Administrator Marc Posted March 23, 2017 Administrator Share Posted March 23, 2017 I don't think threats to expose businesses on forums (even this one) does anyone any favors. No matter what way you look at it, it is blackmail. This is a tough one as there may well have been assistance through the local distributor (Melb, not Sydney based) and he is a member here, and via the AU Consumer Warranty with a bit of pressure applied. However, now it has been touched by non-approved people, I imagine that chance is out the window as far as any obligations go unfortunately. I certainly do feel for you as a product at that level should last longer than the warranty period advertised. I know if my pre or amps which are stupidly expensive were expected to fail even within 3-5 years I would not even consider the investment. I would expect any commercially available HiFi component considered higher than entry-level to operate for at least 10 years. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Marc Posted March 23, 2017 Administrator Share Posted March 23, 2017 55 minutes ago, Keith_W said: I guess now we know that the local AMR dealer has not set up an arrangement with a local tech to do repairs. It is either AMR company policy that repairs have to be made in the factory, or the dealer has simply failed to find a local tech guy. Either way, your experience should discourage people from buying AMR. It's common place within the hifi market that when you become responsible for a territory as the importer/distributor, you also take on any local warrant that may arise. Normally the manufacturer will assist with the sale of spare parts but almost certainly they must supply the relevant info for the local repairer/tech as appointed by the distributor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgehifi Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 1 hour ago, Steve M said: Thorsten Loesch is seen as a guru type with a good reputation and he would not want that called into question?? He frequents here much more under the name Kuei Yang Wang genius bordering prima-donna. http://www.diyhifi.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=2 Cheers George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve M Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Yeah, you're probably right Marc ...just that Grimmie seems to be out of more discrete options on this one? Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKay Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 If you are on Facebook you could also post your review there as well as google reviews. That should get their attention as well. Sadly so many retailers sell products in Australia that need to go overseas for repairs. A long warranty is a partial tonic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eman Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 4 hours ago, georgehifi said: He frequents here much more under the name Kuei Yang Wang genius bordering prima-donna. http://www.diyhifi.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=2 Cheers George http://www.diyhifi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2914 AMR DAC Signature Edition DAP777 Kuei Yang Wang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter_F Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 If it was my 5K going down the drain I'd go hell for leather posting warnings and adverse comments against AMR and the Australian agent where ever I could. Turn the heat up and F*ck 'em I reckon!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HdB Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 At this point I would just pack it in it's carton and send it back to the agents for official repair - you're never going to be satisfied with even the best tech's best efforts after spending 12 months of talking to agents, etc - without the assistance of the manufacturers, the unit will possibly never be fixed so just 'bite the bullet' and pay the crazy freight costs. In general, I understood that AMR products were regarded as very reliable indeed, and quite surprised to hear of your problems with this one. A few years ago, I stupidly bought a Marc Levinson dac/computer package for a silly amount of $s - that Bobcat rubbish 'thing' - the system worked for less than an hours and failed (dac killed the Hard drive!) - after many weeks of futile email discussions (and phone calls in the middle of the night), I finally sent it back to New York for repair - now THAT wasn't cheap! After about 3 months, and a lot of further emails/phone calls, the units were returned and I finally got to hear what all the 'talk' was about - it just didn't ever function anywhere near the promotional comments and some added music (my bonus for the trouble, apparently!) - that gives you an idea about product support 'a la Levinson'! I still 'see red' anytime I hear the name Levinson! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 14 hours ago, blybo said: My wife currently has a out of warranty Brother printer off being repaired at Brothers suggestion and cost. This is a low end business model costing around $800 and 3 years old. And plenty of distributors will go out of their way to do the right thing by their customers, but that's not quite the point I was making, rather I was talking about our so called by many great recent consumer protection laws. cheers Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocl444 Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 i had a similar but different experience. i have an AMR CD-77 which i bought 2nd hand and is now around 10yrs old. the usb input failed 3yrs ago so i took it to a local (christchurch,nz) repairer where it sat for 3mths. they were not able to repair so i rang the distributor who gave me the name and no. of their recommended repairer. it cost about $80 just for shipping - they are VERY heavy. the repairer was fantastic. he had to get a new usb module from england and replaced the dud one. the cost of repairs wasn't huge .and the service was so good i now ship anything that needs work to the repairer. he has even restored a Sony v-fet amp for me. i am looking fwd to having the CD-77 for another 10yrs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKay Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 This does raise the question of why bother buying locally if you are up for the expense of shipping overseas every time you need a repair. If I were selling hi fi gear it would have to be able to be repaired in Australia. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocl444 Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 On 3/23/2017 at 4:10 AM, Grimmie said: I did really like the AMR in my system so no panic man, get it repaired. After a couple of months exchanging emails with Cam, the retailer in Sydney and then Owen from the manufacturers who suggested replacing the Main board and also - was I interested in a SE upgrade. What I didn’t fancy was the time and expense of sending the unit over to Sydney, to probably be sent over to the UK and then back – hell that’d take ages. If only I’d known. · the op bought the unit from sydney and was advised by the guy he bought it from to ship it back to where he bought it from. in my mind that is local. it also sounds like the dealer advised of the worst possible outcome which is fair of him to do. the op and i each made the same initial error of judgement and probably for very similar reasons. i cut my losses early on in the process and had a great outcome. what is unfortunate is that AMR are so restrictive regarding their "intellectual property". re the unit running hot, the CD-77 runs very warm too. mind you it's full of valves so that is to be expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted March 23, 2017 Volunteer Share Posted March 23, 2017 38 minutes ago, rocl444 said: the op bought the unit from sydney and was advised by the guy he bought it from to ship it back to where he bought it from. in my mind that is local. it also sounds like the dealer advised of the worst possible outcome which is fair of him to do. the op and i each made the same initial error of judgement and probably for very similar reasons. i cut my losses early on in the process and had a great outcome. what is unfortunate is that AMR are so restrictive regarding their "intellectual property". re the unit running hot, the CD-77 runs very warm too. mind you it's full of valves so that is to be expected. If he bought it from Sydney then I don't believe he bought it from the official distributor (who is based in Melbourne) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Marc Posted March 23, 2017 Administrator Share Posted March 23, 2017 1 minute ago, Sir Sanders Zingmore said: If he bought it from Sydney then I don't believe he bought it from the official distributor (who is based in Melbourne) That's what has been puzzling me also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 54 minutes ago, rocl444 said: the op bought the unit from sydney and was advised by the guy he bought it from to ship it back to where he bought it from. in my mind that is local. it also sounds like the dealer advised of the worst possible outcome which is fair of him to do. the op and i each made the same initial error of judgement and probably for very similar reasons. i cut my losses early on in the process and had a great outcome. its standard practice to expect return to where bought from for service. all consumer rights are also with the retailer 54 minutes ago, rocl444 said: what is unfortunate is that AMR are so restrictive regarding their "intellectual property". not unusual really. IP is gold these days...especially when the chinese will bung out a copy if can get their hands on stuff like that. an nda as requirement would be pretty basic I would have throught. and many makers wont even go that far. eg we read last year how emotiva would no longer send parts to get things fixed by some 3rd party repairer. thats not unusual. they want to control a lot closer and suspect what could be the go here too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 18 minutes ago, Marc said: That's what has been puzzling me also. dont many distributors have retailers all over the country ? not sure whats puzzling about that ? or is this some other distributor or previous importer we are talking about ? in any case all obligations would be with the retailer that sold the item I would have thought ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmie Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 Many thanks for the responses and concern shown guys, I do appreciate the good wishes. The unit was purchased from MaxMedia and I'll post a bit more tonight but I'm off to Northam and Merredin for work now so have a bit of driving ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony M Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 (edited) A couple of observations FWIW: Firstly, Australian consumer law is a farce. You can buy a TV set for 15K and get a 12 month warranty. Clearly, the warranty under the legislation is actually longer, but NO-ONE knows how long it really is. If it died at 13 months, you'd clearly be OK, but what bout 5 years. Would a court find that it was reasonable for the consumer to expect it to last longer than that? Who knows? Secondly, it seems intuitive to me that one of the downsides of buying reasonably exotic equipment is that you can't really expect it to be fixed locally if something goes wrong. With a Tactaudio preamp, I was lucky in that the manufacturer (who is no longer in business) was willing to mail me new processor boards when one failed, but you can't count on that. I also had a fault with one of the analog-in cards and was able to get it fixed by a local tech after finding out on an internet forum exactly which capacitors were likely to fault and need replacement. Again, I considered myself very lucky. All my old Tactaudio gear is still going strong after 10 to 12 years, despite the fact that there has never been an Australian distributor and the company is long since defunct. Surprisingly enough, it's still in quite high demand internationally. If something goes wrong with my AMR DAC, (and I sincerely hope it doesn't) I wouldn't consider any alternative to getting it diagnosed/fixed by or in consultation with the distributor from whom I bought it and who has a reputation for offering very good service. Yes, it's a hassle sending it to Melbourne if necessary, but it's part of the deal inherent in buying something out of the mainstream. Even the most reliable equipment can fail and you can't expect a local tech to be able to fix it is like expecting an outback garage to be able to fix your Ferrari. You might get lucky, but it would be unwise to count on that. Edited March 24, 2017 by Tony M 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgehifi Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Tony M said: you can't expect a local tech to be able to fix With a circuit diagram/service-manual, a good local qualified tech knows just as much of the laws of electronics to fix this, as a tech in the same country as the product was imported to that the importer has commissioned to do his repairs for him. Even a big company that imports many many hiend overseas product like Joe Rediga of Audio Excellence/Advance Audio uses Kimil Electronics a local private repair shop for all his more complex hi-end repairs. Cheers George Edited March 24, 2017 by georgehifi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 37 minutes ago, Tony M said: If something goes wrong with my AMR DAC, (and I sincerely hope it doesn't) I wouldn't consider any alternative to getting it diagnosed/fixed by or in consultation with the distributor from whom I bought it and who has a reputation for offering very good service. Yes, it's a hassle sending it to Melbourne if necessary, but it's part of the deal inherent in buying something out of the mainstream. Even the most reliable equipment can fail and you can't expect a local tech to be able to fix it is like expecting an outback garage to be able to fix your Ferrari. You might get lucky, but it would be unwise to count on that. regardless while in hind sight now and easy said..... but a good chance I am sure grimmie would be enjoying his dac right now id say if had gone that route of back to the retailer to be fixed by the maker. yep as to someone else fixing wiht no background on the unit ... i too wouldnt count on it. at end of it I can ship to some corner in the world in 4 days actually over a weekend in some cases so distance is no longer the tyranny it once was....yes there is the cost and time. but gee its been how long now trying to get it fixed local ? and while I would buy something with local support/repair etc. I can understand at times if it means it has to go overseas.... and something just to be factored in at buying time. i.e. dont buy in the first place if thats the only way to get service and support on it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martykt Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 (edited) 30 minutes ago, Tony M said: Again, I considered myself very lucky. All my old Tactaudio gear is still going strong after 10 to 12 years, despite the fact that there has never been an Australian distributor and the company is long since defunct. Surprisingly enough, it's still in quite high demand internationally. Actually Tony you may be interested to know that Tact is indeed alive and well. It just operates under a different name Lyngdorf after a business restructure (or something on those lines I'm not completely sure what the story was) with Peter Lyngdorf. The Tact Millennium even became the Lyngdorf Millennium. The build quality of the Tact stuff was just amazing. Some of their ideas on digital were way before their time too. P.S. and oh yeah Audio Connection were the Australian Distributor too. Edited March 24, 2017 by Martykt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony M Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 21 minutes ago, georgehifi said: Even a big company that imports many many hiend overseas product like Joe Rediga of Audio Excellence/Advance Audio uses Kimil Electronics a local private repair shop for all his more complex hi-end repairs. Yes, a fair point, George - and I agree with you in principle. But my experience in practice has been mixed. F'rinstance, I sold my mint ME850 many years ago as a non-goer after 2 highly respected Adelaide repairers gave up on it after having it for several weeks each. Turned out it was a simple and cheap bridge rectifier that needed replacement. And, on the opposite end of the scale, Joe Reidiger arranged prompt in-home repair of an Apogee ribbon speaker damaged (ribbon destroyed/magnets displaced) in transit to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony M Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Martykt said: Actually Tony you may be interested to know that Tact is indeed alive and well. Yes, Marty, I know the history as I was very enthusiastic about this stuff for some time. I still don't want to part with it so use it in systems other than my main one. Boz and Peter Lyngdorf were originally in partnership, but split up and developed quite different software and separate product lines, albeit with very similar hardware. Now that you mention it, I do recall Audio Connection being distributors briefly, but that was no longer the case when I bought my gear. I got a 25% discount on the basis that there was no Australian distributor. Tact mainly survives via a very enthusiastic and supportive Yahoo forum TactAudioUsersGroup. They help a lot with diagnosis/repair/resale/software etc. PS I consider Boz to be the epitome of the "flawed genius" genre. Some of the technical stuff he came up with was brilliant, but his entrepreneurial and business skills were sadly lacking. Edited March 24, 2017 by Tony M 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martykt Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 @Tony M My first high end amp was a Tact Millennium. Truly Revolutionary. Unfortunately many of the great audio geniuses do lack the business prowess and we don't see their full potential because this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmie Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 If I had one wish for a superpower you can forget x-ray vision and flying, I'd choose hindsight every time. How cool to know the consequences of everything you say or do before you say or do it. I definitely would have sent it back to Maxmedia in Melbourne (not Sydney, where'd I get that from. It's actually Level 1, 8-14 Howard Street. North Melbourne) if the tooth fairy had given me hindsight instead of wonderful good looks that are irresistible to women, and mosquitoes incidentally, I always get bitten) HOLD THE BUS!!!! Just had an email, literally popped up right now from my techie, apparently parts are on the way from Maxmedia. I swear that's as far as I got with the above post. HOW AMAZEBALLS! I am really, I mean really, REALLY pleased at this turn of events, It's the first light at the end of the channel tunnel, (pushing a hand-cart) I'm glad I didn't go bagging the distributor / retailer or AMR, except it's so hard to not be bitter and twisted when this kind of thing happens, I did as I say love the unit when it worked. No idea what prompted this, and I refuse to be cynical re this thread etc. Just a happy co-incidence I'm sure, - fingers crossed and I'll keep you informed. Ged 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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