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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
cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 
Large caps are expensive.  I would guess the cost of the components alone would be 300-400 bucks.

Changing caps is a very labor intensive task.  Every board must be disconnected, unscrewed and the old caps must be de-soldered and new ones soldered and the boards re-inserted and rewired again.

I am not very surprised.  It is kinda like changing the timing belt on a car.  The belt is a few bucks but the labor is daunting.
mikemeeks
26 posts
 
I've been down this road.  I had a pair of Levinson No.20 amps (over 20 years old) that both failed due to capacitor issues.  I contacted one of the shops that does both warranty service for Levinson and works on older units.  The person I talked to was very knowledgeable about the units, and in fact had two pairs of the same model in for recapping.  The cost, excluding shipping, was at least $3500.  More if other problems were found.  So $1300 for a single amp doesn't sound ridiculous.  I ended up selling the amps, unrepaired, to an electrical engineer who planned on repairing them himself.  I basically got the price I would have asked for the repaired units, minus the repair and shipping cost.  I think the buyer looked at it as a fun task with some cool equipment.  Everyone was happy, and I learned how expensive it is to fix amps.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Mine is just an amp, and the internal layout looks completely different


Just as bad as all the output transistors are attached to the side heatsinks, and all are bolted
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/0iU9BZNQ1_1LRwvGt1SJX9PgT8TkYLok8IVLMgxv_hljNxkEH3a2giXOW6tJ...

Cheers George
wdl3
13 posts
 
I recapped an Audire Tennendo about four years ago and the cost of the eight electrolytic capacitors in the power supply was over was over $450, so yes the quoted price you received doesn’t surprise me at all. 
bigwave1's avatar
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bigwave1
235 posts
 
For anyone owning, operating a brick and mortar operation, that fee could even be a financial loss considering ALL the overhead expenses. It could be a “loss leader”, written off as a word of mouth advertising expense. 

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