I find Kevin's videos annoying but for some reason I watch most of them anyway if the gear looks interesting. I did buy a pair of KLH Model 5's from them and it was as smooth as can be, and yeah, they super-box those things; I would consider buying from them in the future something I can't get locally.
A Few Nice Words For Upscale Audio
Back in October '23 I started to have problems with my preamp, a 2005 edition Pathos InControl. Upon turn on there was a hum/throb in one channel. Hoping for a simply solution I ordered a pair of replacement tubes from Upscale Audio. When swapping out the tubes I observed that the ceramic collar to a tube socket had basically fallen apart. Not that that mattered since the hum/throb was still there. Upscale happened to be the US importer/distributor/service center for Pathos, an Italian company, so I called them for advice. They told me to ship the unit to them and they would make repairs.
I'm going to make a digression here and say what a total PITA it was to ship the preamp. I'll never use UPS again, that's for sure!
Upscale gets the preamp, fixes the tube socket and removes an annoying click at "32" on the volume control, but they could not reproduce the hum/throb. They talked to me and we agreed that they should test it a little bit longer. Just when they were about to give up a say the preamp is functioning perfectly, it completely stops working. They determine the problem was a failed circuit board in the power supply. Upscale contacts Pathos and they are told they don't stock the board, but that they could make a new board. I authorize the repair.
The first week in January I contacted Upscale for the status of the repair and I was surprised to find that it was ready to be shipped back to me. It was sitting on my front porch in less than a week.
So thank you Upscale and Pathos for providing first rate support for your product. All told the cost came to approximately $1k of which boxing and shipping totaled nearly 1/3 cost. I doubled boxed the preamp when I shipped and Upscale tripled boxed when returning. A nice touch!
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Kevin Deal and his crew at Upscale are Awesome, I recently found out cat had left, sad to see her go, she was an integral piece of the analog department, I wish her well, I remember her setting up a new cartridge on my TT, she did an excellent job, I wish her well wherever she ends up, but the people at upscale are first class, including Kevin, he won't bullshit you, for sure! |
The newly repaired Pathos InControl preamp lasted less than two weeks before one channel went dead. I called Upscale and they say No Problem! Their repairs have a 90 day warranty. They send me a return authorization and a prepaid FedEx shipping label. It takes about a month, but they fix it again and ship it back to me. THERE WAS NO ADDITIONAL COST TO ME. The preamp is working fine and sounds wonderful. Great job Upscale!!! |
@soix I look at it another way. It a 19 year old preamp that is no longer in production. The power supply board that originally needed replacement is not a piece they had in inventory and they took it upon themselves to fabricate a new replacement specifically for me. It may have been an easy thing to do, but it would have been even easier to tell Upscale that they don't support repairs on such old products. I've read that some manufacturers actually do that. Upscale informed me that a part on the newly fabricated power supply board failed and that's why one channel went dead. I'm not going to speculate why that happened, but it did. I've had it running now for about a month and everything seems good. In my book Pathos and Upscale are first rate! |
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