Quote:
"Give the Laurel a try and just return it if it doesn't work out."Welborne Labs discontinued it's 30 day audition policy on assembled products for this VERY reason. Too many people were buying our amps just to see if they had enough power to drive their inefficient speakers! They weren't auditioning the amps for their **sound quality**, they just wanted to see if the Laurels could drive their Martin Logan CLS speakers.
I think many of you have lost sight of the fact that most of us SE Amp manufacturers are very small, underfunded and understaffed companies. We don't have 10, 20, 50 or 100 amps already assembled and waiting in the warehouse for your order(s). In fact it's just the opposite, most of us assemble a product as we receive an order from the customer or dealer. And so I personally grew very tired of sucking solder fumes at 1AM in the morning for some ungrateful customer that would eventually return the product soley because it wasn't enough power for their speaker. I truly felt I was being used and taken advantage of.
I think if you do some investigating you will find that most of us SE amp manufacturers are really more interested in our customers being satisfied with a product than we are in making as a sale for the sake of making a sale. And therefore you will find us more willing to take the time to consult with you PRIOR to the sale. In fact we make ourselves very accessible via the phone, e-mail and user forums like this one. Call up Bottlehead, Inc. and you can talk to Dan Schmalle. Call up Art Audio and Joe Fratus will most likely answer the phone. Call up Wavelength Audio...and yep, you'll be talking to Gordon Rankin. Call up some of the big name companies that specialize in 200 watt push pull amps and see if you recognize the name of the sales/technical support person on the other end of the line.
I personally will not sell an amp to a customer if after consulting with him I determine that his speaker is not a good match. BTW, this goes for the kits too. And because of this I know I have turned away many a discouraged customer because they REALLY wanted one of my amps!
But in the past, I had too many customers that weren't totally honest about the speakers they planned to use or they would order the amp online without consulting with me and two weeks later want to return it because "the Moondogs just weren't enough power for my Quads". "Well hell, If I had known you were using Quads, I never would have sold you the amp..." I have said....and thus, the 30 day audition period was history at Welborne Labs.
So please, don't purchase an SE amp just to see if it has enough power for your speakers. Do your homework before you make a purchase. Consult with the AMP MANUFACTURER before you buy their product. Borrow a friend's SE amp to see if it will drive your speakers. It doesn't have to be the same model or brand...if an 8 watt Welborne Labs amp won't drive your speakers, an 8 watt Wright Audio or Wavelength Audio amp isn't going to drive them either.
Please take a moment to consider the amount of time, money and effort an SE amp manufactuer will spend processing your order just so you can find out if 8 watts is enough power for your speakers. And then put yourself in our shoes and see if you'd mind going through this process a half dozen times each month.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox now. Sorry for the ranting..
Ron
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