Hegel Design Flaw?

I have a Hegel H-30 amp, and only have enjoyed and experienced outstanding customer service. I love my amp, and it produces great sound, I feel its a good value..occasionally some components fail on almost all manufacturers gear..I feel my Hegel has been very reliable and well built. Sorry you are having problems, and a different outcome. Has your dealer been helpful? How old is your amp?

Mribob,

Whenever products work as expected then talking about not standing behind the product or not giving good customer service is a moot point. But when things go wrong that's when you may find out things you would rather not have found out.

You stated, "... occasionally some components fail on almost all manufacturers gear." I agree. As I stated earlier, what I am reporting must be a rare failure. But when it does happen -- as your post indicates, these things do happen with all manufacturers -- one would expect at least a modicum of courtesy, sympathy and respect from the manufacturer after paying many thousands of dollars for their product. One would also expect the manufacturer to stand behind their product. Before this case I had never seen any manufacturer who, when things turned bad, refused to take any responsibility and were abusive to the customer. These are the only points I am trying to make here.

Couple years ago I bought brand new Hegel amp (HS4A). from the first time I plugged it in, it started to develop smell coming from the unit. In spite of my concerns and complains, Hegel kept saying it is normal and nothing should be done. Eventually (after about 400 hours of use with smell still present) I sold this amp.

Denon1,

Thanks for posting your story about Hegel. I find it interesting that this happened to you -- and that Hegel had an excuse not to back their product, as in my own case. You have confirmed something important here regarding Hegel, IMO.

Their excuse in my case: they insisted there was something wrong with my system -- that it was impossible there was a problem with their amp! They said I needed to dismantle my system to find out what was preventing the H20 from integrating with it. I found this very strange. In all the years, I have never had a single problem with "integrating" any component from any other company. And that means dozens of components from dozens of well-known companies.

Sorry it was not posted -- I stated the problem in an earlier post that was deleted. The problem was one channel producing distorted sound or no sound at all. Hegel first hung up on me calling my case "bulls**t". Then they agreed to talk to me to try to help "in whatever way we can". But after 45 minutes on the phone with their customer service manager they refused to help -- in any way.

Have you tried not running the H20 in a series with the Atma-Sphere S30 and Paul Speltz ZERO-Autoformers?