Uber expensive repair at United Radio

imho, it’s poor form to play Monday morning quarterback when you failed to perform the necessary due diligence of getting a second opinion when you had doubts about the original estimated cost of repair.  

I know first hand that quality audio equipment repair doesn’t come cheaply, but the price the OP got charged seems exorbitant.  

It is often the case that repair places will charge a fixed rate for the diagnosis, such as the one hour time, even though it might take much longer.  The fixed rate protects the customer; the customer is not charged for several hours only to find out the item is unrepairable.  That $140 does not cover the expense and time involved in unboxing, potentially boxing up and shipping the item if a repair is not attempted, so there is some incentive for the shop to investigate even this exceeds that one hour diagnostic time, with the hope of recouping the extra cost via the repair job.  If the repair is approved, I would expect that extra time diagnosing to be added to the total repair time.

As to the total of 14 hours, this does seem to be a lot of time, but, you seem to have the experience to have made an assessment at the time an estimate was provided.  If you had told them this was too much and you would just pay for the assessment and you want the amps back, they might have found a way to lower the price.  The $140 to check out your amp and do nothing else would clearly be a loss to the shop.  I don't like to haggle, so I would have probably just accepted the estimate, but, this is clearly an issue with you; the problem is that you should have acted before, not after, the repair.

@dasign I get you.

However, knowing/diagnosing what area in an amp is the problem is not the same as knowing what circuit(s) is the culprit.

I can determine that the protection board is the problem, but, unless (like most repair shops), I replace the entire circuit board with a new one, I decide to take the time (and yes this really does take time) to find out which components are the culprit (in this case, two chips), then, this will take substantial time.

14 hours is not unreasonable.  People are commenting as if it is obvious that the two chips were the problem on that circuit.  It could just as well have been capacitors, transistors, or worse diodes.  you (as a technician) have to take the time and use standard testing techniques to find out.

Again, this is why many replace the entire circuit board instead of taking the time to find the actual component and remove and replace it.  In many cases, that circuit board (stuffed by-the-way) is unobtainable.  So, you are left with finding the actual failed circuit component and fixing it.

I have several units where I know which circuit board is at fault.  But, this circuit board has all kinds of components on it that could be the problem, including on-board mounted integrated circuits.  And very small ones at that.  Try, just try to un-solder those and put new ones on.  They are a bear.

Ever try to repair a Mark Levinson 23.5 amp?  Great amp even today, but that amp is a serious PITA to work on.

My point?  unless you actually worked on that particular unit yourself and had the same problem, you have no clue how difficult is would be to diagnose (not just the culprit circuit board, but the actual failed component on that particular circuit board), remove the failed items (on-board mounted circuits are a royal pain) and install the new ones, test it and make sure that it works.

enjoy

$2k is a lot of money. Hopefully the second monoblock stays problem free for a few years. Just like cars, some models are simpler to work on than others. I believe the old Pontiac Fiero had to have the engine lifted to just change the spark plugs. I’m not certain how one would shop for an amp and know how simple it is to repair one before purchasing. My FirstWatt j2 looks fairly simple inside compared to the innards of other amps I have seen

I saw this place in Brooklyn that repairs Classe. http://www.highendaudiorepair.com/cd-players-cd-transports.html It would be interesting to find out (I know its probably not possible) what they would charge for same repair.