Plinius amp repair in Michigan


I have used Plinius SA102 amp with CD-LAD preamp, and recently with M16 preamp which I recently obtained for its phono.
The amp suddenly shut off when I manually changed the input of the preamp from CD to phono. It worked just fine when the input was changed with the remote.
After that, the right channel went completely dead. After that, when I raise the volume at the moderate level, the left channel shuts off. The left channel is still alive though.
The preamp works fine with another power amp I have (much less amp).
So, I need to get the amp serviced. The problem is, the closest Plinius dealer does not repair the amp. I contacted Plinius service in New Zeeland via email for suggestions of any nearby service center, but I've got no response.
I live 100 miles north of Detroit, MI. Can anybody suggest me somebody who can repair Plinius in Michigan? Or maybe in Ohio, Indiana, or Chicago area? I don't want to ship this heavy amp.
Many thanks for your help.

128x128ihcho
Contact Audiogon user droleg for the name, address, etc of who he sent his Plinius amp to for upgrades. I can’t remember the gentleman’s name, but it might be Vince.
Many thanks for all the suggestions. I prefer not to ship it, but I guess there seems to be no place in Michigan where Plinius amps can be serviced. I might try the one in Chicago.
Ralph Abramo has taken over for Vince as the Plinius warranty tech. He bought Galbo Designs and does the Galbo mods. The two are old friends. I can attest from the mods he did on my SA103 that Ralph does excellent work.

https://www.pliniusrepairs.com/
Many thanks for your response.
I contacted Galbo design and I just got a response from Ralph. I might need to send my amp to him.
Could you tell me about your SA 103 repair?
It will weigh about 100 lbs with packing, and I guess it would cost over $100 for shipping. I am not sure whether I still have the original box.
Hi ihcho,
I bought a used SA103 here on Audiogon a few years ago. It arrived with a noisy right channel, so I contacted the Plinius importer for repairs, who put me in touch with Vince. Vince told me about the suite of mods he had developed over years of working with these amps (he was the original importer of the brand), called the Galbo Ultimate Upgrade, or something similar. It entailed replacing many of the caps and resistors. I think it was $1,500.

Not only did this upgrade fix my noisy channel, it substantially improved the amp, which I found very good but a little bottom-heavy before, and a little lacking in HF extension. After the modes, it was more balanced, transparent, and extended on top and bottom, while retaining the liquid mids I liked about it to begin with. Ralph actually did the work.

Earlier this year, one channel stopped switching into Class A, so I contacted Vince, who told me he’d sold the biz to Ralph. Ralph fixed the problem (a bad relay, unrelated to the earlier mods). He also upgraded the power supply with new and much better caps, something that was not part of the first Upgrade. This new mod further deepened and tightened the bass, further extended the highs, and gave the overall sound more coherence. I’m very happy with the improvements.
I hope this helps.
Bill
http://www.soundsclassic.com

All your our problems will be whisked away. 

Enjoy your newly refreshed amp.
fairly close in Rockford,Illinois. 
Worth the trip, they did an amazing job on my Sunfire 600.
highly recommended. 

My black SA100 MKIII amplifier was fully rebuilt and upgraded with the Ultimate Upgrade option by Ralph Abramo, Plinius Repairs.  This Ultimate Upgrade included the standard rebuild which includes: 1) New audiophile electrolytic capacitors; 2) Low ESR power supply capacitors; 3) New relays; 4) New switches; and 5) New adjustment variable resistors rebuild. The Ultimate Upgrade also included the second level upgrade which includes replacing the power supply rectifiers with low noise fast switching types and using special Nichicon Gold Standard power supply capacitors in the output stage. Along with the aforementioned power supply improvement there is the addition of four special low ESR Nichicon Gold Standard power supply capacitors physically added to the power supply circuit on a shelf that resides inside the amp. These caps are mounted with special capacitor clamps and are directly wired to the main board with 14 gauge Cardas Litz wire. These additional caps help the amp open up and produce a more detailed and resolved bass and transient response. Additionally Class A relays were installed on the main board which shorten the audio signal path of the Class A circuit. Prior to this upgrade, to engage Class A, you must use the front switch to move from Class AB to Class A. By design the audio signal travels by this wire to the front switch and back to the amplifier driver stage.  By adding a relay to the main board on each channel at the driver stage and using the front switch to engage the relay, the signal path for Class A is shortened resulting in less noise, virtually no signal loss and improved transient response. All power supply and rail supply bypass capacitors were replaced with high quality Audience AuriCaps XO for their ability to shunt parasitic AC noise to ground therefore reproducing cleaner high frequency detail. This upgrade included adding a blue LED to the front panel, same color as power LED, next to the Class A switch, that illuminates when the amp is in Class A, which can lead to savings in energy costs and cut down wear and tear on the amplifier. The IEC connector on the back of the amp was replaced with a Furutech Rhodium connector and connected to the power supply with high quality Cardas wire.  Additionally, (4) pairs of Furutech speaker binding posts were installed in the place of the factory original binding posts. The resulting sound quality is awe inspiring.

Good to hear your upgrade worked.

I also had the ultimate upgrade for my SA102. M16P preamp is also upgrade. They sound noticeably better than before. 

 

Hayw my Plinius sa100 binding post were replaced with a much better one cost $349 , plus the plate inside were removed we put Audioquest solid core copper.Yes there is improvement.