Spectral Repair

[saltydog]

I've owned an SDR-3000 transport and SDR-2000 processor since new. The outboard power supply for the SDR-2000 is out. Spectral won't fix it, they say it's too old. They said just go drop $20k+ for an SDR-4000SV. Does anyone know of an independent repair service that would be able to tackle this?

 

[saltydog]

Fixed!!! One of the 6 internal fuses was open (not blown). Now to figure out what to do with the $20k I just saved, haha.

 

[dan31]

Great news! Enjoy that DAC.

 

[PGA]

It's a shame that a supposed premium brand, like Spectral, does not provide better support. I even remembered when HD formats were coming out that they wrote a white paper on the upgradability of the SDR 2000. Never happened ... Disappointing because it has some of the best internal DACs ever made. At the time I was drinking all the Kool-Aid with a full 2C-3D system. SDR 2000/3000, DMA 360s, DMC-30, ASC traps all over my room, MIT cables and power conditioning ... But poor reliability and lack of service convinced me it was time to move on.

 

[saltydog]

Actually the 2000 power supply wasn't fixed. It fired up but made a ton of noise. My experience with Spectral was very similar to PGA's, so I've sold everything off. Not worth fixing given overall unreliability.

 

[bryans]

It's a shame that a supposed premium brand, like Spectral, does not provide better support. I even remembered when HD formats were coming out that they wrote a white paper on the upgradability of the SDR 2000. Never happened ... Disappointing because it has some of the best internal DACs ever made. At the time I was drinking all the Kool-Aid with a full 2C-3D system. SDR 2000/3000, DMA 360s, DMC-30, ASC traps all over my room, MIT cables and power conditioning ... But poor reliability and lack of service convinced me it was time to move on.

LOL I also went down the 2C3D system path years ago. Incredible resolution and it was great on excellent recorded music. But I found myself listening to maybe 5-10% of my music so I had to move on. I hate to hear this about their support.

 

[jhulton]

Actually the 2000 power supply wasn't fixed. It fired up but made a ton of noise. My experience with Spectral was very similar to PGA's, so I've sold everything off. Not worth fixing given overall unreliability.

I was just about to offer you a power supply for the SDR2000! My DAC died and I am told Spectral won't touch it at least for now.
Jeff

 

[MLAS]

I was just about to offer you a power supply for the SDR2000! My DAC died and I am told Spectral won't touch it at least for now.
Jeff

Do you still have that Spectral SDR2000 psu for sale?

 

[jhulton]

Sorry sold a while ago

 

[MLAS]

I've owned an SDR-3000 transport and SDR-2000 processor since new. The outboard power supply for the SDR-2000 is out. Spectral won't fix it, they say it's too old. They said just go drop $20k+ for an SDR-4000SV. Does anyone know of an independent repair service that would be able to tackle this?

This is insane in my opinion. These items cost a small fortune when bought new. They should be serviced a lifetime for that kind of money.

 

[MLAS]

Sorry sold a while ago

I was late I know. Thanks for your swift answer.

 

[jhulton]

Spectral is a small company. You might try Goodwins's HighEnd in waltham MA.
Pretty sure they will confirm these are too old to fix. "-(

I moved on to Audionet Watt and havent looked back.

 

[MLAS]

I own a Spectral SDR3000 & 2000 combo and a DMC20 pre and now I'm in a kind of struggle because I like their performance a lot but the idea that they let you down when you run in troubles makes me nervous about keeping them.

 

[kennyb123]

It's a shame that a supposed premium brand, like Spectral, does not provide better support.

I am not sure it’s fair to asses how well a company supports their products by whether or not they will repair a two decade old digital product.

It is a typical support practice to have products reach a point where it is no longer possible to for the manufacturer to perform repairs. Manufacturers will try to stock up with enough parts to accommodate repairs for many years but eventually they run out and sometimes there is no way for them to obtain replacements. The manufacturer faces the additional burden of being tasked not only with fixing the components but restoring it to full performance. That’s often why they charge a lot more for out of warranty service. It wouldn’t be fair to their customers to charge that fee unless they could do guarantee restoration to full performance, so that’s why it’s a good business practice to set an end of support life for certain products. This is particularly the case with digital components, especially those that might have been state of the art when they were released.

 

[MLAS]

I am not sure it’s fair to asses how well a company supports their products by whether or not they will repair a two decade old digital product.

It is a typical support practice to have products reach a point where it is no longer possible to for the manufacturer to perform repairs. Manufacturers will try to stock up with enough parts to accommodate repairs for many years but eventually they run out and sometimes there is no way for them to obtain replacements. The manufacturer faces the additional burden of being tasked not only with fixing the components but restoring it to full performance. That’s often why they charge a lot more for out of warranty service. It wouldn’t be fair to their customers to charge that fee unless they could do guarantee restoration to full performance, so that’s why it’s a good business practice to set an end of support life for certain products. This is particularly the case with digital components, especially those that might have been state of the art when they were released.

The starter of this thread complained about the unwillingness by Spectral to help him with his powersupply because it's too old. The powersupply has no exotic parts that the main unit may probably have so they could at least offer some assistance than their blunt reaction. I once had a then 20 year old Mark Levinson ML3 amp with a problem. For 500 USD Madrigal fixed it and I got 40 new transistors, bunch of other new parts and two netfilters installed.
Jeff Rowland and Nelson Pass always offer assistance even with there 40 year products. Krell gives you there schematics of their old series like the KRS-2 preamp. Spectral Audio gives you apparantly nothing other than the advice to buy one of their new offerings.

 

[kennyb123]

Jeff Rowland and Nelson Pass always offer assistance even with there 40 year products. Krell gives you there schematics of their old series like the KRS-2 preamp. Spectral Audio gives you apparantly nothing other than the advice to buy one of their new offerings.

To fairly assess this, the size and profitability of the companies must be factored in. Spectral hasn’t seemed interested in profitability or growth and there are consequences to that. Contrast the websites of these three companies and the size of their dealer networks and it’s clear we aren’t talking apples to apples. This is made even more apparent by contrasting the casework of the products three companies manufacture. I suspect that once you compare Spectral to other companies of their size and profitability you will find their support polices to be commensurate.

Twice I had to send my Spectral amp in for repair because twice I did something stupid. Each time I received excellent support. My amp came back promptly each time. If I recall correctly, I didn’t even have to pay until the amp came back to me. Spectral wanted to be paid COD and I think they told me that they weren’t even set up to take credit cards. At the time they might have had only one guy on staff who did repairs. They are a small comp

I would imagine there are many others who have had great support experiences with Spectral, but the way the internet tends to work is that we hear more from those who are unhappy regardless of whether or not their unhappiness is justified. I think in the case of a 20 year old product, Spectral passing on doing the repair is actually doing the customer a favor as Spectral has set a minimum charge for repair - I think it’s like $500-700. There are more affordable options - especially if it’s true that there’s nothing esoteric about that power supply.

 

[matsurus]

I've owned an SDR-3000 transport and SDR-2000 processor since new. The outboard power supply for the SDR-2000 is out. Spectral won't fix it, they say it's too old. They said just go drop $20k+ for an SDR-4000SV. Does anyone know of an independent repair service that would be able to tackle this?

What an worthless company..

 

[bryans]

To fairly assess this, the size and profitability of the companies must be factored in. Spectral hasn’t seemed interested in profitability or growth and there are consequences to that. Contrast the websites of these three companies and the size of their dealer networks and it’s clear we aren’t talking apples to apples. This is made even more apparent by contrasting the casework of the products three companies manufacture. I suspect that once you compare Spectral to other companies of their size and profitability you will find their support polices to be commensurate.

Sorry I can't agree with you on this one. Even if you are a one man shop one of the biggest values in this hobby is product support. Helping one of your customers figure out a solution should be one of your top priorities regardless of how much money the company is making.

Each time I received excellent support. My amp came back promptly each time. If I recall correctly, I didn’t even have to pay until the amp came back to me.

Yes an excellent feedback should be posted when it happens.

Spectral wanted to be paid COD and I think they told me that they weren’t even set up to take credit cards.

Honestly I have always thought Spectral was a hobby that turned into a company making excellent products during the 2000's. Even when I owned my 2C3D Spectral/Avalon system I felt they really where hobbyist and never really embraced the business side of Audio.

Hopefully the OP @saltydog can find a solution.

 

[kennyb123]

Sorry I can't agree with you on this one. Even if you are a one man shop one of the biggest values in this hobby is product support. Helping one of your customers figure out a solution should be one of your top priorities regardless of how much money the company is making.

The only way small companies can survive is by making smart trade-off decisions. Providing excellent service within the warranty period along with paid support for products up to a decade old might would likely delight 95% of customers who are still the original owners. This might be a smart place to draw the line. What happens when you support even older products is that you begin having to service products that have changed hands. A small company has to decide if it’s worth upsetting customers who paid top dollar buying a brand new product from a dealer because that customer has to wait for a repair because the technician is servicing products that changed hands a number of times. It becomes a zero sum game as there might be only one person on staff who can handle these issues. Hours spent addressing one customer are hours not available to support another, so lines have to be drawn. To try to delight those who held on to 20 year products isn’t a safe bet. Who knows what the technician might find when he pops open the lid.

Bring a 20 year old Mac into an Apple Store in hopes of getting a repair and you will very likely be told that it’s not worth it and it would be wiser to consider buying a newer one instead. Yes I understand that Apple is in a different industry but I still think that is the right answer when we are talking about a 20 year old digital audio product.

There are many excellent power supplies now available for sale to audiophiles. If I had a 20 year old digital product I really liked and I wasn’t just looking to repair it so I could sell it again, I would see if I could substitute an even better power supply. Note for example how folks have been improving the Chord DAVE. Not sure it would even be possible to do something with the older Spectral products, but I think it would be worth looking into. Power supplies have advanced quite a bit in the last 20 years partly because much better parts are now available to designers - like caps and wiring.

 

[bryans]

The only way small companies can survive is by making smart trade-off decisions. Providing excellent service within the warranty period along with paid support for products up to a decade old might would likely delight 95% of customers who are still the original owners. This might be a smart place to draw the line. What happens when you support even older products is that you begin having to service products that have changed hands. A small company has to decide if it’s worth upsetting customers who paid top dollar buying a brand new product from a dealer because that customer has to wait for a repair because the technician is servicing products that changed hands a number of times. It becomes a zero sum game as there might be only one person on staff who can handle these issues. Hours spent addressing one customer are hours not available to support another, so lines have to be drawn. To try to delight those who held on to 20 year products isn’t a safe bet. Who knows what the technician might find when he pops open the lid.

Bring a 20 year old Mac into an Apple Store in hopes of getting a repair and you will very likely be told that it’s not worth it and it would be wiser to consider buying a newer one instead. Yes I understand that Apple is in a different industry but I still think that is the right answer when we are talking about a 20 year old digital audio product.

There are many excellent power supplies now available for sale to audiophiles. If I had a 20 year old digital product I really liked and I wasn’t just looking to repair it so I could sell it again, I would see if I could substitute an even better power supply. Note for example how folks have been improving the Chord DAVE. Not sure it would even be possible to do something with the older Spectral products, but I think it would be worth looking into. Power supplies have advanced quite a bit in the last 20 years partly because much better parts are now available to designers - like caps and wiring.

You have your viewpoint and I have mine. Again I don't agree with Spectral just telling the customer to buy one of their newer products. We are not talking about a computer, we are talking about a power supply.