1. Home
  2. amps-preamps
  3. 197738-177593

Bel Canto REF600 m amp reapir costs- exorbitant ?

I have a pair of REF600m, I took them out of my system for a month and when I hooked them back up one is dead. No green light, no music. Oddly there are no fuses or breakers in the amp ! Google shows that there are known problems with the power supplies going bad on these. I sent them both in to get looked at- they emailed me today that yup, one needs a new power supply- for $695- and they suggest doing the other one too as it'll probably go next. $1500 to repair two amps with known issues - and the amps are only worth $2800 if I were to sell them. Looking inside the amp there aint much hardware, $700 a power supply sure seems steep- and I'm really stuck. Don't fix them and they're useless, fix them and have a fortune sunk into a pair that aren't worth much. It's like I'd have to spend $1500 to make them saleable for $2500 just to dump them. I would have expected either a free replacement for a known problem or a low cost flat rate repair. I was expecting perhaps $350 each amp. Am I unreasonable? Ignoring the fact that I don't think they should have failed at all, ever. Signed: Unhappy and not buying anymore Bel Canto. 

speedthrills
waynefia
192 posts
 

@thecarpathian 

Exactly. My experience of late is offshore companies like LAIV for example, have much better customer service than many US companies I have dealt with. LOL the very first audio product I ever purchased , many moons ago. A Fisher Reciever I bought new, when they were still made in the US, lasted one month, the transfomer blew, and I waited 6 weeks to get it back. At least they covered it under warranty.

mapman's avatar
mapman
23,589 posts
 

Also can share I bought a Topping DAC open box off Amazon recently that was missing the remote.  I contacted Topping customer service via Amazon and they promptly and efficiently sent me a remote from China (with absolute top notch tracking along the way) that arrived in a week, just as promised.

FWIW.  YMMV.  Good customer service can come from anywhere at any time.  Same for bad.  

mapman's avatar
mapman
23,589 posts
 

My inclination is to always buy American given a competitive choice case by case whenever possible, even if paying a reasonable premium to do so, but financially this is not realistic or sustainable for most, I fear.  THose who can afford luxury items like expensive hifis are probably much less affected than the general public who struggle just to get by day to day.

speedthrills OP
215 posts
 

The update is that it took them a day or two to respond to my email request for a price break. They offered to do one amp for $695 and the other for $350. Borderline still but I thanked them and told them to go ahead with the repairs on both. I stil wish it were a lot less but I was kind of stuck and not in control. At least now they'll both be essentially new and if/when I sell them I can say as much. 

More to discover