Hi all,
I have to agree, I didn't think that my post was really that bad! As well as the post being deleted I was banned for 2 days for "Abusive, language or disruptive behaviour". Go figure.
As for Holton amps, I do have first hand experience with them. Not the DIY models in the threads. I am not an electrical/electronics guy, so would not have the skills to know what I was doing. With that in mind, I bought a $AUD10k amplifier off Anthony. I wanted the case in black rather than silver, which Holton amps told me was not an issue. Payment was required up front, which in hindsight should have been a red flag, but I was happy to support a local business. Lead time I was told would be 6 weeks.
Fast forward 3 1/2 months and my amp arrived, no explanation as to why it was late. To be honest I was not really bothered as I had been working overseas. Recall your excitement of pulling a new bit of gear out of the box. Imagine if you pulled a 10k amplifier out and it wasn't square? Well that is what I was faced with. The heat sinks on either side where different lengths, not a lot but certainly noticeable. Hmmm, appears there is some quality control issues. Suffice to say I was not impressed. If I had known how this was going to play out, it would have been prudent of me to pack it up there and then.
Regardless, I just wanted to plug it in and have a listen, I would contact Anthony about that issue later. Hooked it all up, turned it on, arghh, only one channel works. Swapped speakers, yep it's the amplifier. An internal fuse on the circuit board had blown, spoke to Anthony, he advised to change it from a fast blow to a slow blow. I was a little uneasy, There are some big capacitors in there. As I said, I am not an electrical/electronic guy but I know enough to be very wary of capacitors. Anthony said I would be fine. Luckily I listened to my internal voice and took it to a local electronics guy. (Holton amps are on the opposite coast 5000 km away from me). The local tech went to pull the fuse and the capacitors discharged. He told me the fuse would not solve the issue, as it was upstream/downstream of the fuse. (Can't remember which, sorry). Spoke to Holton amps and was told to send it back and it would get repaired and the heatsink issue would get sorted. When I enquired why the amp would have been sent with such an obvious flaw (squareness), I was told that it was an issue with the heat sink supplier and he was going to build me a new amp anyway but he sent this one because he didn't want me to be without an amplifier. If that was the plan why would Holton not inform the me, before the amp arrived? The cynical side of me tends to think it was sent to me to see if they could get away with it.
Packed the Holton amplifier up with the original packaging and the courier, which to his credit, Anthony organised and payed for, arrived and picked it up. The amp was repaired and returned to me, plugged it in, listened for about 30 minutes and then went to bed.
Imagine my surprise in the morning, when I had a full day available to finally listen to my new amplifier and it would not turn on. The main fuse in the back of the amplifier was ok. A little trouble shooting over the phone with Anthony resulted in the Holton amplifier needing to be returned and repaired.
I informed Holton amps that I had lost faith in their product and would prefer a refund. Anthony agreed, but told me he could not refund my money until I had returned the amplifier and he checked that I had not damaged it. Fair enough. Apparently when I packed it the first time it was repaired I had not done a good job and the amplifier was very "nearly" damaged. Err I packed it with the original packaging. Never mind, in 10 days when I get my refund I can go amplifier shopping and get my system up and running again. I packed the amplifier up at a local HiFi store and documented the packing with photos. The local store even assisted me with extra bubble wrap just to be sure. Courier picked the amplifier up and I just waited.
Tracking on the amplifier showed that it had arrived at Holton, and I still waited. Left it about a week still nothing. Contacted Holton amps and Anthony said yes the amp had arrived and it was fine, but I couldn't just expect a refund straight away. Small business etc etc. He would organise the refund by the end of the month, waited till the end of the month and you guessed it. Had a few more exchanges, a few more deadlines and then I had enough. Holton amps had stopped replying. So there I was, no money, no amp. So much for supporting a local Aussie business!
To cut a very long story short, I did get my money back, only after CBOS, the consumer affairs department concerned, contacted Holton on my behalf and threatened him with legal action. Even then he missed a deadline that they issued him. I was basically on the verge of having to take him to court to recover my money. I was out $AUD 10k for 11 months with an amplifier that ran for 30 minutes.
Imagine if I tried to post my Holton experience on Stereonet.
It was about a certain Ethernet cleaner. He also censors objective conversation. Completely benign threads get shut if they go in the "wrong" direction. Its not in his business interest to have real knowledge out there.
