I had quite the roller coaster week with this hobby.
I took advantage of the 15% off holiday event at AVA and purchased a T8+ pre and Insight 240+ SS amp; they arrived this past Wednesday. After years of waiting, I was finally on my way to having some great sound: Two great products from AVA to power my beautiful Song Towers. I get everything connected and I am ready to crank some of my favorite tunes. Ah, but my wife has just finished making dinner, so we sit down to watch a little TV while we eat and everything is sounding good; I am playing the audio through the new amp and pre. We have finished eating and now and it is time to fire up the 'ole Squeezebox and see what this new set-up can do! I switch sources on the pre, press play, and ugghhh....
It sounds like my rig is stuck in a cave. There is no high end. I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. What has happened? Everything is brand new and factory tested! The only thing I can think that I did wrong was after the initial hook-up, I switched on the amp before the pre and received a very loud buzzing from the speakers (but why did it work initially?) I immediately turned of the amp and rechecked all the inputs and speaker cables to make sure my connections were correct and secure.
I switch back to the input that was previously working - same problem. I hook up my old integrated amp - same problem. I have ruined my beautiful Song Towers.
The first thing next morning I call up AVA and speak with Frank. He spends about 10 minutes on the phone with me walking me through a quick trouble shoot. Nothing is wrong with my new components. He has me listen closely to the speakers and asks me if I can hear anything coming out of the tweeter. The two drivers appear to be functioning just fine but the tweeters are dead. Next I call Jim. I get his voice mail and leave a message.
The entire night before and during the day, I am thinking about how I am going to have to box up the speakers (will they make it there safely?), pay shipping both ways ($100+ each way), and pay the cost to repair the speakers ($?). Should I just buy new speakers? What did I do wrong? The stress of the evening made it all a blur. I can't remember exactly what I did each moment. Everything worked, then it didn't.
Later that afternoon Jim returns my call and I explain the situation. Jim also spends about 10 to 15 minutes on the phone with me. As he explains, a speaker is something that either works, or it doesn't. Since the other drivers are working, his opinion is that I managed to send something through the DC line that my tweeters didn't like and I burned up the voice coil (paraphrasing of course - I may not have that 100% correct). No need to box up the speakers to return for repair, though!
I can replace the tweeters myself (Can I really?). Jim assures me that the process is relatively simple, but having never done any speaker repair or assembly of any kind I am quietly apprehensive. He offers to ship me two new tweeters
at his cost! The tweeters in the Song Towers are soldered he explains, so he places quick connects on them, then: 3 screws, two snips, two strips, two crimps, hook up the quick connects and done. (Can it really be this easy?)
Well that was Thursday. Jim ships the tweeters FedEx (
before receiving payment) and sends a detailed email explaining how to replace the tweeters. Much to my suprise they arrive Saturday morning. Well, here we go. Three screws - tweeter comes right out. Two snips - yikes! Two strips - I have 1/4" of wire; slide on the quick connects. Two crimps - squeeze firmly; nice and secure. Hook up the quick connects - ok, good. Repeat. Everything is replaced. I fire everything up. Pre-amp on first, then power amp, press play in Squeezecenter. Aaaaahhh!
(Listening impressions and similar kudos to Frank to follow in the AVA forum.)
The quick and dirty: Jim was attentive, empathetic, and patient. My problem was important. My problem was accurately diagnosed and quickly remedied. You just don't get this kind of service everywhere. I mean, parts at cost shipped to you in 2 days? This is first class.
Thank you, Jim. Everything is sounding fantastic!
