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Amp repair cost — is this right?

I recently sent my Musical Fidelity a308cr power amp off to be recapped. This amp is somewhere around 16-18 years old and one of the power caps failed. I contacted Musical Fidelity and sent it to a repair shop they recommended. Today I received an estimate to replace 18 caps, 8 of which are large power caps, resolder the boards, and re-bias the transistors. Basically a full overhaul. The quote I received, including return shipping (prob around $100) Is over $1,300 which possibly exceeds the value of the amp. That doesn’t include the $115 it cost me to ship it out. Having never had an overhaul done on a power amp like this, I’m wondering if anyone with experience can tell me if this sounds right. I guess I was expecting something more like $600-$800 but I don’t know why since I really don’t have a frame of reference. Perhaps it was the assumption it might be 4 hours labor (say $400) plus max $200 for caps. Is $1,300+ on track? Either way I’m going to be out the shipping cost plus a $160 fee paid for the estimate.
jnehma1
mozartfan
2,143 posts
 
Have them ship it back, sell it, and get something else on the used market.
Not adviseable to spend even $500 to swap out the caps. 
Here is your amp
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk02MceG65SQYDS2ndUQE1nLmoHvcfg:1603415550268&source=univ...


Here is my Defy7 with 12 new Mundorf caps @ $50 each + a  bunch of F&T's.. The tech guy changed the small can Nichicon's which really sound exactly like the old ones = did not need changing. 
also changed the plate resistors to Takman Rey,,all cost about $800, well worth it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpVCbHX6jWU&t=355s
Tech guy did NOT remove the board,, he sniped leads and solder to lead tips.. Which makes the Defy now, unsellable, But I have no intentions to ever sell anyway. 


Tech geek's , some are honorable, others are scam artists, Which is why i preach the message, always buy a  amp that is built like a  tank and with high quality components.
Take the $200 ship fee loss ,
sell the amp and move on.
 There are plenty of amps on the used market. 
 Take the hit and move on. 

mickeyb
578 posts
 
700 at most. 1500 is gouging. I got a krell ksa completely redone for 650. That’s a beast. Btw, lumber has doubled in 6 months. That’s my line of work. 
gs5556
1,235 posts
 
Pyramid Audio will quote you a price of $1300 to replace just the power supply filter caps in a Levinson 33x series amplifier, so, yes, the quote you got is not unreasonable.

FWIW it took me the better part of a weekend to replace the damaged filter caps in my AR 100.2. The 8 caps cost less than $75... but there were parts in the way that had to be removed (and replaced) and some disassembly to get to the caps. There is no way I would have charged less than $1,000 parts and labor to do that job as it took a total of 6 hours start to finish, which does not include the time spent to plan the repair and catalog and order the parts. 

It is more work than it appears.
billzame
69 posts
 
I think this is the wrong question.  I think the right question is "Is this repair shop honest?"  If the answer is "yes" then the price is reasonable; if the answer is "no" then the price is not reasonable.  The brake job analogy is imperfect, because there is a "book" that tells all shops how many hours of labor are involved.  
Did the repair shop break down the cost in terms of cost of each cap, cost of various parts of the labor (remove old caps, replace with new caps, test, etc.)?  That should give you some idea.  If they did not you might want to ask them to do so.  You don't know how much labor is involved but you can find out what the caps would cost.
jnehma1 OP
111 posts
 
@georgehifi @mozartfan both of you referenced the a308 integrated amp. Mine is just an amp, and the internal layout looks completely different
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