Advice / Input needed: Shindo Haut Brion repair

[Jceaves]

Unfortunately, I need to get my Shindo Haut Brion amp repaired (humming from left side chassis). My dealer and Jonathan Halpern say it needs to go to Japan. I have their guidance and they have been very helpful. However, I'd like to hear advice and/or experiences from Shindo owners who have actually sent their amp to Japan for repair (the nuts and bolts of shipping, insurance, customs, communicating with Shindo, outcome of repair, etc.).

Thanks!

[TommyC]

Can you ship it off to your dealer and let him/her handle it? That's what dealers are for?

[Wino]

I don't think you gave 'us' enough info to give you any 'intelligent' guidance-

How old is it ? Did you buy it from your 'dealer' ? Is your dealer a Shindo expert ? Why aren't you 'satisfied' w/ Jonathan & your dealer's advise ?

How much do you 'know' about Shindo/tube gear ?

W/o knowing this info & more, all I can say, is that Jonathan will give you proper advise (obviously), + if it's going back 'home', it's going to get updates, etc., too-

We need more info, dammit

David

[Jceaves]

Well, my dealer is helping, but I live in a different state, so the amp needs to ship directly from me to Japan. His name is Randall Marder (Colorado Audiophile Sound and Design) - he retired this fall. He sold almost exclusively Shindo and I think he knows Shindo pretty well.

To answer David's questions, the amp is a 2006 Haut Brion. It was a demo for a while, but got very light usage. None the less, it is out of warranty, since warranties are 1 year from date of purchase. That means a demo is only covered for 1 year after it hits the showroom. I bought it October 13, a few weeks after purchasing an Aurieges with MM Phono from Randall. I am a new Shindo owner, but have owned an Almarro A205A amp for 5 years.

I drove home with the amp after attending RMAF. After arriving home with the amp, I tried the Haut with some Rega R5's - leftovers from an older system, since I don't have high efficiency speakers yet. They are 6 ohm speakers, but my other Rega's have a pretty stable impedance and work well with the flea wattage Almarro. Jonathan Halpern thinks that the speakers could have damaged the Haut Brion due to its impedance. I know that Matt Rotunda has a customer using 5 ohm Reference 3A Grand Venas with a Haut, with great results. However, the Grand Venas have a stable impedance load. I don't know the minimum impedance of the Regas.

At any rate, the amp has this buzz, and doesn't sound stupendous, so it needs repair. My question is less troubleshooting (although I am open to comments), but more to the shipping, customs, interactions with Shindo aspect of the repair. Randall tells me that the last amp he sent to Shindo for repair was thoroughly updated, not just repaired. In this case, I just want the repair to control costs. I am sending a translated note with instructions to simply repair the amp if possible. Hopefully, that will be all that is needed.

Other than that, I hope we make it through customs with no drama or added expense. Again, any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!

[lesmarshall]

I have all Shindo gear, and I am very disappointed that there are no authorized repair technicians in the U.S. for Shindo . Tone Merchants should address this issue , because having to send the amps back to Japan is just not a reasonable option. There have to be some qualified technicians in the US that can service this equipment , and I think Mr. Halpern owes it to his loyal customer base to do his homework and develop some local service alternatives.

[lesmarshall]

Originally Posted by Jceaves

Well, my dealer is helping, but I live in a different state, so the amp needs to ship directly from me to Japan. His name is Randall Marder (Colorado Audiophile Sound and Design) - he retired this fall. He sold almost exclusively Shindo and I think he knows Shindo pretty well.

To answer David's questions, the amp is a 2006 Haut Brion. It was a demo for a while, but got very light usage. None the less, it is out of warranty, since warranties are 1 year from date of purchase. That means a demo is only covered for 1 year after it hits the showroom. I bought it October 13, a few weeks after purchasing an Aurieges with MM Phono from Randall. I am a new Shindo owner, but have owned an Almarro A205A amp for 5 years.

I drove home with the amp after attending RMAF. After arriving home with the amp, I tried the Haut with some Rega R5's - leftovers from an older system, since I don't have high efficiency speakers yet. They are 6 ohm speakers, but my other Rega's have a pretty stable impedance and work well with the flea wattage Almarro. Jonathan Halpern thinks that the speakers could have damaged the Haut Brion due to its impedance. I know that Matt Rotunda has a customer using 5 ohm Reference 3A Grand Venas with a Haut, with great results. However, the Grand Venas have a stable impedance load. I don't know the minimum impedance of the Regas.

At any rate, the amp has this buzz, and doesn't sound stupendous, so it needs repair. My question is less troubleshooting (although I am open to comments), but more to the shipping, customs, interactions with Shindo aspect of the repair. Randall tells me that the last amp he sent to Shindo for repair was thoroughly updated, not just repaired. In this case, I just want the repair to control costs. I am sending a translated note with instructions to simply repair the amp if possible. Hopefully, that will be all that is needed.

Other than that, I hope we make it through customs with no drama or added expense. Again, any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!

I know this sounds obvious, but have you tried testing or changing the driver and power tubes . I have owned a number of valve amp, and most of the issues I have had with them involved blown or microphonic tubes. I would, at least , have the tubes checked before I shipped the amp back to Japan

[dirtbag]

Shindo is no different than any other hand built tube equipment. You can most likely find a qualified tech in your area to at least check it out.
And I agree with Les, shipping it back to Japan should be a last resort.
Why don't you ship it to Tone Imports and let them deal with the rest. Might cost you a bit more but less to worry about.

[Wino]

I agree with Les too, & dirtbag as well-

On one hand (theirs), there must be a tech or two or three that can check out your Haut Brion- It is a design (I believe) that should be easier to repair than many other brands- Also as Les said, test the tubes-

On the other hand, as your dealer Randall said, and my understanding is the same, that any unit going 'home', gets "thoroughly updated, not just repaired", which is not a bad thing ! Of course whichever dealer you send it to, they're going to 'mark up' the repair cost & possibly the shipping too-

BTW, do you have the original boxes ? If they are anything like mine, they are not very great, so you might have to pay to properly box too-

Don't know if this helps...

David

[dirtbag]

I am a bit curious as to what " updated " includes. I'm no expert but
the sales pitch for Shindo always talks about NOS parts and tubes.
These amps are designed around certain parts, how do you update such a simple pc of equipment without changing to different parts.
There are no firmware updates involved here.
Even so I will always trust my Shindo dealer with any major issues because at this price point I believe I will always be taken care of.

[Jceaves]

Well, first off, thanks so much for all of the input. This is a special forum.

I agree that sending amps to Japan is a major affair. The cost is one thing; communicating with Shindo in Japanese is another. Then there is customs, which is a bit of a wild card. If you insure the amp for full value, or anything over $1500, it increases the possibility that the package will get stuck in customs (not sure why - package contents searched or higher customs fees imposed?).

I'm not excited about dealing with any of the aformentioned, but Randall Marder offered to share the repair costs, even though the amp is out of warranty. That makes it easier to swallow. He is really a good guy.

I live in Corrales (next to Albuquerque, NM), and there may be a few old timers that still work on tube electronics here, so perhaps it's worth looking into. However, we only have one audio shop here, so the audiophile community here is obviously pretty small, unable to support much sales and services. If I can find a service shop (or electronics guru) that is well recommended by other tube amp owners here, I'd take a chance and have the amp "diagnosed." Otherwise, I'll just get it done correctly a the source.

Based on my description - the hum on the left side chassis and the sound quality issues - both Jonathan Halpern and Randall thought it was likely a transformer or capacitor problem. Randall briefly considered that a bad tube could be the problem, but when I explained that the hum came directly from the chassis, not the speakers, he concluded that the tubes were probably not the main source of the problem. At any rate, even if they were bad, I believe that the amp needs to return to Japan to get tubes replaced (because Shindo has da good stuff).

If you guys have any specific suggestions about what a local repair shop could evaluate, I'd appreciate hearing them. However, doesn't it make sense that, even if a local shop could isolate the problem, the amp would still probably need a repair at Shindo.