Cary Audio - Sad experience

[Varail]

It is like this analogy to me. I have a flat tire. I have a tire repair guy call the tire maker and ask what to do. They tell me to cut a hole in the side of the tire which will let the air back in and it won't be flat.

I cannot imagine them telling someone that and confirming it. If they did, I also cannot imagine a tire repair guy actually following their instructions. If the customer insisted I'd advice them to get in writing before cutting into the tire the tire maker will replace the tire if it doesn't work because it is not going to work.

Pretty bad analogy if you ask me since the person who had the mission to solder the jumpers as Cary instructed didn't cut or did anything to the tire.
He acknowledged the situation and send the ball back without interfering in anyway with its functionality.
The item was working just fine when he receive it and still working fine after.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Pretty bad analogy if you ask me since the person who had the mission to solder the jumpers as Cary instructed didn't cut or did anything to the tire.
He acknowledged the situation and send the ball back without interfering in anyway with its functionality.
The item was working just fine when he receive it and still working fine after.

The part analogous to cutting into the tire would be when he or you plugged it into 220 volts. It was bound to go bad at that point. Cary should have known that, and your tech should have known that.

I'm not blaming you. It is a strange and for you unfortunate situation.

 

[Varail]

The part analogous to cutting into the tire would be when he or you plugged it into 220 volts. It was bound to go bad at that point. Cary should have known that, and your tech should have known that.

I'm not blaming you. It is a strange and for you unfortunate situation.

What is done is done.
Looking back it was fortunate I lost just the unit and not die or even worse die and the building get on fire after it.
Im in a very good scenario considering..

 

[voodooless]

I'm no attorney, but how can EU warranty law cover an item never sold new in the EU, shipped into the EU 2nd hand where the manufacturer does not do business? We also don't know if it is 4 years old or 20 years old. The OP purchased it from someone 4 years ago.

Do we know that it was bought outside of the EU? Was it bought from a company or a private person?

.. there is still quiet a bit of info missing.

 

[Varail]

Do we know that it was bought outside of the EU? Was it bought from a company or a private person?

.. there is still quiet a bit of info missing.

Private from outside EU.
The unit however worked without issues all this time. I felt it was a good idea to get rid of that pesky converter ..

For the record I gone through a similar situation with an Elekit TU8200 amplifier however Mr Viktor Kung
provided the right info and I managed to swap the unit from 110V to 220V successfully.

 

[tomtoo]

Private from outside EU.
The unit however worked without issues all this time. I felt it was a good idea to get rid of that pesky converter ..

Yes, shit happend. Dont you know someone that can look over the amp?

 

[Varail]

Yes, shit happend. Dont you know someone that can look over the amp?

Eventually I will. I feel a bit drained of energy right now to get on it again.

 

[tomtoo]

Eventually I will. I feel a bit drained of energy right now to get on it again.

Its maybe just a fuse. Going deeper in this law, conversation shit is maybe much more painfull. I would someone with knowledge have a look over it. With a littel luck the trouble is gone in 10min. and 50 euro investment

 

[Varail]

Im already at ease with taking all the loss but I find it funny you are circling around me instead not finding weird I was being denied a phone/video call with Cary

 

[tomtoo]

Im already at ease with taking all the loss but I find it funny you are circling around me instead not finding weird I was being denied a phone/video call with Cary

No no no. I only see a problem, and try to find a easy solution for you. Who to blame for is for me as importend as that prominent back of rice in china.

 

[Varail]

Cary told me I had to solder jumpers so if I would have been familiar and had the soldering iron I would have done it myself and once I would have noticed everything was already in place I would have turn back telling them the situation and ask for directions to reach the same ending.

This is how it looks like.
The jumpers are at 12 under the 2nd red thingy

 

[raindance]

It is so simple that a qualified tech should have been able to figure it out without instructions.

There is a lack of logic in this whole process. If it works with a converter from 220 to 120 volts, and then you do NOTHING to it and plug into 220 volts, of course it will blow up. Obviously. It is sad that the manufacturer wasn't helpful, but any competent tech could have figured this wiring out with no need of manufacturer directions.

 

[Dial]

These are the problems that can arise when importing devices. I will be curious to know what are your rights in this situation. I am afraid probably not many, but please let us know.

I still own an old Fisher 7000 preamp (made by Sanyo) paid $65 and there is a voltage selector on the back panel...

 

[levimax]

Cary told me I had to solder jumpers so if I would have been familiar and had the soldering iron I would have done it myself and once I would have noticed everything was already in place I would have turn back telling them the situation and ask for directions to reach the same ending.

This is how it looks like.
The jumpers are at 12 under the 2nd red thingy


View attachment 213925

Is the an "after" picture? If so I don't see any obvious damage from burning parts. I agree with @tomtoo .... it might be easy to fix.

 

[classy cheapo]

The unit however worked without issues all this time. I felt it was a good idea to get rid of that pesky converter ..

Man, first rule of the tech world is: if it ain't broke, don't fix it

 

[Roland68]

This is going to be a bit longer than I would like (not a native english speaker either so bear with me)

I live in EU. That means we use 220V and not 110V.
I bought a Cary-HH1 (1.6k MSPR unit) amplifier from US. In order to stop using an 110V to 220V converter I sent an email to Cary Audio asking if there is a way to
switch the amplifier to 220V.

Mr X (Cary Audio) told me I should solder some jumpers on an A layout.

I asked a technician to get a look inside and fix it as Mr X suggested.
The tech guy removed the case and told me there is nothing to be done since the jumpers are already on the A layout

1. At this point I sent an email To Mr X telling him the jumpers are already as he told me to - A layout
Mr X told me it is fine and I should be ready to go for 220V.

2. Instead connecting it to 220V I sent a 2nd email to Mr X asking him if he is sure its ok since the default machine state was for 110V and without changing anything
it should be weird to work safely on 220V too.
Mr X assured me it is fine.

3. Instead connecting it to 220V I sent a 3rd mail in which while I was ashamed to ask again I made a statement to provoke Mr X to reassess the situation in the case that something most be wrong.
Mr X failed to correct it still.

At this point I connected the amplifier to 220V.
Bad mistake. The item stopped working (and looking back I also ran the risk of being electrocuted). I had the unit back to the tech guy who failed to diag the issue.

I informed Mr X ( the reaction was something like : Whoops..my bad. The jumpers layout should have been B not A )

Obviously I was upset and asked for a way to break even keeping in mind that I live in EU and a 10+lbs unit is extremely expensive to be shipped to US (10+lbs).

Mr X replied along the lines : "You should be reimbursed either by the seller who sold the unit or by the tech guy."

I was like ..what ??? .. I asked him who is his superior since I wanted to talk to him. No reply here.

I found his superior email on the web (Mr Q). I sent him an email explaining the situation. No reply.

However next day Mr X contacted me telling me that he talked to Mr Q and now he realized his mistake and apologized. Great.
They decided I should send the unit to US and they will repair it and send it back.
The problem here was that the shipping as I have told earlier is extremely expensive for a heavy unit to be sent from here to US and they wanted me to pay it up.
From this point onward I kept trying (like at least 3 times) to ask for a discussion with either of them or both by phone or video.
Denied.
Every single time.

After a few more email exchanges Mr X told me that he could do with just the board since this should be much cheaper.
For the past week I tried my best to find a way to get the shipping cost for the board to a minimum.
I found it was possible to have the board send to Cary Audio AND BACK home for around 200$.
I sent an email to Mr X telling him the good news hoping the situation would come to a happy end.

At this moment Mr X made a "bait and switch move" telling me he spoke with Mr Q and you they decided that they are willing to pay half the shipping (100$) while I have to send the full unit not just the board to US.
Since we were stuck I asked him for the last time for a way to call and talk to Mr Q.
Explicitly denied.

As of now I realize that my amplifier is gone for good although Im still happy I got out of this alive.

Food for thought ..

The way you describe the process is ridiculous in every way and an indictment of the Cary Audio company.
They should have paid all costs and expenses immediately as the equipment was destroyed by Cary Audio's definitely incorrect and flawed instructions.

The expensive thing about the device is the development. The circuit board, components and transformer should be well under € 300 (without tubes). They should have just sent those parts to the technician in exchange, as is usually done at a professional company. Anything else is just ridiculous.

My first recommendation, return the device if possible.

Alternatively, find a competent technician who, after a few measurements, can tell you whether the damage only affects the transformer and power supply (which I suspect) or whether the headphone amplifier areas are also defective. There are very capable technicians in the EU who know about tube amps, you can find some on the tubes or DIY forums.

The shipping costs you quoted seem a bit high to me. Maybe I can help you with that. In which country do You live?

Hopefully many potential buyers will be warned by your post.

 

[Varail]

The device was bought from a 3rd party in perfect working condition around 4-5 years ago so there is nowhere to return it.

I live in Bucharest(RO) and I found the one way shipping to US to be around 100$. Please let me know if you know if you are finding one cheaper ..(not that it will matter now).

I'm not very keen at this point to have it sent abroad and spend more money and time on chasing wind. Maybe I should just buy something else ..

Regarding Cary, it looks there are some elephants in the room. For me the biggest it is not that they send bad info since this can happen to anyone in a bad day, not even that they were not willing to make the things right but that they were not willing to discuss the situation "live".

However now I'm not feeling totally bad about all this since my loss might save others .. a pricey necessary save

 

[raindance]

You haven't lost anything. Get a proper tech to fix it.

 

[JSmith]

Bucharest

Might be worth a look;

Contact | service audio

Formular de Contact Nume Email Subiect Mesaj Date de contactIuliu Maniu, Nr. 305, Sector 6, București CUI: 13772916 Nr.Reg: J40/2882/2001 [email protected] 0726 110 620 Social media

www.serviceaudio.ro

Iuliu Maniu, Nr. 305, Sector 6, Bucharest


JSmith

 

[Varail]

.. I can look around for service shops myself but you need to take into consideration that here the risk of getting robbed is the same as the Apple service in US especially for someone unexperienced as me. I might as well leave my wife and my cat there too if I get the misfortune to get in the wrong place ..