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If ya want something done right...

Posted by slowburn (A) on March 18, 2005 at 23:44:59

Looks like ya still gotta do it your own damn self.

I just solved a year-and-a-half year puzzle in an ARC SP6B preamp. I'll shorten it as best I can. Here's how it ends, though, in case you don't want to read. The Audio Clown on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, Los Angeles does crappy, crappy work. Anybody who says different didn't look at his handywork.

Not only did he charge me a boatload of money to do I'm-not-sure-what, and not only did his first effort result, within hours, of the preamp's trannie melting, then he tried to charge me nearly $400 extra for that part.

Sensing something wasn't quite right, I called ARC myself, told 'em what part I needed, and had 'em overnight it to me for $170. Imagine the look on the Audio Clown's face when I set that trannie down on his counter and asked him to kindly fix the job he'd started SIX WEEKS ago.

He busied hisself for another TWO MONTHS burning resistors and ICs. I finally camped out there and demanded he give it back, which he did. Got it home, plugged it in, and did not want to admit that the right channel was buzzing. Two days later, called him back, told him about the noise and he said bring it back for round three.

Now mind you, I wanted it done right, but throughout September, October, November, and December he'd said he'd fix it by Friday and I didn't feel like waiting until summer for music. I told him that it was mighty kind of him to take it back AGAIN but that it'd be better for me to bring it in when I was scheduled to be out of town for a few weeks the following month. Self-righteous old-school Audio Clown muttered something about really needing to figure out what was wrong with the thing, doing me right, blah, blah, blah.

Buzzing wrecks my late-night listening sessions for a month or two. I pack my bags for our vacation, disconnect the hifi, drive the preamp back to The Audio Clown. I wait for him to have it out with a customer about something that's been in the shop for months. Customer goes away disappointed, angry, something. I step up to the plate. Clown starts the paperwork and while he's writing regrets to inform me that since he's already put so much work into the thing, (and only charged me $350) he's gonna have to start the meter running again, which begins with another $185 diagnostic charge to figure out what he fucked up the last two times. I leave.

The chase: I just spent the last two hours desoldering ALL of his shitty, gloppy, work. Work? Did I say that? It was an embarrassment. Glops, and I mean glops, of poorly formed solder. All six trannie secondary leads were splayed, pressed into gobs on solder on the underside of the PCB. It took over a FOOT of solder wick to unfuck just those six glops. The leads were untrimmed, jammed into the chassis, crossing signal wires.

I trimmed them, twisted and dressed them, then actually connected them THROUGH the PCB's intended junction holes and made neat solder joints. I could go on and on but this rant's too long already. I worked for another hour, desoldering, trimming, dressing, rerouting, and resoldering. I must have muttered, "pig," two dozen times.

Has this guy no shame? I can see not being able to figure out this preamp's power supply, the sight of the original problem. Fine. That thing's a bitch and that's why I took it there in the first place. I sure as hell couldn't figure it outl. But to make such a mess is to disrespect the work, no? Especially someone who yammers so much about "doing it right," "lost art," and "craftsmanship." My god.

He's lazy, that's what he is. Just plain lazy. He fed me excuses up the wazoo for why he couldn't seem to finish. He couldn't find help. He had the flu. Then a cold. My favorite? He had to wait for parts. Parts? He had to wait weeks, months, for parts?

When I finally tore the preamp from his chubby fingers months later I asked to see these defective parts, the ones he'd removed. He sheepishly produced a tiny envelope with a couple burned resistors and ICs. Friggin' things are on the shelf a couple miles away at Electronic City in Burbank! Waiting for parts? HAH! Lazy, lying ne'er-do-well.

Anyhow, I finished redoing all his terrible work tonight, plugged it in, and guess what? Quiet. Dead friggin' quiet. If you have to use Studio City's finest, tell him in advance that you're gonna inspect his work and you expect that for that kind of money, it better be done right.

Still burns my ass about that transformer, too. Putting the bite on me for another four bills in spite of pickpocketing me for over three already. And after HIS WORK torched the thing in the first place! I mean, really, it filled the house with smoke, scared my wife half to death. Jesus Christ, you should've seen that thing. It friggin' melted. Melted! Now I ask you: what in god's name do you have to do to do that to a transformer in that beast? Screw something up, don't ya think? You'd think that'd be embarrassing enough. But no. He had the nerve to try to pinch me for $400 when the part your work wrecked cost $170?

I can't wait to drive past there next time. I'm gonna stop and have a word with him. No wonder he's got that security buzzer on the front door. There's probably dozens of guys like me wanting to get at him.

Oh, and I feel extra bad about one more thing. In the interim, while I was listening to his buzzing and didn't realize that it belonged to him, necessarily, I took my pal there. Said friend had a solid state amp with a problem that I couldn't help him with. Friend and Clown cut a deal to simply swap for another receiver he had in the for-sale pile. My friend took it home, hooked it up, and it sounded like shit. I was standing there and it was embarrassing. Four months and FOUR DIFFERENT receivers, dozens of lame excuses and missed repair completion dates, he's finally got one that works. Mostly. He's done going back to Studio City, though.

I could kick myself. What was I thinking? He seems to honest. Maybe he is but he's also a goof. Stay away unless you're a glutton for punishment. I hope that I've finally kicked the habit.

His mother seems so nice, too. Never heard a woman make so many excuses for a grown man, though.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

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