What to do with dead equipment

Contact the head BAT, Victor Khomenko over at the Audio Asylum. He is very active there and should be able to help you.

Thank you.  When my preamp started acting up again, after re-tubing, I tried to reach him via email several times.  He never responded.  I'll try again.

As a last resort, Staples office supply will take electronics off your hands for no charge.

Sell it for parts cheapish or get it fixed. There is probably an audio tech near you that knows his sh.t. It’s not rocket science so doesn’t necessarily need to be the manufacturer that fixes it. Don’t throw it away unless you like to throw away money. 

I have a local guy that’s done an Odyssey amp I blew up due to my dumbassness and added a preout to my tube integrated. Fairly inexpensive. 

Sell the amp “as is” and hope a DIY hobbyist picks it up and attempts to fix it.  

Too bad BAT won't take it as a partial trade for a new preamp. They built it so they should be able to fix it and resell it!

Sell it deeply discounted for “parts”. The market by individual buyers can be surprisingly broad and brisk. Good luck.

I think a lot of used stuff here for sale is repaired gear. I'm only speaking from experience with my Ayre CD and VTL TL2.5  which both had issues shortly after I bought used 

olyaudio, Try and trade in for newer model especially if you enjoy the BAT sound. I sold a old VK-3ix on Ebay for 70% new when I bought it so the used market is healthy and alive

jasonbourne71

Too bad BAT won't take it as a partial trade for a new preamp ...

BAT has a dealer network and that's what a good dealer is for. I wouldn't expect a manufacturer to take trades.

There is a major company in Boulder that accepts any equipment for trade in value

based on original MSRP.

I would simply note that if "this stuff worked great for 25 years" then you have indeed gotten the use out of it. If only everything else worked as long in our disposable civilization. Amortization of price versus the number of years you got out of them isn’t bad.

Sell them "as is" on eBay or part them out if you want to go to that much trouble to get a few extra dollars.

It is sad that BAT won’t repair it and give at least a 90-day warranty on that repair. With it being their design, they should be able to troubleshoot it and fix it. That was always the great thing about tube gear using discrete components instead of solid-state gear using integrated circuits.

There's a lady electronics tech on YouTube, goes by Skunkie Works, that often does videos and teardowns of Chinese made tube gear and others, and then she sees what, if anything could be better and upgraded for better sound and/or safety. 

She did a great series on the Willsenton R8 and R300. It looks like regarding the R8, the company took some of her suggestions and incorporated them. 

She might be interested (for a price) in seeing if she could repair it - and likely do a series of videos on why, how, and what she did. Just an idea better than dropping it off at Staples. 

Good luck.

Intermittent problems are the hardest to troubleshoot.  25 years of trouble-free use is good.  Probably retubing should have been done anyway.  About time to renew the capacitors too.  Either spend for repairs or spend for another.  This hobby is expensive.  Sell it inexpensively stating the problem/s that you are having.  At least get your money back for the retube.

You learned the hard way.  Preamps are notorious for unstable startups and power downs.  Can take out your power amp and or speakers.  Some mute its output on startups, but not all.  And their circuitry can fail.  Get into the habit of Turning On your preamp Before your power amp.  Turn OFF your power amp before turning off your preamp.

Sell it as is at a good discount in us audiomart. Get at least something for it.
Don’t just junk it.
 

Plant it in your backyard and see if a new one grows.

Best Buy retail stores recycle nearly anything, only charging for flat screens.

Dropped off an ancient MS mouse (cabled) and an old Dell (wireless, no dongle) to BB, and a working 160gb hard drive (blank formatted, of course) to Goodwill.

More interesting working stuff goes to Habitat.

Dead rechargeables and CFLs go to Lowes’.

I recycle plastics, paper, cardboards, glass. metals....

Intend for self to be dissolved...better for the environment....

Keeps the grave robbers away, and not interested in being a zombie anything.

No stone for anyone to deface or urinate on....sorry....*L*

"Now or never, kidz...." 😏

Cremation is polluting, WE are full of heavy metals and crud...

On of these days in the future we’ll be mining our own trash...

What's left after dissolving is a tea-like liquid that recycles nicely into the water cycle.....

You can have a drink literably on me....

*Last Laugh*

..and Ice Nine really isn't an option..... ;)

olyaudio

Consult The Music Room (TMR) in Colorado.

Happy Listening!

@asvjerry, I hadn't thought of Ice Nine in decades, made me chuckle.

Kind of apples and oranges, but my luthier made a cash offer for my old guitar tube amps. Salvaging transformers, tubes, and other parts made more sense to me than shredding or land fill.  Now, if only there was an answer for PVC records....

Sell it for whatever you can get for it. It just seems like a shame to throw out something like that. If you were attempting a repair one more time, I’d recommend Stereo Rehab here in Chicago. If it is repairable, Casper(proprietor) will repair it but he now only repairs stuff that are walk-ins, not mailed to him, and he's only open on Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00- 08.00PM. Once I had several people look at a non working Beryllium driver from a Yamaha speaker telling me it couldn’t be repaired and brought it by Caspers place, give it one last chance. He told me it was one of two things that could be wrong. He repaired it in less than five minutes. I once picked up a non working(classic?) Marantz 240 amp with the black face plate free from CL. Owner said that when you turn it on a fuse inside literally caught fire and could not get it repaired correctly. Told Casper he said bring it in, he knew what the issue was. Some $4.00 part I can’t remember. Sometimes these techs miss the simple stuff. Can’t see the trees in the forest?