Lounge Audio


I feel I should warn folks who have bought a Lounge Audio product or are thinking about buying one.

I own a Lounge Audio LCR MkIII Silver Ed. and Copla. I originally bought both units new about 5 years ago.

Around 2 yrs ago I sent the LCR MkIII in to be upgraded to the Silver Ed. and have a Mono switch installed.

I got it back in good time except the Mono switch was installed but not wired. I decided not to send it back in this instance as I could live without the mono switch and I could probably repair it myself sometime.

Not long after, one of the channels in the Copla went out. I called Robert and he said that it's more than likely an LED that went out and that he's since been using better/more reliable LED's in the unit. He said to send the unit in and he would get to it as soon as he could. I decided to send both units in so he could fix that mono switch in the LCR MkIII as well.

He did warn me that it may be some time before he got to it because he was swamped with orders. Apparently, the Copla received a minor positive review in Stereophile Magazine in Feb. just before I sent it in. To be fair, he doesn't charge for repairs for the life of the unit/s. That's a nice gesture but I think I would rather pay for the repair and get it done in a reasonable amount of time rather than have wait for months to get it done for free.

I'm coming up on five months now and haven't seen my units. I called him a couple months back and he basically said he would get to them soon and he didn't say he was having supply issues like some companies were having during the pandemic period. I'm not sure what his definition of 'soon' is but it's not the same as mine is all I can say.

He also said that because of the amount of interest in Lounge Audio since the review, he hasn't been answering emails because most people were just "fishing".

I sent him some texts but haven't received any replies. I also emailed him again because that's the only Contact info provided by the Lounge Audio website. I don't know if he's not answering his calls/texts or his number is not good anymore.

I've been using a MoFi Studio phono pre in what I thought would be a temporary situation. I've since pretty much given up and bought a Sutherland Insight last week.

Thanks in advance for reading my rant.

Perhaps some folks will think I'm being unreasonable but I can't recommend Lounge Audio in good conscience to anyone who wants to buy one of their products and then may have to send it in for repairs.
IMO no one should have to wait this long.
nicktheknife

I finally received my units.  It was over six months since I shipped to getting them back.  

The owner, Robert Morin finally contacted me and kept me informed.  I always thought he was a good guy and I like both the LCR  MkIII and the Copla.  

I wasn't just dissatisfied with the long wait,  I was under the impression it wouldn't  take over half a year to get my units back.  I was more miffed at the fact that I wasn't able to get him to answer my requests for some info on when I could expect my pieces back.  I had a unit go to Italy and back in less than a month and it wasn't under warranty.  

When you have to wait that long for a repair, the company should give you fair warning that it may take much longer than normal due to the current workload.  Robert did warn me that it would take a little longer than normal.  I sent the LCR MkIII in for the Silver upgrade and it was back in less than two weeks. What was I to expect when he said it may take a little longer than normal?  A month?  Six weeks?  Maybe.  Not over six months.  And, not without an explanation  on what is taking so long.  

In the end, it turned out well.  I bought another phono pre in the meantime and had a MoFi Studio phono pre to use when I first shipped the Lounge units out.  

If any of the Lounge units need to go in for repair again which I hope won't be necessary, I will know exactly what to expect.  And, hopefully others will too.