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Problem w Esoteric SA-10- send in or fix locally

My Esoteric SA-10 has recently developed problems. The transport first became noisy, mostly when playing SACD's. Most recently it is giving me a "disc error" on the display, and won't read discs, again only on SACD's. When it does read one, it will have intermittent split second audio drop outs, as well as put out short blips of distortion.

My question is this- I am not the original owner, so it is not under warranty. Shipping it is costly. UPS is around $90.00 including $3500 of insurance (the box is huge and heavy). This won't include my return shipping, or the cost of parts and repair. I am also nervous about putting it in the hands of UPS or FedEx.

Should I take it to a local tech I have experience with who I have confidence in and is reasonable for costs for repairs? OR should I bite the bullet and roll the dice shipping it to Esoteric and back? It could be something relatively simple that is cheap to fix anyways.

Any thoughts?
mekong56

Showing 1 response by tobias

tobias
1,534 posts
 
This may not help much... but I had a TEAC T1 repaired (new laser) by the local factory service shop. The problem (wouldn't read discs, at first just a few, then most, then all) recurred after three or four months.

Had two other shops look at the unit. They tried some adjustments. Nothing really helped. Then I was given the name of a new technician a few hours away. He fixed that transport, boy. It worked like a charm off his bench, I used it, sold it, shipped it and AFAIK it's still working.

Conclusion: it really helps to have a technician who knows what he's doing, and he doesn't necessarily work in the factory service shop.
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