Servicing Shindo gear

[755a]

Originally Posted by Sancho22

Thanks all for the replies. Jonathan thou are absolutely right and will do - i guess i was looking for real life experience of members. All the gear is legit, but unfortunately only the pre-amp has some papers (I think bought at Pitch Perfect originally). I can certainly find a few extremely well trained techs, but i would rather try to service (when needed) through the most knowledgeable channels. That was really behind my question and again thank all for the suggestions.

I am confused. Are you an existing customer of ILS? If so why not just ask Steve or Steve. They are good people.

[755a]

Originally Posted by Sancho22

Thanks all for the replies. Jonathan thou are absolutely right and will do - i guess i was looking for real life experience of members. All the gear is legit, but unfortunately only the pre-amp has some papers (I think bought at Pitch Perfect originally). I can certainly find a few extremely well trained techs, but i would rather try to service (when needed) through the most knowledgeable channels. That was really behind my question and again thank all for the suggestions.

For real life experience I can tell you that with the manufacturer, distributor and dealers of Auditorium and Shindo have been nothing but fair and helpful with me. This is with respect to both used and new Shindo and Auditorium bought in North America.

[Sancho22]

Thanks 755a. I am not ILS customer but have a very nice experience when visited the store a short while back. Your suggestion about the A23 is great - appreciated.

[Jceaves]

Based on Jonathan's disclaimer, it sounds like dealers won't support or repair imported Shindo equipment. In all other cases, why wouldn't a dealer service a Shindo amp? A Porsche dealer doesn't give a hoot about where your out-of-warranty 911 was purchased! On the other hand, it does care about your repair money, and your future business. I doubt you have to worry about getting your Shindo kit serviced. I speak from experience.

In another post, you can read about my own Shindo travails. I'll summarize it here.

I'm in New Mexico (no dealer), and I bought my amps as demos from a retiring Colorado Shindo dealer, who assured me that they were under warranty. But upon first use, my "new" Haut Brion broke. Lacking a dealer, I had to work through Jonathan, who informed me that the amp was several years old. He wouldn't warranty it, so I had no recourse but to pay for the shipping to and repair at Shindo Labs in Japan.

When Ken Shindo was alive, he typically did a significant rebuild or "upgrade" on amps needing repair, as he did with my Haut Brion. Jonathan explained that Mr. Shindo liked to bring amps up to date with his current thinking, or with his current available parts supply.

It wasn't cheap and and the whole process was a royal pain in the ass, frankly. In fact, after several months, when the repaired amp arrived from Japan, when I was so hungry to hear the magic, the right channel immediately went out. Off it went to an authorized dealer, Arizona HiFi, for the final fix. It didn't help that Jonathan's bedside manner veered into blaming the patient (or my speakers). Still, I paid him for the faulty Shindo Labs repair before shipping it to Arizona HiFi to demonstrate that I was a legitimate, if not orphaned, customer.

Anyway, the Haut Brion works and sounds great now. I deal with Arizona HiFi, and they are very accommodating, and their repair guy is excellent. The owner, Glen, gives great advice. I got an EMT TD15 from them last year. I'll use them if I ever upgrade my amps or pull the trigger on those O/96's.

The takeaway is, if you want to successfully service Shindo gear, be prepared to pay for it. Meanwhile, develop a relationship with a dealer - which means buy something from them. It will help when you need their help.

[755a]

Originally Posted by Jceaves

Based on Jonathan's disclaimer, it sounds like dealers won't support or repair imported Shindo equipment. In all other cases, why wouldn't a dealer service a Shindo amp? A Porsche dealer doesn't give a hoot about where your out-of-warranty 911 was purchased! On the other hand, it does care about your repair money, and your future business. I doubt you have to worry about getting your Shindo kit serviced. I speak from experience. In another post, you can read about my own Shindo travails. I'll summarize it here. I'm in New Mexico (no dealer), and I bought my amps as demos from a retiring Colorado Shindo dealer, who assured me that they were under warranty. But upon first use, my "new" Haut Brion broke. Lacking a dealer, I had to work through Jonathan, who informed me that the amp was several years old. He wouldn't warranty it, so I had no recourse but to pay for the shipping to and repair at Shindo Labs in Japan. When Ken Shindo was alive, he typically did a significant rebuild or "upgrade" on amps needing repair, as he did with my Haut Brion. Jonathan explained that Mr. Shindo liked to bring amps up to date with his current thinking, or with his current available parts supply. It wasn't cheap and and the whole process was a royal pain in the ass, frankly. In fact, after several months, when the repaired amp arrived from Japan, when I was so hungry to hear the magic, the right channel immediately went out. Off it went to an authorized dealer, Arizona HiFi, for the final fix. It didn't help that Jonathan's bedside manner veered into blaming the patient (or my speakers). Still, I paid him for the faulty Shindo Labs repair before shipping it to Arizona HiFi to demonstrate that I was a legitimate, if not orphaned, customer. Anyway, the Haut Brion works and sounds great now. I deal with Arizona HiFi, and they are very accommodating, and their repair guy is excellent. The owner, Glen, gives great advice. I got an EMT TD15 from them last year. I'll use them if I ever upgrade my amps or pull the trigger on those O/96's. The takeaway is, if you want to successfully service Shindo gear, be prepared to pay for it. Meanwhile, develop a relationship with a dealer - which means buy something from them. It will help when you need their help.

I had an issue with my first montille that I bought used from ILS. Steve and Jonathan were amazing in helping me work through the issues. I assume it was a shipping mishap. It arrived DOA. I was very upset as I was excited to hear the Shindo Magic. It took about a month (at the most) and I ended up with a brand new montille. I had to pay a little more money as I had bought a used one at first. However I did not pay much. The communication from Steve and Jonathan was great. They earned my loyalty and since then I have given them both a lot of business.

[Vinyljh]

Originally Posted by Jceaves

I'm in New Mexico (no dealer), and I bought my amps as demos from a retiring Colorado Shindo dealer, who assured me that they were under warranty. But upon first use, my "new" Haut Brion broke. Lacking a dealer, I had to work through Jonathan, who informed me that the amp was several years old. He wouldn't warranty it, so I had no recourse but to pay for the shipping to and repair at Shindo Labs in Japan.

When Ken Shindo was alive, he typically did a significant rebuild or "upgrade" on amps needing repair, as he did with my Haut Brion. Jonathan explained that Mr. Shindo liked to bring amps up to date with his current thinking, or with his current available parts supply.

It wasn't cheap and and the whole process was a royal pain in the ass, frankly. In fact, after several months, when the repaired amp arrived from Japan, when I was so hungry to hear the magic, the right channel immediately went out. Off it went to an authorized dealer, Arizona HiFi, for the final fix. It didn't help that Jonathan's bedside manner veered into blaming the patient (or my speakers). Still, I paid him for the faulty Shindo Labs repair before shipping it to Arizona HiFi to demonstrate that I was a legitimate, if not orphaned, customer.

I just want to take a moment to give a reply to this as it seems you may be harboring some bad feelings towards me and your ordeal. The story is missing a few details which might shed some more positive light my way. My "bedside manner" which I do recall offended you, was not about your speakers, it was my quick reply from my iphone. I basically wrote "stop!" after you explained how you had turned the amp on and off multiple times after the failure in hopes it would fix itself. I'd have to go back through the emails to be sure of the details, its been a few years. I then followed up with a full explanation when I got back to my computer just minutes later. Doing what you were doing is highly damaging to an amplifier and my goal was to get you to stop as soon as possible, not to offend you. Again, its been a few years and I don't recall the exact details.

As for speakers- correct, Rega speakers are not compatible with a 20 watt into 16ohms amplifier. All Shindo amps are for 8-16 ohm speakers, preferably high efficiency only. Its not a subjective thing, its an electrical one. Using inefficienct and lower impedance speakers is abusive to the output tubes.

As for the warranty- I believe it was a 5-7 year old amp which came from a defunct dealer. It was not under warranty. In the end, I was out of pocket around $500 for shipping to and from Arizona Hi-Fi plus repair costs, much caused by the on and off multiple times after the failure.

I'm glad you're enjoying the amp and EMT.

Jonathan

[Sancho22]

Thank you all. I am very familiar with the service Porsche provides on older models - hope that audio is in a better shape from this perspective than cars…

My plan was to purchase something from ILS as they were very nice to me when I visited the store and they demoed several speakers/amps for me. I will get a few ICs for sure and will try to get service IF ever needed. I was really thinking just a health check-up at one point. I was expecting to pay for the service of course.

But back to the gear. I do enjoy it very much and have to say my WLM Diva speakers do work very well with the Aurieges/Montille/Arome/Mr T/Aiditorium SUT.

I do hope that at one point I can afford a pair of trade-in o/96 and perhaps upgrade to Masseto and Cortese.

[Jceaves]

Jonathan - I don't harbor hard feelings. In describing my experience for the purposes of illustrating a point, I think I got mired in the memory of the whole thing, and this detracted from my point. Sorry for venting.

I just want to be clear, in case you are still suggesting that I damaged the amp. Perhaps I did exacerbate the malfunction by turning it on again after one of the channels went out, but I didn't cause the primary malfunction or the malfunction immediately after it arrived back from Shindo Labs. As for my speakers, using them was certainly not "abusive". At that time in 2013, I asked Don Better, both a Rega and Shindo dealer, if the speakers could hurt the amp, and he said that they were a relatively even load and posed no risk to the amplifier.

Overall, you were a pleasure to deal with. I do appreciate you paying the shipping cost to Arizona HiFi and subsequent repair bill. I spent around $1500 for the repair/upgrade, and all shipping costs to Japan, which combined with the purchase price was still less than a new Haut Brion, so I was happy.

As you know, I am interested in finally getting proper speakers to match my amp, and I'm considering O/96's, 604's and Petite Latours, and your recommendation to Glen of the new Auditorium 23 line. No, I'm not using the Haut until I get appropriate speakers...

To readers of this thread, I apologize for this diversion from the topic. Despite the inconvenience and expense to repair it, I ultimately got great service from Jonathan, Jim (service), and Glen. I wouldn't have any reservations about using an authorized dealer to repair Shindo equipment, even if you bought it second-hand.

[Sancho22]

Thanks - I will try to do that if/when needed.
I do trust those guys most who have the first hand experience and as I sated before I have no problem paying as long as i know that i can expect quality work.

[Hotzenplotz]

Quality counts!