Companies with good customer service?


I really like buying older gear, but one concern is always what happens if the piece breaks down? I'm curious to see what other people's experience has been with high end audio companies. I have had good experience with krell and with MIT. With krell, the repair took a couple months, and there were often periods of silence, and it was relatively expensive ($500), but they did replace a broken tray of a cd player and all the belts/bands, and ship a pretty heavy piece, which was a lot cheaper than a new cd player. And when I finally talked to them, they clearly knew their stuff and were very pleasant. With MIT, some balanced interconnects I had were acting screwy, so I got an RMA and they replaced the plastic interconnect part with heavy duty metal parts, and shipped them back without charge. Again, it took a few months, but there was no charge to fix cables that were probably over 10 years old at this point. Both these experiences made me feel like Krell or MIT are "safe" buys, in that I can get anything of theirs repaired if need be. What experience do other people have? What companies are good?
mainer8
An awful lot of companies are good - they have to be in a community this size. But one does need to factor in which companies are likely to be here when I need them...

Also there is old gear that is supported by third parties - pretty much the same thing as having the factory behind you

There is another thread on this very subject currently here on the Gon called "Company Loyalty"

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?hbest&1229010059&openmine&zzCkorody&4&5#Ckorody

for me personally:

Rowland
Merlin
Butler
Cary
BPT
Pass
Supratek
Boulder Cable
Wavelength Audio

note that in each case I bought their gear secondhand - meaning that the mfgr made nothing on the deal - but they were all right there without a seconds hesitation

pretty great IMHO