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Ever since I installed Curcio's quad cap board, my ST70 wouldn't work properly. Naturally, I tried to contact Curcio himself, but he never responded. Over the course of a week and a half, I emailed him emailed him several times and attempted to call him multiple times, but he never responded to help. As a result, I was more than a little worried, with no idea on how to fix my ST70.So I posted here, hoping one of the friendly experts around here could help me. I was not let down. After a few emails, Mike Samra spent over three hours on the phone with me last night. It was a long and confusing process, but Mike couldn't have been more helpful or friendly. He's truly a great guy and an asset to this hobby. He gave his time and effort for no other reason than to help a fellow audio hobbyist that was in need of help.
After all this, I felt I should post here to help others who might be trying to decide which ST70 mods to buy. While Curcio's upgrades sound pretty good, don't expect any help from him if things go wrong. However, you can always find help here, especially from Mike.
Follow Ups:
I've had no problems getting hold of Joe when I've had problems and he's been very helpful, usually within a day or 2. And once I've been in touch he's quick to respond to follow-up questions.As others have said, he's a one man operation and may or may not have a day job. I've always assumed he was a retired engineer or something and does this to keep busy. When he's away, the whole company is away. I've seen long periods where he hasn't answered questions on his message board, and I just assume he's relaxing on an island somewhere (I wish this for myself).
Hi,I'm glad he provided you with good help. Your explanation is plausible and why I have apologized. On the other hand, if he is on vacation or a business trip it seems he should still be able to check his email or at least post a notice saying he will be temporarily unavailable. That way people don't think they have been left out in the cold after they bought his product. In the end, there could be a vast amount of reasons why he did not respond, and I was too quick to pass judgement, but when a several hundred dollar product does not work I get worried, to say the least.
You should not have even needed help to find an open resistor. You should pay Mike for his time and hand holding and if I was him I'd ask for it considering what a short fuse you seem to have. Would you have been bashing Mike if your problem could not have been solved after 3 hours on the phone? If you had gone over to Joe's board here at AA you would have had a response just as fast from someone else and maybe you could have figured something out on your own. If you want full service Joe will gladly give it to you. Send him your amp with a bunch of money and he will return a completely rebuilt amp in return. To bitch when you saved money by DIYing and then bashing Joe when you couldn't DIY is pretty low. DIY is DIY.
John...........
We werent troublshooting for an hour..That took about a half an hour.From my understanding he was only upset when he didnt get a reponse from emails or phone calls after 2 weeks and rightfully so..You should have at least have a message thats says I will get back to and Im sorry for any inconvenience.Not everyone is aware of the curcio forum either..I help anyone whether they buy anything from me or not as I enjoy teaching as its my life's profession now.Anyway how did I get dragged into this? I help anyone and everyone if they are willing the time to learn..He is new to electronics and tube gear so I wanted to make sure he knew the basics.Anyway I realize Joe cant get on the phone with everyone but at least have a message that says go to forum or whatever..Also I wish he would put voltages on the schematic..Even for experienced guys its a PITA having no voltages to reference.
Joe has always answered my emails. And I did encourage you to post on his forum. But I see you have only one post there and it has nothing to do with a cap board. In fact you stated you have a different brand driver board.He also has complete instructions as downloads and they are easy to follow. Plus he has a real day job.
Where did you get the cap board?
Hi,I'm glad you had better luck with him than I did. The post that you mentioned was before I purchased any upgrades and was trying to evaluate my options. I did not try to come across as harsh, but the fact remains I was in need of serious help and never recieve any from him. I tried to contact him several times both on the phone and by email, and I waited a week or so but never got a response. Maybe this is an isolated event, but I feel it is the sellers job to stand behind his product and provide assistance when needed. Sorry if it came off harsh, and maybe it is abnormal for him, but I thought I would share my experience with others. I would want to know instances like this before I bought a product.
Hi.It can happen to any consumers. Glad you get Mike to resolve your burning issues after waiting a whole week biting your nails.
I don't see you have any reason to libel any vendors. Better luck next time.
c-J
I did try and help you down below. If it is the resistor I think when you had pulled the el34's and measured for negative voltage on the grid and found none I could have told you what to do at once.If you post on Joe's forum he will know to look for email from you. It is possible a spam blocker got it. It is also possible he was away on business.
But hey, all is well that ends well and I am glad Mike was able to help.
I just noticed the post..He got his driver and PS board from curcio but he got the 3 tube basic model and apparantly Joe brought the price down and the Power supply board isnt too bad.There was a resistor that opened on the new PS board..I wish Joe would put voltages on the schematic of the boards..Phillip is new to tube audio and I didnt want him to get discouraged like many do..
It was kind of you to spend the time.I just hate to see good guys get bashed on an open forum when it looks like little effort was made. He hadn't made any posts about this on Joe's forum. Joe includes better info when you pay for the stuff and even gives you a password where you can download more in depth info. But hey, if Joe gave you the voltages his intellectual property isn't protected at all. Not that many couldn't figure it out or get close enough anyhow but you can't blame Joe for not giving it all away for free.
Russ
come on now thats a little far fetched..Its not like you cant copy the board but I think it would solve a lot of issues if he would post the voltages..I mean someone with a working board could measure and post them but why should they have to? I got a schematic from cary for the AES amps and it has voltages posted as well as stuff from mac and audio research and many others..This being DIY would be wise and I think it would condense a lot of issues here and I think it would cut down the guess time..Remember I was helping the guy 700 miles away over the phone and I didnt have to reference.I figured joe ought to be happy someone stepped in..I do this for Roy at VTA who also posts voltages on the schematic.
IMHO, if they aren't willing to accept the greenhorn with the veteran, they shouldn't be in the business. That is part of the business.Barriers to entry are low, competition is fierce and differentiation is only so-so, so this doesn't make for a compelling case for high salaried business. If you don't expect to make janitors wages, then one should question your understanding of simple economics.
Hi.Failing to provide prime information, e.g. key voltages in the schematic that comes with the DIY kit is a legal fault or professional neglegence committed by the vendor. A consumer gets the case to file a complaint to the local consumer council.
Thanks goodness, the DIY manuals provided with the stock PS-2 & ST-70 which were donated to me, provide all key voltages & adjustment infos. So I had no problem in turning these two 50-year young vintage gears inside out & outside in to transform their disgusting vintage sound to some level of musical virvana which I love.
Is this a good example of good supplier service??
Should the poster's allegation be true, which I have no reason to doubt as a consumer (pending to the answer-back of that ST-70 board vendor), I would promise myself & whover interested, this vendor would be the last supplier I would ever spend a penny on.
c-J
PS: I don't want to imagine what commercial motive was behind this ommission of key voltages & alighment info which should always come with any DIY kits as a matter of course.
Funny how you admit to never buying any of his products yet you are certain he fails to give the needed info. Rest assured it simply isn't true. If you go to the web site you can download a schematic for free that does not include values. But when you buy the product you are given that info. So stop bad mouthing someone when it is clear you have no first hand knowledge.I'll include a link to the cap board instructions, which are free to everyone, and you can cleary see the voltages are listed (page 9). While I don't expect it from you, someone should admit they were wrong.
Funny how you bashed me for being personal when you seem to be going out of your way to personally bash someone with a long time reputation and which you admit you have no experience with. I encourage you to spend a minute to check facts before throwing stones.
Russ
Hi.Reputation is to earn, but NOT to take for granted.
A single bad case of customer service, say this alleged incident, can bring down an established business' reputation & goodwill if proven true.
The link you posted already proved the poster's complaint is justifiable. Where is the schematc of the driver board & where are
are voltages stipulated in the schematic?Nothing else are there technically related to the driver board iself except the voltages already mentioned in the original Dynakit DIY manual since day one (page 9).
Is it not the job of any designer/supplier to supply the schematic with key voltages for assemblers to check out the performance of the completed kit??? Commercial smoke mirrors or design secrets or what?
Should all these vital info be already there, you think the poster still wanted to solicit help from the supplier & needlessly went through all these frustration? Would you?
Obviously what is provided in the 15-pages installation manual is not comprehensive enough, at least to the poster here. What is worse is he got no response after one week's trying to contact the supplier. If you were him, you still think this were OK????
My question to you: What is your sense of value? Why you still speak for someone who is not doing thing right? Is it another 'great' example of yours going too personal given you might have known the supplier personally????
c-J
I agree..Especially when you consider that so many are beginners and when someone as you or me that have been doing this for ages have trouble what is the poor schluck going to do that has no experience.
Hi.Let's be honest. Are there many DIY vendors who really worry about their customers being a greenhorn or a veteran when they make a sale? Do they really want to retain the same eagerness to render free after-sale service like they make a sale to the customer?
As a consumer, let's hope similar bad experience as alleged by the poster, who is a student beginner, would not occur so often.
But in this realworld marketplace......
c-J
jack
I must admit you are correct..Its like when you buy a new car,the salesman is there telling you the wonderful attributes of the new car and if you buy this new mustang convertible your going to get laid by every gorgeous girl from here to nyc and get free oil changes to boot and first in line for service.Then when it doesnt work out or you have a problem,this once energetic salesman is now out to lunch pounding down fuzzy navals or martinis and when you call,he doesnt remmember you..Its the way the of world I guess..Im glad I have a different attitude than most.The salesman sold you the car but he has to make another sale to pay his light bill and buy groceries..I have a deep passion for this hobby as you do and even tho I have a permanent job not doing this,I still find time to help anyone getting into this hobby.I love doing it.
The reason I was so impressed with Philip is,he is 23 years old and how many times have we said young kids today dont know about tubes and dont care to learn about tubes?..If we were to discourage him like he was discouraged,he would exit the hobby real fast..As it is now he can introduce it to his friends of his peer group.It may not seem like a big deal,but it is because the more people that get into the art of vacuum tubes,the more resoruces and tube gear there will be to choose from.It all works out.
.
Hi again,I was not trying to bash anyone, just share my experience. I feel I made plenty effort to contact Curcio, and I worked for days on my own trying to fix the problem. I must admit the product is good and the directions were pretty straight forward, but that wasn't the issue. I never posted on his forum because I was frustrated by his lack of response and decided to go elsewhere. If I offended someone I am sorry, it was not my intention to bash or start a controversy, only to share my experience and thank the person who helped me.
> I was not trying to bash anyone, just share my experience.I think what you posted was entirely appropriate. At the very least, relating a bad experience certainly doesn't make you the villain. I wish more people would do the same.
Amen TK..Its only fair, Thanks
Hi.Imagine the 'victim' poster is still a student, spending hundreds of bucks hopefully to get something going, but ended up with frustration after one week of solicitation in vain.
Put yourself in this poster's shoes. Try to imagine the frustration he went through. He is damn lucky to get hold some Mike who resolved his issue right-a-way.
A friend in need is a friend indeed. Lip service is cheap.
Hi.for my projects, tube or SS regardless.
What a pain to solicit help from those vendors who put money above any back-up service.
Apart from the fact that Joe has been quite helpful and informative in my case, it's a simple fact that a lot of people in audio are effectively one person businesses - there isn't the money to employ staff. People have lives, and emails can go unanswered for numerous reasons - holidays, health, temporary stuff. There has to be some backup, but it's not like it's the Health Service where you need instant access.
I appreciate the info you gave here, if my emails went unanswered for a product I bought, I'd be really pissed and bashing away. If I pulled this with my clients, I'd be looking for a new job. While I woulndn't neccessarily expect 24 hr service, I would rightfully expect a reply in at least a couple of days, either personal or an indication of vacation/family problems, etc. Being left out to dry is asking for a bad rep, and deservedly so...
Hi,I must admit I might have been too quick to pass judgement on Curcio myself, and I did not mean for it to come off as harsh as it did. I did not realize he had another job, from the letter he included with my order it sounded as if CAE was his only job. It is possible he was caught up with other work, but I still think he had plenty of time to respond. Regardless, all is well now thanks to Mike, and if I offended someone I hope they accept my apology.
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