Bill Legall-MillerSound speaker driver repair

+1 More for Bill Legall. Aside from being thought of as the best in the industry he is one of the nicest guys I have ever dealt with. If you haven't done so already check out the article about him on sixmoons.

I had a similarly fabulous experience with Bill some years ago, and for a remarkably modest price. As stated by 6moons reviewers in a quotation appearing at Bill's website, he is "considered the equivalent of a national treasure by those who do business with him."

Best,
-- Al

Great post Mofi! I am fortunate enough to have Bill living close by (30 minute ride), should I ever need him. Even though I have never used his services yet, it does give me peace of mind knowing that someone so talented lives so close to me.

Cheers,
John

Another +1 for Bill Legall. Again, one of the nicest guys you could ever meet aside from his business practices. The guy just loves people and helping them, that's his real satisfaction. You have to meet him to know how true this is. His competance in what he does in his business and his fairness in dealing with people is just top shelf and a model for any business. We're fortunate to have him in this industry.

I'm glad I came across this thread, I need an old pair of ProAc Response 2s re-coned because of foam ring rot. I don't want to pay $1000+ for replacement woofers. I'm going to contact Bill ASAP!

Thanks!
Rod

Too funny I just posted about Bill on your other thread.

mofi-

Many Thanks! for sharing your experience. It is imperative to share both
positive & negative stories when dealing w/ these companies.
Happy Listening!

Have also used Bill at Miller Sound to repair some midrange drivers - excellent job and super fast turnaround, highly recommended


Good Listening


Peter

+10 for Bill, he fixed the woofer on my beloved Paisley AE-500's.  He's a national treasure, thankfully, he lives close by :)

Bill will not deal with the business of shipping speakers. He will work on your speakers only if you drop them off and pick them up.

He will work on your speakers only if you drop them off and pick them up.

What most people do is pull out the bad driver, (woofer, midrange, tweeter) and ship the driver only.  He does provide return shipping on the driver(s).

Yes, he does that, though he doesn't work with tweeters. I asked him if he would replace the capacitors and maybe do some upgrades, but unfortunately I live far from his location. I understand him, but this is not world class service at all.

Let us know when you find someone who offers this 'world class service' for you inna.

Jmcgrogan2, I sure will. But I am not in a hurry, I may actually never do it. The speakers are 17 years old so I thought why not? But for now they sound like the day I got them used, only better because the rest of my system is much better now.

• I have had a pair of New Large Advent Utility Loudspeakers since I got them as a High School graduation present in 1978 ($148 the pair at Tech Hifi on sale). They have been sitting in my den, deteriorating, for about 25 years.  I decided to drop them off for restoration at Millersound.
  
  I could not be happier with the results. For about $125, Bill re-foamed the woofers, cleaned the tweeter level switches, repaired some of the vinyl veneer that was peeling or chipped, and patched up a rip in one of the grills.
  
  They look much better than before, and sound really good. Hearing them working so well brought back memories of when I first had a decent stereo in my room. Bill is really easy to deal with, and the turn around time for the repair was just one week.
  
  These are not in my big rig, but they have a lot of sentimental value to me, so I am really happy that they have been restored and now work very well.
  
  I highly recommend MillerSound for speaker restoration services.
  
  I am not affiliated in any way with MillerSound, other than being a customer. 
•  

With all the amazing feedback on here about Millersound, I decided to send off, for the first time ever, some speakers to be repaired--Infinity Kappa Polydomes. 
Communications were odd right from the get-go. A few different people answers Mr. Legalls email and you never know who you are going to get. They generally don't seem to like to answer questions. 

I sent my polydomes in and got confirmation they were received. I did get notification when they were shipped out.
Upon opening and then unwrapping my first polydome, the plastic mount plate was obviously cracked at the edge. I was shocked and saddened. 
I sent some mildly emotional emails over the weekend and received some very odd and even childish replies. Mr. Legall admitted in one email that he noticed something wrong with the mount plate while he was working on it--a depression or chip--but did not contact me in seeing this damage. It is very possible the mount plates were damaged in my shipping to MillerSound and putting a claim in with UPS would have been helpful at that point. They had previously warned me not to purchase domes from eBay and have them sent directly to them just in case something like this happened. The domes I sent were mine, were in fine shape and only needed that yellowed dome material replaced. There where no other problems with the drivers. 
This is the last email i received from Mr. Legall:

On Saturday, March 10, 2018, 4:34 PM, William Legall <#####@aol.com> wrote:
It had the tiniest, almost invisible chip on the rear edge.
ABSOLUTELY NO CRACKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I could post a photo here you would see that the mount plate edge and a bit up into the face has a near 2 inch long crack, no more than 1/4 inch wide and has completely broken off of the edge of the mount plate. I sent them pictures.
One of the Mr. Legalls business associates, who also answers Mr. Legalls emails, told me to put a claim in with UPS and said no more. This is totally not helpful as the damage most likely occurred when i sent it to them, was not noted by them and was most likely exacerbated during repackaging and shipment to me. Their packaging has no damage, but with a hairline crack (or whatever Mr. Legall saw) could have become a full-on broken piece while bouncing around a bit during return shipping. 
I don't know what to do now. I have more domes I'd like repaired and I just can't believe this is how a group of professional audio repair specialists run their business and/or client communication. I have tried calling but have not gotten through.
It seems like Mr. Legall is 'protected' by a few people at MillerSound, not sure why, but I have received some very peculiar emails.
The community's advice is sought. 
Thanks,Brett
www.brettmc.com

I think this is the first negative about Bill that I have ever read?  Sorry you had trouble.  I learned many years ago in this business, that there are always two sides to every story.  Just saying.

You linked to your own website above.  Couldn't you add a few pics of the drivers under the "Photography" heading for a few days then just delete them?  That way we could see the damage.

That is an excellent idea. Please let me know if these come through.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMoYJiUxzNsv4uiOySEnifDpNOnMiB7gUVeknAzgB16BJjrjvbrj7rlEqDCsIEw...

email I received today from William Legall (unsigned)

From:William Legall <#####@aol.com>To:Brett McConnell <####@yahoo.com>Sent:Wednesday, April 25, 2018 12:41 PM

Subject:"Claim" went out

$180 “claim” was mailed to you today.
Someone brought to out attention the audiokarma comments from you. As you don’t like our work, we won’t have to worry about further shipping “claims” in the future.


———————-
this was my reply

Hello The Many People Who Answer At And Reply From This Email Address (this email feels like its from Mr. Legall if I am not mistaken):
I made no comments about not liking your work. I did much research including buying other drivers and testing them before I sent you my Polydomes. I think your work is excellent.However your business practices seem very confused. Here are some suggestions that may help:
1) Keep business and personal emails separate--as in separate addresses.
2) Give everyone at your business their own email address.
3) Sign your emails or employ auto signing so customers have some idea who they are speaking with via email.
4) If you are closed on Sundays and Mondays, don’t read business emails on those days (instead of telling customers not to write you on Sundays and Mondays...I have never heard of that or experienced it from other companies, businesses....emails are not phone calls)
5) Pick up the phone and call customers if there is an issue.
6) Have a standard form customers fill out when submitting an item for repair or refurbishment.
7)Before starting any work on an item, check items that come in for any potential issues and check with the customer if there is any question that an item may have a defect or problem that the customer may not know about. This valuable business practice would have averted this unfortunate situation.
8) If a problem occurs you are the professionals, act professionally and get in touch with the customer. People sending you their valuable speakers understand some things are out of yours and their control and both sides can be reasonable when settling an issue I assure you.

Sending condescending emails about "claims" and emails all in caps exclaiming things like "NO CRACKS!!!!" is hardly what grownups do and is certainly not professional.I would not intentionally crack a rare Infinity Polydome driver that I sent to YOU--A SPECIALST--for repair, just so I could get $180 discount. I love my speakers! And what a pain it has been to deal with UPS. 

We could have just come to some sort of agreement instead of emails from you saying "NO CRACKS!!!! I AM DONE." Not professional, not adult.

Please know those Polydomes were the very first piece of audio gear I have ever sent out for repair--EVER. 

I will surely post this message on Audiokarma as well. People should know who and what that they are getting involved with when they send their precious speakers to you and your company and how you handle shipping damage when it occurs.

Thanks for your excellent Polydome refurbishments. I currently have two sets that function well, just one driver with unfortunate, mostly-cosmetic damage. I will enjoy them for many years to come.

Best to you and yours.
Thanks,
Brett

http://www.brettmc.com/

That is an excellent idea. Please let me know if these come through.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMoYJiUxzNsv4uiOySEnifDpNOnMiB7gUVeknAzgB16BJjrjvbrj7rlEqDCsIEw...

Thanks for the pics.  That does look like it was dropped or something hit against that edge.  Really too bad that this wasn't noticed when Bill opened the box, if that's when the damage occurred?  Could have been done in shipping either way.  

Sorry that this happened to you, but I still stand by my very, very strong endorsement of Bill.

Wow. PBN’s endorsement makes Bill Legall’s status - “over the top”. Many thanks to The Great folks at PBN!!  That’s honesty combined with humility. Nothing better in my book. Thanks to Peter

Bretmcee:  I would first say Bill says in his website, to call-not email. I have spoken with him many times and he did a great job on my Wilson woofer. He gave me a price, but upon examining the driver, called me to inform me the repair was simple and along with my woofer, he would be sending me a 60% refund. I would have had no way of knowing the difference, had he not told me. I've found Bill to be very personable and honest, as well as extremely competent and fast. He's won me over as a life long customer.               Steve

These recent posts seem intent on damaging the reputation of Bill Legall of Millersound.

I don't see how including selective correspondence, including a bullying, coercive lecture on the way Bill runs his business, and how he should change to satisfy this person helps their case.  Perhaps I'm mistaken, but it sounds like a refund went out over this unfortunate interaction to quell the anger of a disappointed customer.  So to what purpose does continuing the march on a forum one doesn't normally frequent serve?

For what it's worth, Millersound is the classic mom and pop business, solely staffed by Bill and his wife Loretta.  There are no other people involved, no one works there as a handler or to shield Bill from anything or anyone.  The business is their life, and their life is their business.  Are they perfect?  Are any people or business?  Are they eccentric?  Yes, that's part of the experience, charm, fun, and why Bill is more an artist than technician.  That's why you can find others who can simply replace this or that on a driver, but Bill has earned a reputation for returning drivers that work optimally, and sometimes even far better than the day they were new or the way the engineers / manufacturers designed.  As @mofimadness mentioned, this looks like the first public complaints about Bill next to a mountain of happy interactions.

I admit bias on my part, as I've known Bill and Loretta a long time, regularly visit them socially, broken bread, taken road trips, and consider them more than friends.  But I also have witnessed how they run their business over these many years, watched Bill elagantly repair drivers (including many of mine) at a most reasonable cost to countless customers, and know there is no more capable, conscientious, passionate, caring, and honorable business going

I guess it’d be nice if someone could help me mediate this situation?

i am not trying to bully I just honestly am not sure how to deal with a business or adults that send emails like the ones I have received.

i have never experienced anything quite like this in my adult life and I am uncertain as to why I get snide remarks from Mr. L? I do not hold him responsible for the damage. But what has happened SINCE the damage has been rather upsetting.

its been very odd the emails I have received back from them (I have even been told not to email them on Sundays and Mondays which I would not do if I knew that was something they prefered but I have never ever had anyone ever tell me not to email them and I’ve certainly never been told/asked not to email on certain days?)

And I do not understand why this damage is such a big deal anyways if the item was shipped via UPS with insurance? UPS is who I fault and they should pay. And I hope that Millersound did not have to pay.

It would have have been helpful though, if the damage initially occurred when I shipped the item, to have been alerted to that damage so we could have bugged UPS then as I too shipped with Insurance. 

If like Mr. L says there was some minor damage a chip or nick there before he started working on it then a few off bumps in shipping it back to me could cause a nick to become a crack. The mount plates are plastic after all. 

Well i I always get great advice from these forums. This is why I went to Millersound in the first place. 

Im not a bad guy. I’m sure they are not bad people. The odd communications I have had have upset me and that is why I am here asking and letting you know what’s up.

i would have called them myself but I gathered from early communications that they seem like people who don’t want to be bothered...so I tried to keep my communications text-based. Maybe that was a bad decision on my part.

oh well. Did my best for my first piece of gear ever sent out for repair and it came back damaged.

ill have a really great pair of Infinity 9Kappas for sale soon.

best,
brett

I have also used Bill. I have a pair of Krell LAT 1 speakers. I had a preamp serviced locally what a mistake hooked everything up turned it on and smoked all six 8 inch woofers. Contacted Scan Speak and everyone I could for months, no replacement speakers new or used available anywhere. I was referred to Miller sound from 2 different companies in  search of new or used speakers. When I contacted him he was a perfect gentleman I sent my speakers to him within two weeks I had them back and Thay looked perfect  could not tell they were repaired in any way. He used all the original material on the speakers and they sound every bit as good if not better then the second pair of LAT 1s I have. I am so thankful to Bill and Miller Sound for saving my speakers. You’re a Gem.  Many thanks Bill. Russell.

Last December I had an Eton 7-380-32HEXy mid driver from a Legacy Audio Signature III fail.  Long out of production now and with no parts still available, everyone I spoke to told me find as close a replacement as I could as repairing it wasn't possible.  Then I spoke to Bill, he told me he thought he could repair it but it might be tricky saving the parts to re-use. Two weeks, $85 + shipping later and visually I can't tell it was ever apart and sonically I can't tell it was ever repaired.  My Signature III's live on Thanks to Bill! Many Thanks to him for his excellent work and quick service.  

I don't know this person looking for "World Class Service" but he can't see the Forest for the Trees. Bill LeGall has worked on Three sets of Alon  10" woofers as soon as i got the first set back and re-installed them in my speakers the sound was just incredible , I called him right away and asked him what he did to the woofers to sound so much better , and of course the Gentleman he is  explained the science of Dampening, Balancing ,etc. and went on to say " when the Bass sounds right everything sounds right. on the second set i purchased them here on GOON and had the seller send them straight to Bill the speakers arrived damaged the the metal cage got bent out of shape so Mr. World Class listen here , at no extra charge Bill stripped down the speakers took the Cages to his friends machine shop perfectly straightened out the cages rebuild the speakers new coils,cones etc. AT NO ADDITIONAL COST, TO ME THIS IS WORLD CLASS SERVICE. THANK YOU BILL,LORETTA  ( Carlo Lupo, IntegrityHiFi )

I've recently had the tremendous good fortune to meet Bill and Loretta Legall.  For just a moment, let's forget about speaker repair - just for a moment.  I'm lucky, I live a short drive away, so I met them, visited with them.  And I can confirm without a bit of hesitation, they are a treasure. 

Bill has that very rare combination of passion for what he does, and for the people he works for, along with an absolute and consummate knowledge of his craft.  He is the Jedi Master of speaker repair.  And the true secret to his success is that he does what he does for the love of it, and not for the money.  For the love of what he provides for his customers, for the next level quality he can give you. 

Bill may not be the most sophisticated businessman in the world (if he was, he'd charge 2-3x his normal price) and I can see how his email skills may not be on par with what some might expect.  So objectively, it's no surprise that in all the transactions he's done, a problem occurred, a customer was not happy, and an email-only communication effort couldn't solve it.  The sad thing is, Bill's impeccable and well deserved reputation takes a hit.  So be it, we all move on. 

Back to speakers.  I had an old pair of ADS L1290's that I saved all my pennies forever for, way back in the day.  Been sitting in my basement for decades and almost tossed them in a dumpster a year ago.  My 18 yo son recently renewed my interest in hifi through vinyl so I hunted down a vintage Pioneer SX-1250 in perfect condition out in Chicago, did a 25 hour marathon road trip, got that beast home and  dusted off the old speakers...and promptly blew them up. 

Found Bill online, called and got an appointment, threw the speakers in my truck and dropped them off. A week later he called and said come and get em.  What he didn't tell me was that ADS had glued the drivers into the cabs and that he was afraid to pry them out for fear he'd ruin the boxes, so he actually rebuilt the drivers in place!  I still have no idea how he did it.  He also touched up all the scratches and made them look practically new.  Well, they've never sounded so good.  And the price he charged for all the work he did was less than I spent to take my wife to dinner that night. 

I'm headed to see Bill tomorrow to pick up a mint pair of JBL L100t's I just acquired and I can not wait to hear those puppy's sing after Bill works his magic. 

One last thing, Loretta is Bill's soul partner and they are one.  There is neither without the other, you can just tell that.  It's a true joy to see them together.  You know, we meet people throughout our lives that impact us in positive ways we can't explain, and we can't forget.  Bill and Loretta are that kind of people.  Forget the speakers, I am just lucky to have met such wonderful folks.       

I hunted down a vintage Pioneer SX-1250 in perfect condition out in Chicago, did a 25 hour marathon road trip, got that beast home and dusted off the old speakers...and promptly blew them up.

Thanks for the chuckle.  I remember those days...oh the 70's :-)

Thanks also for the wonderful story of Bill & Loretta.  They are indeed terrific people!

I wanted to add to this thread that Bill just restored a pair of Advent Loudspeakers for me, and they sound incredible. I am so lucky that I live 45 minutes from Millersound, and I am honored that this legend agreed to work on my speakers after I contacted him for the very first time and we chatted over the phone for a few minutes. Not only did he perform an audio miracle, he made some additional improvements free of charge just because he loves what he does and he is an awesome person. Count me among the legion of admirers who will tell you that Bill is THE BEST, and that you are one lucky music fan if you are fortunate enough to have Bill work on your gear.

I don’t want to discount brettmcee’s experience, but I think it is cowardly and manipulative of him/her to try to shame Bill by printing Bill's final exasperated email while glossing over his/her own "mildly emotional" emails, which no doubt set the tone for the exchange that followed.

I think that Millersound needs to hear a lecture from brettmcee about their business practices even less than brettmcee needs to hear a lecture from me about his/her people skills.

I will add my comments as well - I have worked with BL for a long time.  His policies are his policies.  He goes out of his way to help people and is usually so busy that he has little time for emails and calls.

I have been doing audio repair work for some time now.  My contact info was on the Counterpoint Website before Mike took it down.  I asked Mike why he stopped offering repair work and he told me that 95% of his time was answering questions.  Years later, I feel the same way.  I must receive 10 emails each day on repair work.  Multiply that by responding to those ten as follow-ups and the new ones I receive.  Almost leaves me with little time to do the work.  Get the idea?

Bill is a short and to the point person. Him and his wife are awesome people.

If you had and issue then just state what is needed and work it out.  But as a business person I know that no matter how hard you try some people only want things their way.

Happy Listening.

Wanted to give another big shout out to Bill!  I needed his services once again and once again he proved why he is indeed "A National Treasure".

I seem to have a propensity to find small monitor speakers that are no longer made and can't be repaired, (like Olaf FROZEN :-) ).  Well, not if you have Bill in your corner!  He more or less rebuilt the whole damn driver.  Just received it back and it is PERFECT.

Super fast turnaround and prices that are more than reasonable.  If he ever retires, we're screwed.

These were pretty expensive speakers and they once again sound like new...thanks to Bill.

I will add my recommendation for Bill Legall. I had 4 Scanspeak Drivers out of my late 90's Audiophysic Caldera II speakers. The foam had failed. He gave me good packing instructions. After shipping them to him, he followed up with some different options on surround materials. He also tested the speakers and found one had some issues and found a corroded wire that popped off one of the cones. He sent pictures of what he found and repaired them at no additional cost. I got them back today and they look brand new. The sound is great. I had considered replacing these drivers but found that they are no longer produced. SInce they were specifically made to Audiophysic specs, I was concerned of changing drivers so refoaming was a good alternative. In addition, the cost of refoaming 4 drivers was cheaper than one driver replacement. Bill is a true professional and a pleasure to work with. A pleasant surprise these days. 

nice to see this thread resurrected

bill at millersound is simply superb at what he does