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Help: My newly upgraded AA Capitole gives no sound

I recently got back my capitole CD player after a Signature Edition upgrade in AA factory France. It has a serious problem: NO SOUND. Everything else seems to be working perfectly: disc reading, display, control buttons, remote etc.

On three or four occasions I managed to get the sound whilst continuously interchanging the channels on the remote (SPDIF/COAX/T&T etc.) or through the buttons on the player itself but whenever the player is stopped (e.g to change disc or to shut down), the player refuses to produce any sound on resumption of play even though the disc is spinning and the display clearly indicating that it is playing (i.e. pressing play button).

When it does decide to play, it plays flawlessly with wonderful sound until the end of the disc. When it is playing (with sound coming out of the speakers) and REPEAT MODE pressed, it plays on and on for days until stopped. But as soon as stopped, the problem comes back.

Same problem when an external transport is used via digital input.

Checked the internal cables, they are all properly seated. The Circuit Board is in good condition and no visible signs of any damage.

Two-way communication with AA France is almost non-existent and terribly frustrating. Am stuck with a new upgraded player costing over $10,000.

Has anybody come across such problems with their Capitole or Prestige? Can you help in identifying possible causes? Could it be a software/chip problem incompatibility with the new transport (installed FOC by AA factory within the upgrade. The Chip version is 5.6.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Many thanks.

lall
jaffeassc
166 posts
 
Lall, sorry to hear about the problems you’ve had. I know that when I read about problems with a product that I own it makes me cringe a bit. To me there’s nothing worse than the thought of having a $5,000 + audio anchor, other than I guess actually having one. I suspect that a great many AA owners do read Audiogon on a regular basis. I know one of the things that pointed me in the direction of AA when I first bought my Prima before moving up to the Capitole was the good press on Audiogon.

Considering the press that AA has been getting more recently and AA’s response on this thread, I doubt that any of AA’s products will be on my short list anytime in the near future.
lall OP
122 posts
 
Jaffeassc
I appreciate your support. I really love the sound of the Capitole and IMHO it has the sonic virtues to be the reference front end of any audiophile system. It's a real pity that some people has not considered it important to devote time understanding customer expectation. Will keep updating as things progress.
alextychkin
87 posts
 
...And consequently, watch the resale prices on those things drop like a rock...which is already the case, based on current ads
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
And, by the way, I don't think this has much to do with the general reliabity of AA, which I think has been quite good in general. It's simply that if something does go wrong, you must have reliable resources to address the issues. I agree, the player sounds very, very good and I hope AA takes the steps to aqddress the fact, or perception, that there is an issue with support. A SOTA product needs SOTA support.
audiofun
799 posts
 
I am with you guys on the warranty issue. I almost purchased a pre-owned XBrand CD Player some years ago that had just been sent to the factory for a checkup and was still under warranty. I called XBrand to confirm this and they did...but no warranty transfer (on a $25,000.00 unit that they had just checked)...guess what no-sell.
All this to say that support is VERY VERY important as is how you stand behind your product from a warranty standpoint.

I LOVE Pass Labs stance... They have a set warranty period but then go on to say, if something does go wrong after the warranty call us anyway... Now THAT'S service!!!

At least I remember my former Aleph 1.2 manual saying that.
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