stop your useless assumptions.
What I am presenting here is reality. As I've already stated, the service center was recommended by Chuck Hinton (apparently you don't know that he is the McIntosh tech support manager). I am currently waiting to hear back from the service manager, who I hope will be helpful.
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Emails between me and McIntosh are obviously still ongoing. Now please go away, again.
The point of the post was to ask if anyone else has had an overheating problem yet. Thanks to any who can offer relevant input. |
Clearthink - your input is still not relevant.
Any McIntosh owners out there with overheating amplifiers? Thanks |
Thanks guys for the feedback.
Yes, Ayre did a great job taking care of this problem. Wonderful customer service. I am in the market for a VXR Twenty as a result!
I've had 21 pieces of McIntosh and never had a problem, other than a cosmetic issue with my MC152 front panel. But my buddy is hurting.
I will keep you posted on what McIntosh decides to do. |
Hey Jerry! Great to hear from you. I probably won't become a regular again (it seems little has changed around here lol) but it's nice to hear from you and the others that have messaged me directly.
The 501s have different output devices, so you don't have to worry. On Semi is on their third version of the ThermalTrak BJTs now (they are aware that their early ones had design flaws) so people with later 601/452/7000/152/302/1201 etc. are probably fine too. I just hope my brother's 601s will be ok, even though serial numbers suggest otherwise.
Arthur |
McIntosh has finally arrived at a decision, after a month of back-and-forth, and it isn’t nearly as good as Ayre’s unconditional warranty for the same issue: they will only pay for parts in the form of built-up heatsinks. My buddy feels this is an ok solution, but it will probably still cost him $400 in labor, plus shipping. It’s a shame - their literature says their amps "last a lifetime" but then they don’t stand by them like Ayre does. Apparently McIntosh isn’t quite what they used to be. Oh well, that’s the way it is, lesson learned, moving on.
If your McIntosh amps overheat in the near future, I hope they will accord you the same offer, but you might have to fight for it as I did. I wish you all the best in that endeavor. |
He bought them new from a McIntosh dealer, but they are out of warranty by 2.5 years. However, Ayre didn’t care if they were under warranty or not - they repaired them all regardless. In fact, there is a thread about all this on another forum where Ayre themselves posted and said so! Great customer service from Ayre because they realize the amps were defective in manufacturing.
I’ve been a McIntosh owner for the last 20 years. I still love mine (I have 6 Mc pieces right now). I am just disappointed that McIntosh was not willing to do what Ayre did. It’s a bummer. I saw them fully as equals until now. I just hope that my lovely MC152 and my brother’s MC601s won’t develop the same problem...! |
Hi g_nakamoto, it's normal that both are overheating because they both have bad transistors in them. The ThermalTrak transistors are the problem (which were made by On Semi, not McIntosh). Going by the amp serial numbers, there appears to be hundreds of amplifiers with bad transistors in them, so we won't be the only ones with this problem. We just happen to have experienced it, and, said something here about it. Unfortunately, only a tiny percentage of McIntosh owners are active in the forums.
While I'm at it, a quick update: McIntosh told me they would have the built heatsink/transistor assemblies made for us in 25-40 days. It has now been 40 days and I haven't heard anything, so I sent them an email just now asking for an update. Fingers crossed they at least come through with this. Stay tuned. |
Hi garebear, nice to hear from you!
Hi chazzzy, ok well wish him good luck. It has now been 55 days and still no parts, and no emails in the last 2 weeks. To add insult to injury, I got an automatic reply from the Customer Service Manager just now saying that he’s out of the office until 8/10. Well, today is 8/22.... Unfortunately, I think that says it all. |
Ok! McIntosh finally came through. Unfortunately, they did not want to swap the amps out for us (as Ayre has done for the exact same problem and situation), but they did send us 4 complete heatsink assemblies that are fully-populated and tested, ready to be installed in both monoblocks. I have performed the swap for the latest faulty amplifier, and it wasn't very difficult, although it does require the amplifier to be on its side, which is a dicey proposition.
We feel this is a satisfactory solution. It took 120 days all said and done to get the parts. Not impressed. Good thing we have spare amplifiers laying around. But, we are very happy they helped us out!
Now, fingers crossed that my brother's MC601s don't overheat...or anyone else's for that matter. |
Hi Sandy - Yikes! I think this issue is even more widespread than it seems. That's the nature of this kind of problem.
The unfortunate part about it is that, fundamentally, this is not a problem McIntosh had any control over - the transistors are not made by McIntosh, they are made by ON Semi. I tried to explain to Mc that they should get ON Semi involved in this solution, since they made the parts. Maybe they would be willing to pay enough to make Mc a solid business case for an "amp swap" instead. Besides, they could upsell some people to new amps in the process. This is how I would have handled it, had I been in their shoes.
I know a service center and a dealer that both say Mc is a pain to deal with. I got to witness this first hand. At these price levels, I was expecting them to want us to feel impressed. That did not happen. In this day and age, you cannot afford as a hi-fi business to act this way towards your customers. The pond is too little.
This notion has been reinforced by recent interactions I've had with Avantgarde Acoustic of Germany, makers of horn speakers. I also know a couple people that have dealt with warranty repairs with AG, and I have to say they offer exemplary customer service. They go out of their way to make sure everything is perfect. It stands in such stark contrast to how Mc chose to handle a similar case.
I was an advocate for Mc years ago in this very forum, back when it was not popular to come to Mc's defense. But Mc has sort of been tossed around between large conglomerates for some time now, and it's hard to say how things are really going in there. From out here, the core doesn't look too healthy. It's a bummer. Although I think it's totally fixable if they act now.
For the sake of balance, this brings me to some positive attributes I ascribe to McIntosh. For one, I'm in love with my MC152 power amp. It's fantastic. It is a perfect balance of all things: detailed yet coherent, beefy yet deft, sparkly yet sultry, here yet there. Same goes for my dynamic MCD301 that I've just had refreshed at a Mc service center, who by the way did a great job, and was very friendly and engaging in the process. So there is hope.
Thanks for the replies, and have a great Thanksgiving!
Arthur
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