Sonic Frontiers is still repaired through Anthem (Anthem and SF being effectively the same company, just different brands). They have great customer service. My SF3SE somehow did not come with a remote control and they sent me one with no questions asked.
Sincerely,
KF |
I use an Audio Research ls7 with ugraded tubes and infinity caps.. If you want a phono stage, buy an outboard
The arc can be bought for around 700.. and the phono pre another 200 or so..
As far as the repairs, unk... I hope my sfs 80 doesnt have any issues.. I will be upset.. I love that piece.
Good luck,
Joe |
Sonic Frontiers is still supporting the products they made. www.soncifrontiers.com |
Sonic Frontiers will support the products, but they have to be sent to Canada which is an expensive hassle. Great stuff, but questionable value if a repair is needed. |
With Sonic frontiers during repairs, I would highly recommend a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 preamp. It would be a perfect match for the power 1 and for the prices they are selling for, it's an incredible bargain.
Good Luck, Mike. |
Why is sending an amp to Canada fo repairs a hassle? Do they speak a foreign tongue? They cannot be trusted since they are foreigners? There is paper work requiring many hours of diligent work by a lawyer? There currency is too low causing pangs of guilt for having them work for so little money? Their phone system is imcompatible with the one used in the USA? FedEx, UPS and the postal service do not go there for they have no winter tires? There is no intelligent life beyond the US border? Geez, I give up. |
Pbb,
You have stumbled upon the biggest kept secret in recent American history. Yes, those Canadians cannot be trusted as far as you can bowl them. There is obviously a conspiracy against our country from our neighbors from the north. I believe they are planning an invasion of our country, and we are doing nothing about it. Look at the facts, they support free movement across our borders, they supported NAFTA, they are flooding our country with good and services (Paradigm speakers...) and most damming evidence is the have amassed over 80% of their population on our border!!! I have met many of these cynister Canadians while playing Unreal Tournament, an online first person shooting game, and there are a startling number of Canadians playing the game...obviously they are practicing their killing skills for the invasion.
Of course, the other could be true...it's just expensive to send 'mail' over the border due to import/export duties. Luckily, those willey Canadians thought of that, and you send the piece to NY for repairs. |
There are no duties involved.
Please before you speak get informed.
There are sales taxes to be paid by Canadians bringing in Goods to Canada.
No costs if you send gear to be serviced.
Same if you send gear to the USA. When it enters back into Canada no costs other than shipping. |
'Blame Canada! Blame Canada!' Southpark Bigger Longer Uncut
KF |
Natile,
I certianly apologize for speaking incorrectly, however, looking through the surface of what I said, and looking at the end result, you may agree it can be expensive to ship to Canada. If you look at UPS's web site you will see Canada is concidered International. Maybe also, you could take a Midol and lighten up, after all, I worked hard at writing something funny. Maybe you are Canadian and take offense?? Oh well, Tok sees the humor. |
I sent my 100 lbs power3 to Canada for service last year before i sold it.. it was no different than sending them to let's say California. Call SF, they will tell you how to do it.... the amp was sent back to me on a promised date.. |
Don't use UPS as they will hit you up for customs "brokerage fees" and these can be steep. Consider shipping the cost of doing business. I have a Line 1 and am very happy with it. If you Americans keep buying enough good hi-fi stuff from us then maybe we can stop using Monopoly money as a currency here. Yes it is a conspiricy and the fifth column (consumer electronics) is moving in. We want your warmer winter weather. That's the real reason there are so many Canucks playing UT: it's too damn cold outside.
I had a good laugh at it all. One correction - 80% of us are on our border! Peace. |
LOL!!!! Yer aw'right Cosmic. Your welcome to my Illinois winter anytime; I'm trying to make my way back to the Southern States. Hope to see you in UT land sometime.
lex (lexicon). Guess that needs to be changed now to Sonic Frontiers Line 1. I love mine as well. |
I just had my Line 2 serviced. Sonic Frontiers (Audiostream) picks up the units across the border and brings them into Canada. No problems. Took about 3 weeks total -- 1 week shipping to NY, 1 week servicing, 1 week return. Shipping was $30 each way from Florida. Excellent service too. |
Mdomnick,
Have you done any tube rolling yet and if so, what tubes?
Chances of seeing me in UT are slim to none - I'm getting too old to have reflexes fast enough to play that. Diablo2 and Strategy games are about my speed. I have some relatives in California, Missouri, and Jersey - all of which probably have warmer winter than Illinois. But I can guarantee you that my winter is far and away colder but without the humidity you likely get from the great lakes. |
Too bad Cosmic, I am always looking for a good game. I know a guy, Coyote who is 47, who still plays, so don't use the age excuse!!!!:)
I have used Amprex, Sovtek, Telefunken, Siemens, RCA and some off brand Soviet made tube (MIGs??). The Soviet tubes were horrible in every way; I didn't hear too much of a difference between the Sovteks and Amprex tubes, but will be doing some more comparisons this weekend now that I have a quiet house to myself. I initially heard more white noise from the tweeters with the Amprex, but plan on putting my tube dampeners on them this weekend to remedy that.
The Siemens were tremendous tubes (I just bought another set today) and were very comparible to Telefunkens. I did not have a chance to do thourough test between the Siemens and Telefunken, but just know I was equally happy between the two. The RCA were sweet sounding tubes, and were definitly closer to the Siemens/Telefunken rather than the Amprex/Sovteks.
I'd be happy to hear your experiences/suggestions with tubes.
m- |
Mdomnick,
Ok, the guy beats me by five. Still, I've never been good at first person shooters. Besides, when I get into a game I tend to go off the deepend and forget about all other things in this world - like eating, sleeping....
I just picked up the Line 1 a week and a half ago used ($950US or $1500 in Monopoly money $C). I am enjoying the sound quite a bit. I had been using my Onkyo 747 SRS receiver as a pre into my Anthem MCA-20 and the Line 1 just adds all kinds of good things like high frequency extension and air. The soundstage depth has improved tremendously. I have ordered an Audition cable package from Virtual Dynamics ( http://www.virtualdynamics.ca ). They should arrive Tuesday (Monday is Thanksgiving here). I have the Power 3 and Power 1 power cords here and they made a tremendous improvement in low end dynamics and added a little extra oomph to the sound level in that range as well. What got me going to the Audition package was that I had to exchange the Power 3 due to a defect in the IEC end plus I needed an extra PC now that I've added the pre and the cost would have been about 40% for what I truly needed but for the extra I get a whole lot more. I will report back once I get them and have time to do a proper evaluation on them. I will probably start a new thread in the cable section at that time. Currently using HT Pro-11 for speakers and HT Truthlinks between pre and amp. Cardas crosslink between Musical Fidelity A3CD and pre. Should connect my tape deck one of these days... .
Keep me posted on the tube experiments. I currently have the original 2.5 year old Sovteks in. Perhaps it might be time to go around to some of the old TV shop and look for NOS tubes.
T^2 |
Hi all. Count me in one how great the Line 1 is (especially for the price one can pick one up for on the used market). I really believe they are an steal at $900-$1000. I've found that Cardas Golden Reference cables matched with a Pair of Ediswans I had bought from Kevin Deal were a fantastic match. The Ediswan really added a ton of high end sparkle and the Cardas just made every thing very smooth. Have fun all. Mike. |
Void,
I have the Line 1 (by the way, just replace the rear most bank of tubes...gives the most improvement) and use the Anthem Amp 2 which I just sent to NY for repair:( It was kicking out a terrible hum in my mid range drivers. I use a Marantz changer as a transport running thru a Monarchy DIP then to Cal Gamma DAC. I also have a Marantz DV-18 DVD player, and CinePro Power Pro 20. All ICs are Transparent Music Link+ and Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker wire. Speakers are currently Paradigm Studio 100s (you damn Canadians) but am just about to pay off my Tyler Acoustic 7Us. I recently sold my Lexicon DC1 for the Line 1, and agree...major improvements all around. I don't miss the HT at all!!!!! |
M,
I also have the Studio 100's plus a PW220 plus a Studio CC plus a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors on Atlantis stands in the rear. The Onkyo passes through the Line 1 for HT. I don't need the greatest fidelity for HT because I am more focused on the picture to worry overly much about the sound so long as it's adequate. Toshiba SD-5700 DVD. My critical listening is in the realm of two channel.
I've read about the rearmost two tubes trick. I am going to wait until the cables are in and settled before trying to determine what pair of tubes to order to tailor the sound just right. I can hardly wait as the sound is just about "that close" to where I want it.
The Musical Fidelity A3CD is a single disk unit I've been very happy with since picking it up in the Spring. I may go to a Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC down the road but am not in any particular rush to do so, the sound is that good. I've spent too much money this year as it is - way too much. This is the nature of addiction I guess.
I have heard really good things about the Amp 2 and wanted one but took the MCA-20 instead. Couldn't find an Amp 2 as Anthem has dicontinued all their tube gear. The 20 is good enough for now. I may wind up using it for the HF down the road and biamp with a Bryston 4B SST on the bottom down the road but again no rush. I would really like to try some Oval 9's in my system in a bi-wire setup with the 9's of course on the bottom as I hear the do wonders on bass signals. I will wait until I evaluate this complete VD Audition cable package before continuing hunting for more cables.
There was an SE version of the Amp 2 released a while back. I wonder if Anthem was also doing SE upgrades to existing product. I might send my Line 1 to Toronto next spring for the SE upgrade.
One thing about the system now though is if I put on a badly mastered/EQ'd CD I won't leave it on because the sound is just too poor to listen to. A number of my older CD's are trash. This is mostly stuff from the 70's and early 80's transfered quickly to CD for the record companies to cash in on the new format. Fortunately some of the old stuff is being remastered and released once again. The early David Bowie is a good example. Don't get the feeling that I'm living in the past. For most of my friends there hasn't been any good music made since 1982. I on the other hand will listen to almost anything from classical to hard core so I have lots of musical options. Having said that there are still bad recordings being released in this day and age which is inexcuseable.
That's enough early Sat AM rant. Thanks for listening.
Peace,
T^2 |
