Electrocompaniet owners

Electrocompaniets current wowes with customers isn't something new to them. Years ago customers complained of amps "blowing up". I'm hesitant to repeat "rumours" but the reason "rumoured" for the past problems was blamed on a distributor who took it on himself to "moddify" the amps by removing some protection circuitry in an effort to improve the sound. I have always liked Electrocompaniets stuff, though it really isn't to my particular taste. I always thought of their stuff as being a poor man's Mark Levinson. There seems to be a place for something like that. Untill the current debacle with Subaruguy is cleared up in a satisfactory and expediant manner I can no longer recommend their stuff. Damn shame that an other wise legitimate company suffers because they can't get their distributors in line. Buy Electrocompaniet at your own risk!

There are way better components out there for amp and pre then the Electrocompaniet. I went through all of this for the past year, tried many preamps and amps. AND when it all came down to it, they each have their own personallity. I preferred the Pass Labs components in my system. Are they the best I heard, No, but overall, there is no best, just compromises. After buying the Pass, I inquired about a shorter connecting cable between the preamp and power supply for the X-1. This is cheap cord that I probably could have bought for under $10. Peter at Pass asked for my home address and within two days, I had a cord delivered, at their cost. Look at my recent thread and see how they handle customers even after the warranty is over.

Sorry, but the EMC-1 is now off of my list, remember it may be very good but there are others that are just as good plus I can get treated like they want me as a customer.

Peter

Thanks for all the replies on Electrocompaniet equipment. It seem that there are to many complaints about customer service to be ignored. This says alot about the company. It looks like I will look elsewhere to upgrade my system. Again thanks.

While this thread appears to have met its goal of allowing Bobheinatz to hear about some of our experiences with Electro amps, allow me to shed the last light to set the record straight.

None of the importers did anything to mod or max-out the amps. They all tried hard. Cultural commumications and other reasons mentioned were the real problems. The importers were never supported the way an American company supports its distribution system.

The amps have always sounded good. Some even great. Per Abrahamson is a great designer and knows how to design great products. But Electro was based on European electrical current, which is a very stable 240 volts, unlike the 110 in the US. The US power supplies were never stable and if the on/off button was not pushed on with one smooth push, the potential to blow the power boards existed. A fuse and a safety circuit were later added.

The amps pushed all the internal components to their limits, which caused them to break, burned out, etc. Was this a design ahead of its time or a bad design?

The circuit boards on many of the earlier amps were hand soldered, not wave soldered. Quality control was as good as could have been expected, until UPS got its hands on the amps. The hand soldered circuit boards could not tolerate the less than professional handling by UPS. UPS single-handedly destroyed the first shipment of the 250 watt amps. These amps were big and heavy. UPS dropped them on a regular basis causing large capacitors to break off the boards and other solder joints to crack. Once heated up, the weak joints caused the amps to shut down.

Electro went over to expensive injected foam packaging and through bolting large capacitors to the circuit board, but UPS still broke amps.

Draw your own conclusions. Many of us are business professionals. Electro has been around for 30 years because it does make good products. It does not necessarily understand this (the US) market.

IMPORTANT NEWS:
Audiogon has mysteriously closed the important "HELP Electro..." thread, and blocked my posting an "extension" thread entitled ELECTROCOMPANIET REDUX!
This happens at a VERY inopportune time, as just this morning I received an email from an EC/NORWAY tech informing me that he read this thread, apologized for my unfortunate Christmas incident, and that he will assemble the mod parts to sell me as a DIY install kit!
No mention was made of the larger issues re customer support in North America, however. I must stress that the afore-mentioned thread must not be allowed to end as-is, as it may very much affect EC's future in the US. EC is now reaching out in goodwill, and the 600+ viewers of the thread should be made aware of this to ensure a balanced view. How do I ensure this is accomplished? I can't email 600 people! Sheesh.
Thanks.
Ern