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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 18, 2007 0:45:04 GMT
It's a pretty poor show, you can choose whether ship it back or stick with it and rectify the problem, but imagine if someone with no electronics knowledge had bought it. Exactly, they'd be pretty much up shit creek without a paddle either shipping it back to France (all 7 kilos of it) or getting it repaired locally..... both UBER expensive. Oh it's worth pursuing and probably worth the money just so I can do an in-depth cautionary warning about buying blind from ebay "high end" audio stores. The seller casque Hi-Fi has offered to give me a full refund if I ship the amp back or give me a (quite substantial) partial refund if I choose to keep it. He also asked me if I could repair it for him if I chose to send it back for a refund or exchange for the T.M.S amp.... pretty fckin' hilarious situation really It's been one of those days xerxes, the amp arrives replete with the "superbe!" valves (as the ad said) yeh, "superbe!" if you class dead valves with oxidised bases a feature. The 6080 was so rotten it parted company with its baseplate Fortunately I had a brand new 6080 and some 5687 to hand....... long story short it ain't fckin' working as it should and I'm well pissed off. Even MORE pissed off to see this guy is now selling them with a starting bid of only 1 Euro! look here It kinda suggests to me there's something a bit iffy about the entire batch of them... they look great but don't work (my personal experience), don't get me wrong, but the one I have has a decidedly "iffy" feel about it.... the entire casque "Hi end" experience has felt "iffy" Sounds great when you do the in and out , shake it all about, with the valves to start her up but there is obviously something very wrong going on under the hood. I've gone for the cut and run, don't throw any more money into it "option" and "High end Casque" have refunded me a fair percentage of the purchase price. If I'd have thrown another additional wad into shipping back to them who knows how much I may have lost in the end. The bastard has just gone down again as I type this (it gets to a certain temperature then shuts down, that is if you can get it to fire up in the first place) I am SO fckin' pissed off with this at the moment you wouldn't believe it. The innards aren't as pretty as the outside, the thing isn't earthed / fused and has the worst soldering I have ever seen, the vast majority of parts have been scorched with a soldering iron (not the business end but their bodies) the board is covered in solder shrapnel ... not too clever.
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Sol
100+
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Chief Technical Numpty
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Post by Sol on Jan 18, 2007 8:40:05 GMT
I've sent pictures of the innards to High end Casque and have a good mind to report this deathtrap to the authorities. I've also sent a few pics to Rick and a couple of other experts in the field, I'll await their reports before I go any further in this thread. You are entitled ot a full refund (including shipping) as per the "distance sellers regulations". Some details about the regulationsBusiness sellers on eBay are subject to legal obligations relating to the type of items being sold and laws that apply to online sales. All business sellers should be aware of the following laws: The Sale of Goods Act 1979 - sellers are responsible for ensuring that any goods they sell on eBay are: - in accordance with the description you have given in the item listing; - of satisfactory quality; and - fit for their purpose. The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 - makes it an offence for sellers to: - apply a false description to any items; or - supply or offer to supply any items to which a false description is applied. The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 apply to sales where no face-to-face contact is made between the seller and buyer. Business sellers on eBay should: - provide clear information about themselves and their items (this information could be contained in their listing or in their "About Me" page); and - provide consumers with a period of seven working days in which the consumer can cancel the contract (often referred to as the "cooling off" period). Under the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2000 the seller must also provide: - the name, geographic address and email address of the seller's business; - details of any relevant trade organisations to which the seller belongs; - details of any authorisation scheme relevant to the seller's online business; and - the seller's VAT number, if the online activities are subject to VAT.
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xerxes
Been here a while!
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Post by xerxes on Jan 18, 2007 12:15:23 GMT
I've been tempted by some of the very pretty looking Chinese manufactured hi-fi kit on Ebay, and to be fair, much of it shows pictures of the innards and looks very well put together.
It may be that your particular amp is a one off, or perhaps the seller got hold of a batch of Ampro amps came from selling off a batch of "seconds"; we'll probably never know.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 18, 2007 15:04:28 GMT
Well, I've decided to send it back and get the full refund. The idea was that I would actually buy a commercial amp and have the pleasure of sitting listening to it, keeping this thing and messing about trying to fix it is more like buying a DIY amp so it's going back.
I could probably fly to France and back cheaper than parcelforce charge to send a bloomin package one way but....... just want to see the back of the thing.
I've got 2 pairs of Brand new Philips 5687WB and 2 brand new General Electric 6080 (all in original boxes / never used) if anyone's interested.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 18, 2007 17:48:06 GMT
I've sent pictures of the innards to High end Casque and have a good mind to report this deathtrap to the authorities. I've also sent a few pics to Rick and a couple of other experts in the field, I'll await their reports before I go any further in this thread. You are entitled ot a full refund (including shipping) as per the "distance sellers regulations". Some details about the regulationsBusiness sellers on eBay are subject to legal obligations relating to the type of items being sold and laws that apply to online sales. All business sellers should be aware of the following laws: The Sale of Goods Act 1979 - sellers are responsible for ensuring that any goods they sell on eBay are: - in accordance with the description you have given in the item listing; - of satisfactory quality; and - fit for their purpose. The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 - makes it an offence for sellers to: - apply a false description to any items; or - supply or offer to supply any items to which a false description is applied. The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 apply to sales where no face-to-face contact is made between the seller and buyer. Business sellers on eBay should: - provide clear information about themselves and their items (this information could be contained in their listing or in their "About Me" page); and - provide consumers with a period of seven working days in which the consumer can cancel the contract (often referred to as the "cooling off" period). Under the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2000 the seller must also provide: - the name, geographic address and email address of the seller's business; - details of any relevant trade organisations to which the seller belongs; - details of any authorisation scheme relevant to the seller's online business; and - the seller's VAT number, if the online activities are subject to VAT. Applicable if you buy from a UK seller, yes, but not so if you buy from another country.
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Sol
100+
loves motorcycles !
Chief Technical Numpty
Posts: 135
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Post by Sol on Jan 18, 2007 22:15:35 GMT
Applicable if you buy from a UK seller, yes, but not so if you buy from another country. IIRC French? They'll have the same rules guaranteed ... Europe and all that.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 18, 2007 22:32:51 GMT
Applicable if you buy from a UK seller, yes, but not so if you buy from another country. IIRC French? They'll have the same rules guaranteed ... Europe and all that. The guy's been pretty OK so far and I think he'll pay for the return shipping without having to quote the sale of goods act to him. If I were sending the amp back cause I didn't like the sound then fair enough, return carriage should be down to me, but sending something back that's broken is an entirely different ball game. You know, I'll be glad to see the back of that big lump of wood... as nice as valve amps may sound I don't want something the size of a breeze block sitting next to me giving off the same amount of heat as a kiln. Stupid me only went and bought a load of new valves for it as well (before it arrived) so it's now a case of either waiting and finding a better example of a valve amp that uses 5687WB or selling them. I can tell you though, it's a bad feeling when something arrives and doesn't work.... even more so when it comes from abroad and weighs a ton.... I'll definitely stay well clear of the Buy it now button for a while A lot to be said for being able to go into a shop, seeing the item and purchasing.... any problems just walk back in with it.... this online purchasing (especially with delicate items like heavy valve amps) can turn in to a bit of a nightmare if things go tits up.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jan 18, 2007 22:40:59 GMT
that don't sound good at all, imagine someone without the spare tubes and know how. that'd be total frustration indeed. how much did that AMPRO cost you ? A couple of hundred quid, another sixty smackers on valves and forty notes for the return fare to France so I've forked out about three ton on the "experience" so far. I tell you, that "buy it now" button can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands. Fortunately this is my first purchase that's gone pear shaped and (touchwood) will hopefully be my last......
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Jan 19, 2007 0:14:34 GMT
sorta tells me the amp is a rebranded "mystery amp" from the orient.Most are very pretty,use the right parts and even upscale passives (even if many times counterfits) but that way too many times are either badly designed,unreliable or both. The fact is tube gear is costly because of the voltages involved (200VDC rated parts and up depending on design) so when I see an amp that costs less than I can even build a amp power supply for I have to wonder how they can build an entire amp,use what are aprraently the best parts then wrap it all up in an uscale chassis my question is "how ?"
Another case of all show and no go-pretty but no "oompa"
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rickcr42
Fully Modded
Rest in peace my good friend.
Posts: 4,514
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Post by rickcr42 on Jan 19, 2007 1:58:59 GMT
Try this guy mikester.Will drive your Senns and won't break the bank doing it and makes a dandy preamp
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 29, 2008 17:39:46 GMT
I've still got those 5687's Rick
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Post by leporello on Mar 30, 2008 10:49:06 GMT
I was thinking of buying the TMS T100 Mk II and I came here to seek advice. So thanks Mike for posting your experience and saving me a load of grief. I'm tempted to try a tube amp and may give the Xcan V8 a whirl when and if some decent reviews have appeared.
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leo
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Post by leo on Mar 30, 2008 11:55:44 GMT
Totally missed this thread but wonder what was used for the heater supply, sounded like it didn't have the current to fire all the valves up at once so you have to remove one to give it chance to charge up
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 30, 2008 12:28:55 GMT
That Ampro thing was a death trap Leo! I'm not joking it got so hot it would take the skin off your fingers, there was also a most pungent aroma of some type of industrial grade paint emitting from it. A beautiful looking amp on the outside but an absolute MESS under the hood I think the guy that put it together must have been out of his head on something
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leo
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Post by leo on Mar 30, 2008 12:34:29 GMT
Hmm, as a guess probably the traffo buckling under the load, could have been that getting the top plate so hot rather than the actual valves Transformers can be a bit whiffy when they get too hot especially the varnish
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