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Amp repair cost — is this right?

I recently sent my Musical Fidelity a308cr power amp off to be recapped. This amp is somewhere around 16-18 years old and one of the power caps failed. I contacted Musical Fidelity and sent it to a repair shop they recommended. Today I received an estimate to replace 18 caps, 8 of which are large power caps, resolder the boards, and re-bias the transistors. Basically a full overhaul. The quote I received, including return shipping (prob around $100) Is over $1,300 which possibly exceeds the value of the amp. That doesn’t include the $115 it cost me to ship it out. Having never had an overhaul done on a power amp like this, I’m wondering if anyone with experience can tell me if this sounds right. I guess I was expecting something more like $600-$800 but I don’t know why since I really don’t have a frame of reference. Perhaps it was the assumption it might be 4 hours labor (say $400) plus max $200 for caps. Is $1,300+ on track? Either way I’m going to be out the shipping cost plus a $160 fee paid for the estimate.
jnehma1
itsjustme
681 posts
 
@teo_audio:
$100 to take it apart, remove the PCB, remove all the caps, buy new ones, put them in, pre-test, re-assemble, final test?
If so I will hire you as a tech tomorrow :-)
G

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,764 posts
 
@jnehma1  Did you see my second post on this thread? Because the filter caps are snap caps (which are a lot less expensive) I revised my thinking about a fair price downwards. I was figuring at least $800 for parts but the snap caps will only be about $100; so I'm thinking $500-$700 tops.
jnehma1 OP
111 posts
 
@atmasphere yes I did see it, thank you for the feedback.

@mahler123 not sure where this 30 minute drive thing came from. The shop is many states away and would probably be a 14 hour drive each direction
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,100 posts
 
That is highway robbery, depending which caps and size they use 
Nichicon super through would be near top of the line ,Nippon has a top series also ,as well as a few others , ask for a list of brand and cap uf sizes it sounds about $400 too high ,the quality was not that high to begin with buy something)NG else and rebuilt Thst 

ml8764ag's avatar
ml8764ag
502 posts
 
Lots of uninformed opinions here....

Even before discussion that different caps would yield different costs and that design and layout are labor factors (I guarantee most here are not familiar with the 308s layout) people were barking out verdicts.

Just the choice of Caps will wildly change the price! You can buy caps that costs hundreds each if you choose!

The answer to your question is a firm... IT DEPENDS!

I can say from direct experience that I had an MF A5 integrated modded for about this price (with better caps, components and the results were stunning).

Please understand that there are a lot of people here who don’t understand that people need to make a living... If everything is done at or near cost... It’s called a hobby.

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