Bill Legall-MillerSound speaker driver repair

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.