Reliability - what’s your experience been?

musicfan2349 I was just thinking the same thing, no jinxing anything for me!

(1) Before I upgraded to separate components in my discrete stand-alone 7.2 HT system, I had the brand new very top model CAMBRIDGE AVR. Its HDMI board died suddenly and catastrophically after 19 months from new, OK…. Fine .,,, it was an PITA inconvenience but it was replaced under warranty .
Then, it suddenly died AGAIN in like form 8 months later after very minimal use. The Canadian distributor falsely claimed that I had somehow damaged the HDMI ports . They now refused to cover the costs even though it was still covered by its full 3 year warranty .The unit was now an unreliable turd, With few options in frustration , I had it fixed under my dime and I promptly dumped it immediately afterwards in the one-owned marketplace.

(2) The stablemate CAMBRIDGE Blu-Ray player also strangely died a similar sudden and catastrophic demise a month after its 2 year warranty expired. They told me to deliver it to their specifically named local CAMBRIDGE authorized repair dealer for assessment . I did ,… and got the run around for a month before that local repair facility / dealer went bankrupt, and I lost the unit.

TAKEAWAY:

- CAMBRIDGE is a must to avoid ….full stop.

- I next went initially to ARCAM with their 5-year warranties with no issues,

- The ARCAM rig had a final full system upgrade to individual YBA separate power amps (2-3-2) and a discrete NUFORCE digital 7.1 preamp/ AV processor…. with NO issues at all . 

LESSON LEARNED : Build quality matters .., full stop.

The equipment I love the most- ARC is also the most problematic and finicky.  I discovered that preventative maintenance stops the fireworks. W Zane Johnson had the notion that his customers were all techies. Read the owners manual from his ownership era and it tells you how to bias your amp with a multimeter, etc. Yeh right. I have no business poking around with a metal probe in an amp with literally lethal voltage in the power caps. Plus I don't own an oscilloscope or tube tester. 

DBX equalizers seem to be pretty problematic as well. 

Japanese stuff is pretty much bulletproof but time and current ruin capacitors no matter who makes them. 

I’ve only had one string of bad reliability. Arcam came out with a new line of excellent sounding universal players, and I bought two. Both of these had their laser assemblies fail three times each before I gave up after 2-3 years of ownership. These laser assemblies seem to be the Achilles heel of the audio industry! The motorized drawers of players also seem to break commonly. I am so glad to move to streaming!

On the positive side: A case study counterpoint argument to “bad” reliability : REGA ISIS / REGA ISIS VALVE cdp/dac

Those worried about the viability of the CD format and getting your player serviced in the future, fear not. Inside the owner’s manual, there is a signature from the technician that assembled your ISIS, another tech that QC’d the electrical and mechanical systems and the tech that tested and archived not one, but two spare laser units.

Component-parts-matching for the Isis is extremely selective so that Rega actually chooses three hand-matched sets of laser/lens assemblies for each unit; one set gets installed in the player you buy, while the other two are marked and held in reserve at the factory for use as spares should your player ever require them.

I think it’s safe to say that the ISIS will last longer than most of its owners and I appreciate this attention to detail, with CD transport mechanisms getting scarcer all the time

My personal experience:

I’ve had my REGA ISIS VALVE cdp/DAC now for a decade plus now, The only thing that I needed to repair or replace were the upgraded MULLARD NOS tubes that I had foolishly selected as a recent “upgrade” step, but somehow these NOS ka- Ching priced aftermarket replacements were an illusion that quickly flunked out. after a year+ use. Not my finest moment .

So I went back to the OEM units provided with no problems at all .

TAKEAWAY AGAIN:

1) Build quality matters.…big-time.. You get what you pay for.

When you remove this beefy 55-pound (25kg) CD player from the box, you know it’s high-end, reliable , and built to last with a lifetime bullet-proof spare parts plan in place,