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Quad 989 repair - California

Does anyone know if I can have my quad 989 repaired in California, Nevada or Arizona?

I had a pair of Quad 989s shipped from England to Palm Springs a couple of months ago. One of the 989s was fizzing and ticking on arrival.

Insurance has refused to pay out on a nice little get out clause (we won't pay for internal damage unless external damage is also evident). This means shipping the speaker to QSandD is NOT an option (they want $750 for shipping alone, not including repair). I could I'm sure find cheaper shipping options but the possibility of more shipping damage concerns me. So I'm looking for somewhere within driving distance of Palm Springs I can take the 989.

I spoke to True Sound in Northern California and they told me to sell the 989s as they are. Is finding someone to repair my 989 really going to be that difficult? If so then True Sound are probably correct, they aren't worth keeping.
growly
acbc
38 posts
 
Hi, you'll be hard pressed to find a better sounding speaker at any price under $15K. I know there are those that say they're shy on base, I don't find that to be true.

Before you bail, contact the repair shops bellow and see if they can help you. Often, they have deals with freight companies that could make the shipping more acceptable.

At the very bottom I included the contact info for the US rep for Quad. From what I understand they also do repairs- that might be a good source for support.

Good luck.

Note: I swapped out the standard power cords with Pangea AC-9's (shielded and low cost)and that did improve base response considerably.

www.qsandd.com/hifi_repair.htm

www.oocities.org/[email protected]/

TAIGA LLC
310 Tosca Drive Stoughton, MA 02072
Mr.Jeff.Sigmund
781-341-1234 ext. 22
[email protected]
fvl
10 posts
 
Very interested in the answer here, since I have a 988 that needs a new panel (QS&D is great, but shipping is painful). I'm in No. Cal. -- did True Sound say they could do the repair?
rottenclam
59 posts
 
Interesting that Nick at True Sound advised you to sell them. I was in his store / shop about 6 years ago, and he had some Quad 63 ESLs on his bench that he was repairing. Perhaps he is not messing with Quads anymore.

Try user 'Kentaja' from Electrostatic Solutions. He is out of Kansas (so shipping would be expensive), but he may be your guy. You may just be out of luck when it comes to a California Quad tech.
growly OP
3 posts
 
Thanks for the reply Acbc. I returned to England for a while and tried to forget about the 989.

I had decided to bite the bullet and ship the 989 to QSandD; but my emails have gone unanswered, my call went to voicemail and they haven't replied to that, and so I've come to the conclusion they are out of business, or disinterested.

I've contacted Taiga, and http://pkant.htmlplanet.com/elstatr.htm
and Electrostatic Solutions today. I will keep my fingers crossed and let you know what happens.
johnsonwu
467 posts
 
FIzzing and ticking upon power on may not be the dreaded panel arcing problem.
It may be as simple as that 220uF Lytic right @ the input that needs a replacement. Lytics do fail over time. Mine did.
Re-doing the panels of course involve expert workmanship and knowleddge. Replacing that cap is a 2 minute job for anyone good with a soldering iron.
Ask around and see if you can get a technician who knows the basics of electronics and spend $10 on that bipolar lytic... (Mundorf ad Madisound or ebay)
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