[Regalma]

Last year I started to upgrade beyond the big name gear. The results sound good but the reliability has been horrible. I purchased two preamps, one from a one-man Hong Kong company the other from Modwright, two monoblock amps from Channel Island, a DAC from Monarchy and speakers with external crossovers from VMPS. To date one monoblock has had to be repaired. The owner suggests that it was hit by an overvoltage. When he told me how little margin there was between the rated voltage of his filter caps and the bias voltages they have to handle I was shocked. It violates every design guideline I have had to work with for years. This is just a way cut costs and save space.

Both preamps have developed a 120 Hz hum. This is from the power supply. The Modwright has been with Modwright for about the 3 weeks, with no word. The Asian unit I am just going to have to fix myself. I just hope I can get a schematic.

One crossover for the VMPSs developed a bad pot (level adjustment) early on. Last night the midrange started acting up again so I attempted to turn the pot to get it to work. This time it some how hit the tweeter with some sort of pulse that fried it. Melted the ribbon!

So after decades of having bigger name equipment run flawlessly I am now being overwhelmed by equipment failures. All of them from small companies making serious, and mostly expensive equipment. It is enough to make me switch to Pioneer.

Have others experience this?

[Kevin Haskins]

I'd say there is probably a higher correlation.   A company selling a million widgets cannot afford to have a problem.   They also have a larger budget to troubleshoot and engineer up-front to help kill potential problems before they happen.    Having said that, many of them have problems also, they just have FEWER problems.

I'd say you have had a rash of bad luck though.   The companies you name have a good reputation.   I'd give them a chance to fix the problems before hanging them out to dry.   If they leave you hanging that is one thing.   If they fix the problem in a reasonable time-frame, then they are holding up their end of the bargain.   Also, from experience I know that what some people find are problems are really system problems.    I don't have a fixed percentage but I see a lot of times when the equipment works fine for me after being returned from the customer.   

The approach I've taken is to use the KISS principle in all my products.   That goes a long ways toward solving support headaches.   I look at some of these home theater receivers, with their multiple inputs/output and a user interface that is highly flawed and I grimace.   I'd never want to try and support something like that in the field.   I'm sure if you looked at a public forum covering their product you will find plenty of post where users had problems with them right out of the box.   

[Imperial]

Hm. That is interesting. "Upgrading beyond the big name gear gave good sound out of the system". 
Reliability issues... yes, there will be some, from time to time with just about any product out there.

With smaller companies, I guess a bit more patience and to not expect ... pioneer like stability is not uncommon... 
But, most of the time, things work out in the end I should think.

What I think is a unreliability, is to make statements on behalf of a genre - when describing ones problems before the situation
has played its course, like Kevin mentions.


Imperial

[TheChairGuy]

Par for the course, my man.  Kevin Haskins summed up the situation well 

John

[Kevin Haskins]

Par for the course, my man.  Kevin Haskins summed up the situation well 

John

Thanks.... the OP's ribbon problem is one of the reason I don't use ribbons either.   If you look at them wrong they become Christmas tree tinsel.    To measure them you have to stick a cap on them.   If you use a chirp with the bare tweeter you fry it.    They just don't handle power out of bandwidth and are easily physically damaged also.   

[low.pfile]

/excerpt/....  If they fix the problem in a reasonable time-frame, then they are holding up their end of the bargain.   

What is a reasonable amount of time for a resolution/fix under warranty?

Regards, Ed

[Wayner]

I think some of you are mixing up "high-end" with "high-price". One does not equal the other. A high end manufacturer will usually have low end volume. His part costs are going to be extremely high, unless he is cleaver enough on his design to maximize usage. As an example, a 3/8" machined front panel, brushed, anodized and silkscreened or double anodized could cost several hundred dollars, yet contribute nothing to the sound of the music. Same with "high-end" capacitors and internal components. Again, they are low volume parts, not highly tooled and carry a huge price tag because someone perceives them to be of high quality, but they could be worse than regular ol' mass production parts. True high end design requires "design" rather than fancy high cost components.

Wayner

[Kevin Haskins]

/excerpt/....  If they fix the problem in a reasonable time-frame, then they are holding up their end of the bargain.   

What is a reasonable amount of time for a resolution/fix under warranty?

Regards, Ed

I guess it depends on the complexity of the fix and the circumstances.  A custom built product or a small production run type product is different than one that is a stock normal item.     Smaller companies definitely cannot turn things around on a dime.   I'd say 6-8 weeks is normal, less is desirable and if it is longer than that, there should be good communication with the customer about why it is taking longer. 

I've also noted that customers tend to add the shipping time in their equations.   That alters the time drastically because it can be 7-10 working days on both sides of that equation.   

[low.pfile]

/excerpt/....  If they fix the problem in a reasonable time-frame, then they are holding up their end of the bargain.   

What is a reasonable amount of time for a resolution/fix under warranty?

Regards, Ed

I guess it depends on the complexity of the fix and the circumstances.  A custom built product or a small production run type product is different than one that is a stock normal item.     Smaller companies definitely cannot turn things around on a dime.   I'd say 6-8 weeks is normal, less is desirable and if it is longer than that, there should be good communication with the customer about why it is taking longer. 

I've also noted that customers tend to add the shipping time in their equations.   That alters the time drastically because it can be 7-10 working days on both sides of that equation.   

All reasonable points Kevin. It seems that one signs up for this when going with low production/handmade products in search of The Sound.

Regards, Ed

[BobRex]

I think you are just unlucky.  I haven't had any trouble with my equipment in years, let's see:
Joule Electra La100 MK3 - running for 8 years without a single hiccup
Herron VTPH-1MC - same
VMPS RM30s w/ external crossover and built in bass amp - going on 2 years without a problem
Welborne Moondog amps - 1 was hit by lightning - took out a few resistors, no other problems.
CAL Alpha and Delta - 9 years no problem
cj MV75A1 - over 25 years - semi retired now, but no problems ever (okay I fib, once and a while it popped a KTK1 fuse)
cj PV5 - probably 15 years before it developed problems

So high end equipment isn't necessarily unreliable.  I'd start to look at your power quality.

[Mike Dzurko]

Wow, I'd say you've been very unlucky to date. Personally, I've had really good reliability from most of the high-end equipment I've owned, and it has been a lot. The biggest headaches I've had were with mass-market products from pretty big names.

As far as how long to fix, that is going to depend on many issues and I don't think it has much to do with the size of the company. Rather, it has to do with how that company is set up to deal with warranty and non-warranty repair. And some guy named Murphy said it pretty well and sometimes something simple can get way too complicated. I can remember ONE instance in recent memory where it took us more than a day or two to about a week to turn something around, and that was a very unusual situation.

I can't say about the others mentioned, but Dan at Modwright is a great guy. I'd shoot them an email or phone call. Just a simple, "hey, wondering how it's going with my preamp". 

Hope it all works out for you sooner than later!

[TONEPUB]

Knowing Dan and Dusty personally, I know they both have a pretty high commitment to excellence,
because if they make stuff that breaks, they really don't make any money!

I still have my original ModWright 9.0 that is about four years old now with no probs.

As for the rest of the high end, I don't know what to tell you there.  My system is on
12 hours a day, sometimes 24 hours a day for weeks on end, because I do this full time.
I haven't really had anything crap out on me in a long time now, so the majors have a
pretty good reputation here.

One reason Dan might be a bit behind on things is he was out of here for almost two
weeks with the Munich show, so I'd just give him a call and explain the situation. I'm
sure he'll get you back on track right away.

Best of luck!

[Photon46]

I've wondered about this reliability issue myself. At times, I've wondered if I were cursed with unrepresentative examples of products. I've had three different Cambridge Audio cd players in the past and they all developed drive or display problems within a couple of years or less. After purchasing a Music Reference RM5III preamp (used,) it was DOA. Roger Modjeski got it back, and of course, it worked fine. He had to let it play quite a while before the intermittent open circuit in the transformer acted up and he could diagnose it. After the repair, it's been stone solid reliable for over five years. My (long departed) Belles 150A Hot Rod amp blew a mosfet within a year. After coming back from the warranty repair, it died again within a week. After a recent PS Audio HCA-2 amp rebuild at Reference Audio Mods, it died within two days of it's return (due to a cold solder joint from PS Audio.) Reliability issues have frustrated me to the point I always keep two components of a given category now so that when one goes down, I can still keep my system up and running.

[SET Man]

Hey!

  Regalma, sorry to hear that. Look like you've been having some bad luck with equipments.

  So far I've been pretty lucky. But I had my share of this also. Once I owned a Golden Tube Audio SE-100 which have tube melt down on regular basis. And I wasn't the only one who have this problem with their amps Maybe this is why they are now out of business.

  Anyway, so far my current stuffs had been working flawlessly since I got them.

  Well, good luck

Take care,
Buddy

[Zero]

It's good to find another un-lucky soul.  I use the word un-lucky, because my habit of running across component failure is deeply rooted to a time long before audio came into my life. 

Recently, only a few components have given me fits. Otherwise, damn near everything that hits my door needs opened and repaired. Thankfully, the problems are simple enough for my lil brain to cope with.

[satfrat]

The problem with these types of threads is you only hear from the 2-3% of owners who have had issues while the <90% of satisfied users say nothing. So my answer is no,, high end gear is not unreliable and there's no doubt in my mind that the reliability numbers would bear that out. Personally I had a Marantz receiver go bad after 6 years back in the early 70's but other than that,,, nothing! The high end gear that I've had for the last 4 years have all been component cryoed and have had zero issues. But I do sympathize those who have had to deal with problematic gear.


Cheers,
Robin

[mclsound]

not all are perfect,but lets say you have 5 amps from the same company and only one doesn't have a issue,that speaks for itself...
1-  3ch,2.5yrs old.......center channel dead
2-  monos,1yr old....... one blows fuses
2-  monos,brand new,distorts at half volume...450hrs later still distorts
total money loss  $1100(mostly shipping and boarder)

now a Bryston 14bsst,4bsst,and 10bLR,,,,,,,NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER,not one
the 14 is 4yrs old,the 4 is 3yrs old and the 10 is 10yrs old
so no matter what anyone says ,there are good and bad.
john

[JLM]

The post mentions a one man Chinese source, pieces bought used, and seemingly playing around inside some of the equipment that may have lead to damage.  These should all be considered red flags. 

I've found that modded products are less reliable (I’m 0 for 2 on that count).  Having an early run (1st kid on the block) piece or going with an upstart/unknown manufacturer is asking for trouble.  Complicated/delicate designs obviously are a bigger risk.  Loss of one good technician at a cottage industry shop could be devastating. 

Much of the gear here at AC is internet direct/cottage industry stuff, without the safety nets of a dealer to screen out problematic models/brands or offer personal/quicker servicing.

If you compare full retail/bricks and mortar sourcing from known/established manufacturers, the differences between low and high-fi should be minimal and I would expect the high end stuff to do better.  As it should for the money.

We often overlook the risks associated when we so gleefully go for the pricing from internet direct/cottage industry sourcing of the latest tweaked gizmo from a new face.

[john1970]

So far I've had very few problems with my Hi-Fi equipment over the years:
1) Byrston 4BSST amp: no problems after ~2 years of service. 
2) Bryston BP25 (purchased used): after 1 year no problems (4 years total use)  Both amp and preamp are builit like a tank.
3) VMPS RM40s: I've had a woofer go bad, but it was only noticeable on very bass heavy tracks and when the driver was driven hard.  However, I did have many QC and finish issues with my first pair.
4) Marantz HT Receiver: No problems after 3 years
5) Denon DVD Player: Starting to make a little bit of noise, but I hope it last for another year until Blu-Ray players are a bit less money

[BrianM]

I'll second satfrat that this thread can't usefully answer the question posed because the feedback will probably be skewed toward those who've had problems (which could after all stem from a variety of complicating factors).  If you want to learn something about the overall reliability of high-end gear you'd need comprehensive data, of which I doubt any exists, not just a few data points...At best, you might hear about a company's reputation for service or lack thereof....

That said I definitely believe in the likelihood of modded equipment having potentially more reliability issues.