Great repair service from Spectral

[kennyb123]

I sent my DMA-150 series 2 amp to Spectral two weeks ago to be repaired. They received it on 11/15 - and I got it back on 11/26. Stunning turnaround time - particularly in light of the fact that Thanksgiving occurred during the time they had it. I'm guessing they must have shipped it out to me on the 21st in order to get it to me on the 26th. So that mean that they had it for only 3 full business days.

My amp began experiencing an intermittent popping sound in the right channel a few months back. According to Spectral, this was due to excessive heat. They replaced "heat damaged zener diodes and quad bipolar arrays on both driver channels". They also did a few other things as they said it was their goal to make it sound "equal to or better than when I first got it". This they achieved as it sounds better than it did previously. The bump in performance nearly justifies the repair expense.

In terms of the excessive heat, I live in the Seattle area and don't have air conditioning. The temperature in my listening room can get pretty hot in the summer. So my amp has lived through about ten summers where the ambient temperature exceeded 80 degrees during the day. This was probably a bit too much for it. It was suggested that I power it off when not in use during the summer. I intend to start doing that.

So thumbs up to Spectral for their great repair service!

 

[treitz3]

Thanks for sharing your repair experience with the WBF and welcome to the forum, kennyb123. Enjoy the music!

Tom

 

[1rsw]

I agree, their service is simply outstanding. I had a DMA 180 repaired a year or so ago and my 10 year old amp returned to me in a condition I would be unable to tell from new. This included inside the case and even the box. These guys are the most meticulous crew in the business. All just a bonus to me as for my taste they also make the finest electronics.

 

[Penthouse-D]

Just curious. What was the charge if you don't mind me asking. Thanks!

 

[ack]

My only repair experience was replacing all caps in the power supply and main unit of the SDR-2000 DAC and repairing the heat-damaged power supply, a few years ago; about $300. This is very much in line with the sane pricing of their products.

 

[kennyb123]

Just curious. What was the charge if you don't mind me asking. Thanks!

Spectral has a 3 hour minimum for labor - and labor is $120/hour. I was charged the minimum for labor - plus around $90 for parts - plus the price for return shipping.

 

[Elberoth]

One of the last few sane companies around, where the cost of a product or service still has relation to cost of parts used / time invested.