AV Component Front-ends

[hjames]

Time for an update. Still running the Yamaha?

Yamaha seems to be working well, and the sound is good.

One of the Adcom 555s developed a faint hum, but ... turns out it's not from the speakers!
I traced it to specific chassis - a transformer is physically humming (annoying in quiet passages)!

So far, the only flaw is that its a bit awkward reading the Yam's display from the sofa,
and the remote is a bit creaky - but otherwise, it works fine!

Update on the Harman AVR 7300:

- I sent an email to Harman Support mentioned the repair shop I took it to found the problem,
but can't fix it because they couldn't get parts for it. Since US law says parts must be available for 7 years, why can't we get this fixed?


He says parts ARE available, but I must use THEIR authorized service centers to get them ...
I sent him a link back showing that I had used the HarmanKardon site to find a repair shop from their recommend centers list.
I took the AVR 7300 to them, and that the recommended shop says DSP is No Longer Available ...

The last email I sent back to him said:

"I paid a reasonable $60 for an estimate, and 30 days later he says he can't do the repair because parts for it aren't available.
But you say parts ARE available - so somebody isn't telling the truth!

Federal law says parts MUST be available, but the repair center YOU recommend can't get them.

How do we resolve this and move forward?"

If nothing comes of this, its time for phone tag ...

[clmrt]

These days some companies are too big to manage their own policies.

Glad the Yam is working out. Always good to have a plan B!!

[lgvenable]

I've been happy with an Integra DHC80.1.

Here's my issue. It seems that everyone and their brother design their new equipment with new interfaces. So we have HDMI 1.3, 1.3a, b and what c; then we have 1.4. Why the heck can't some electircal engineers use their brains; as everytime they fork a connector, then the manufacturers want to rush out and use them, obsoleting a connector after a year or two of use.

So my DHC 80.1 has 1.3C, and backwards compatability. Except, now they add a LAN connection and playback connections through HDMI to go 1.4.

Why?

You can do better LAN connections though standard LAN cables; and we've had playback through tape connections for years; so why does some idiot put these into an HDMI interface; meaning that my less than a year old DHC 80.1 has an obsolete connector!!!!!

Or does it, I'm no EE, but I'd assume some enterprising person will design a 1.3C (or a or b....) connector with a playback cable with LAN and playback connectors, or an interface for 1.4 HDMI equipment; so you can interconnect these new components with great pre-pro's like mine which are 1.3C..a..b..c...

Oh, or I could just use the LAN cable in the LAN connector on the back, or the playback loop for the tape deck (which I'd guess is still there; then again; I don't use cassettes anymore either.)


Does anyone else out there think that things are changing so fast, that you feel like you're getting burned by manufacturers not making sure their 1 year old designs don't get obsoleted too quickly. I might be on rant here; but sometimes engineers need to build in backwards compatibility for the folks who pay their salaries by buying their equipment.

I'm reminded of another thread, where someone commented that a VP at Harmen thought a speakers lifetime was 2 years. Duh. My L100A's were bought in 1979 and are still going strong.

[hjames]

That whole constantly evolving HDMI mess ticked me off no end ... that's the big part of was what bunged up the EMOTIVA front end I tried ...
I gave up and got an EXTERNAL HDMI switch from Monoprice 4-in-1 out, for about $40 - and when the next version of HDMI is stable I may upgrade the switch ... but, that Yamaha receiver doesn't care, and I'm not riding the bleeding edge of the tech game ...

[hjames]

Oh, I have another update on the HK AVR7300 receiver I-will-not-let-die thread.
As you recall, in the last episode, I paid $60 for an estimate from the local shop listed as the HK service center in my area.
A month later when I called to check up on it, they apologized and said the DSP part was unavailable - can't be fixed.

After reading Seawolf's comment, I fired off an email to support at Harmon.com, and also to harmanKardon.com and mentioned "my expensive receiver can't be fixed because the shop can't get the parts, but, by Federal Law, parts MUST be made available for 7 years ... and the receiver wasn't that old yet. How are you going to resolve this issue?"
After going back and forth 4 times for me to fill in details (I didn't expect free warrantee repairs, yes, I DID take it to the authorized HK service center, etc, etc), they apologized and somehow found a DSP chip somewhere! They are shipping it to my local shop, who called me yesterday and said estimate will be $250 labor for the repairs - didn't quote a parts price, but said they'd call me when the parts arrive ...

Receiver is still in my hand, awaiting further details ...
More news updates when it happens!

[clmrt]

So, let's say it ends up being $350 all in to get the HK back.

Will you do it?

[hjames]

So, let's say it ends up being $350 all in to get the HK back.

Will you do it?

Fortunately - I didn't have to make that decision - it won't be $350 ...

I have finally got further info on the repairs. The repair shop left me voicemail on my office phone after I left work Friday.
When I called back yesterday, they told me they've now received the replacement chip that Harman had sent,
so I can bring the receiver back for repairs now.

I mentioned I'd never actually gotten an estimate, just their info that the part was NLA - No Longer Available.
So, the gave me an estimate - the repairs will cost about $250, and they said the $60 deposit I already paid for
the initial estimate gets applied to that fee. So - it'll cost me about $200 more to get it fixed ...

I loaded the receiver into the truck last night and dropped it off today!

So - perhaps I should put an APC UPS on the powerline for the receiver?

[hjames]

Ok, NEXT step down this path ...
Its been 2 months today since I dropped the receiver off the second time for repairs.
They had already had replacement parts shipped to them first, so it should have been painless.
2 weeks ago I called the shop and they said they haven't completed the repairs -
apparently they think its not the problem they initially diagnosed ...
At this stage, I have completely lost faith in their ability to repair my receiver.

I checked back with HK customer service and complain again (gently, but firm) insisted that at this point,
nearly 4 months since I first took it to their factory authorized service center for repairs and paid $60 for an estimate,
I still don't have my top of the line receiver back in usable condition, and explained this is completely unacceptable.

After dancing around with their customer service folks for quite a quite a while, we finally settled on a solution.
The local shop will release my receiver with no further fees, and I'll pack and ship the receiver to Harman Kardon
in Northridge for repair. I frankly wasn't going to trust the local service center any further.

Of course, the box and packing materials are long gone - so I bought 3 4x8 sheets of 1 inch thick pink building foam,
and tomorrow I'll make new packing and a carton, and take this monster to UPS to ship back to CA for repairs.

Again, wish me well for this!

Fortunately - I didn't have to make that decision - it won't be $350 ...

I have finally got further info on the repairs. The repair shop left me voicemail on my office phone after I left work Friday.
When I called back yesterday, they told me they've now received the replacement chip that Harman had sent,
so I can bring the receiver back for repairs now.

I mentioned I'd never actually gotten an estimate, just their info that the part was NLA - No Longer Available.
So, the gave me an estimate - the repairs will cost about $250, and they said the $60 deposit I already paid for
the initial estimate gets applied to that fee. So - it'll cost me about $200 more to get it fixed ...

I loaded the receiver into the truck last night and dropped it off today!

So - perhaps I should put an APC UPS on the powerline for the receiver?

[hjames]

Okay, its DONE! I packed the AVR7300 in 2 inch foam all around (3 inch against the front panel), sealed it up, and dropped it off at the UPS store to go out tonight. Took a couple hours to pack it, and just a bit under $100 to ground ship it to Northridge insured for $500.
Darned thing is 73 lbs packed - what a monster to shuffle around ... gack!

[Titanium Dome]

Good luck!

[allen mueller]

Just a tip for next time you ship, if you can't ship via a ups or FedEx account the next best thing for rates is go directly to either the ups or FedEx near hub where you live. You'll save allot over going to the UPS store.

Nice packing job btw.

AL

[JBL 4645]

Yamaha seems to be working well, and the sound is good.

One of the Adcom 555s developed a faint hum, but ... turns out it's not from the speakers!
I traced it to specific chassis - a transformer is physically humming (annoying in quiet passages)!

So far, the only flaw is that its a bit awkward reading the Yam's display from the sofa,
and the remote is a bit creaky - but otherwise, it works fine!

Update on the Harman AVR 7300:

- I sent an email to Harman Support mentioned the repair shop I took it to found the problem,
but can't fix it because they couldn't get parts for it. Since US law says parts must be available for 7 years, why can't we get this fixed?


He says parts ARE available, but I must use THEIR authorized service centers to get them ...
I sent him a link back showing that I had used the HarmanKardon site to find a repair shop from their recommend centers list.
I took the AVR 7300 to them, and that the recommended shop says DSP is No Longer Available ...

The last email I sent back to him said:

"I paid a reasonable $60 for an estimate, and 30 days later he says he can't do the repair because parts for it aren't available.
But you say parts ARE available - so somebody isn't telling the truth!

Federal law says parts MUST be available, but the repair center YOU recommend can't get them.

How do we resolve this and move forward?"

If nothing comes of this, its time for phone tag ...

I can still get parts thou very rare and lucky for my Pioneer laserdisc players as Pioneer cessed making spares about a year or so ago, from what I read. The players cessed production early around 2000 just after the laserdisc plants had closed down that produced the laserdiscs themselves.

So if someone tells you parts aren’t available. Bull$hit is all I can say! Find a decent supplier that deals in these matters and I’m sure they’ll be able to get the parts in.

What I wanted was two little parts one rubber circle disc about 3mm and plastic disc about same size and the coast was £12.00! For two tiny parts!


If you like to email the UK semedis and ask them if they can’t track down international spare parts I know there in the UK put remember these parts are made in foreign counties so there must be part out there in warehouse.
http://www.semenedis.com/

And mind you, the parts I got are nearly 20 years old.

[hjames]

I can still get parts thou very rare and lucky for my Pioneer laserdisc players as Pioneer ceased making spares about a year or so ago, from what I read. The players ceased production early around 2000 just after the laserdisc plants had closed down that produced the laserdiscs themselves.

So if someone tells you parts aren’t available. Bull$hit is all I can say! Find a decent supplier that deals in these matters and I’m sure they’ll be able to get the parts in.

You really do need to go back and read through the thread, and pay attention to who was saying what - the LOCAL shop is the AUTHORIZED HK Repair CENTER - THEY said Parts were No Longer Available (NLA).

When I contacted HARMAN KARDON Customer Service, they said parts WERE available, and provided the "NLA" parts to the LOCAL repair center.

Once the parts arrived locally I took my receiver BACK to the LOCAL HK Repair center.
After they had my receiver for an additional 2 months, they STILL couldn't fix my extremely complex AV Receiver.

After speaking nicely but firmly with HK Customer Service, and making arrangements with them, I got my receiver back from the LOCAL repair center, did all the packing you see below in the picture, and sent my receiver to HK In Northridge for THEM to repair it.

I don't need to go to the UK to buy parts - that was never REALLY an issue.
I think the LOCAL repair center was in over their head, or lost, or couldn't find the real problem or something ... and "parts No Longer Available" was their attempt to bail without losing face.

[JBL 4645]

Heather

Its 9 pages long!

2 months and they couldn’t find what was up with it?

I have minor issue with my AVR its the relays placed at the back of the inside of the AVR they click rapidly (now and then).

I know its down to one thing! A dry joint and for that I need to undone the whole thing take the PCB out and look for pins that are lose on the underside where the relays are mounted to the PCB.

That would take me the whole day to fix! Not right now thou. I only fixed the other dry joints on it some 6 months ago. SIGH

I think your HK really needs to go to the place where it was (made from scratch!) it seems like the service department is waste of time, or have so many repairs on the plate they just got sidetracked and missed the fault?

I know its frustrating waiting 2 months when it would have arrived at their service department within a day or two and most likely don’t get around to doing it for at least several days because they have other repairs on the work bench.

I bet if you went into there work shop, you’ll probably find maybe 3 or 4 guys at the most on work duty! The work shop I would imagine is flooded with items that need repairing. And I bet some are more than over 2 months!

I had to wait for JVC part to come from Japan for my Hi-Fi VCR some 20 years ago, it was in the work shop for some 3 months. And the cost was near to £200.00.

I’m willing to bet if there was good member here that lived win a few miles from you, willing to do the repair for six-pack! It may take a week or longer to repair but least you won’t have to grumble at the service costs!

[hjames]

Heather

Its 9 pages long!

2 months and they couldn’t find what was up with it?


I think your HK really needs to go to the place where it was (made from scratch!) it seems like the service department is waste of time, or have so many repairs on the plate they just got sidetracked and missed the fault?

I had to wait for JVC part to come from Japan for my Hi-Fi VCR some 20 years ago, it was in the work shop for some 3 months. And the cost was near to £200.00.

I’m willing to bet if there was good member here that lived win a few miles from you, willing to do the repair for six-pack! It may take a week or longer to repair but least you won’t have to grumble at the service costs!

and 20 years ago your VCR was probably an aging but pricey piece of kit ...

But I can tell you are clueless about good beer, and certainly clueless about these repairs.
I don't think someone is going to trace a digital stream lost between modular boards in such a complex receiver
for $20 worth of good beer - and any less would be a HUGE insult to any tech worthy of the repair.

Emma's guess is that the LOCAL repair center was using the shotgun technique of repair -
swap in and out whole modules until the problem stops ... but with a $2400 receiver,
the local center probably didn't have many of those replacement boards in stock.

Its already gone back to Harman's home office - not much more I can do at this point.