Rotel won't support repair.

[wickedone]

I purchased a Rotel RSX-1058 back in 2007 so it is now out of warranty. At the present time the unit does not have any audio output.

I called the local Rotel dealer (Stereo Planet) who suggested I take the unit to a local electronics repair shop to have them check it out since they don't do any repairs. So I took the unit in on October 28, 2013.

At the time the repair shop told me they were backed up and wouldn't be able to get to the unit for a couple of weeks, so I waited. Three weeks later I called to find out what was going on with the Rotel and was told that they had tracked the issue down to the DSP circuit but didn't have the Rotel service manual for the RSX-1058 and had contacted Rotel to get a copy but hadn't heard back from them.

I called Stereo Planet and told them what was going on and they said they would contact their Rotel rep to see about getting a service manual to the repair shop (he stated that he didn't understand why Rotel hadn't returned the repair shops call, but would follow up with his rep).

Stereo Planet called me back and told me they had spoken with their Rotel rep and the rep told them he would send a service manual to the repair shop. I called the repair shop to tell them what Stereo Planet had told me and they said Stereo Planet had already called them and told them the same thing - the Rotel rep was going to get a service manual and send it to them. That was two weeks ago.

I just received a call from the repair shop and was told that Rotel would not provide ANY SUPPORT OF ANY KIND to this repair shop. I said "so you mean Rotel won't send you a service manual?" and they said Rotel would not provide the service manual.

I also just called Stereo Planet and they told me the same thing - Rotel requires me to send the unit to a shop in Portland, OR or directly to Rotel.

Now, if this were a warranty repair, I could understand Rotel's position, but this unit is out of warranty. So I just wasted $35.00 and over a month for nothing.

I'm also more than a little peeved at the Stereo Planet for giving me incorrect guidance with regard to the unit's repair. If they had told me up front I needed to ship it off to Portland I wouldn't have wasted over a month and the $35.00.

So you can bet your sweet a_s I'll never purchase another Rotel component.

 

[Art K.]

Sorry to hear that but it isn't the first time I have. I owned a bunch of Rotel stuff at one time but I learned to stay away from their AVR's. Not built as well as it looks and near to impossible to get repaired. Are you in Bend?

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

Smacks of Fony's way of doing business.

 

[dr*audio]

You need to find another repair shop anyway. I just found the service manual for download for free here:
http://www.hifi-manuals.com/Rotel/RSX-1067-service-manual/download
Took me less than 1 minute. If the shop doesn't know about such resources or can't be bothered to check, they don't belong in business, IMO. Or they shouldn't accept repairs for brands that they don't have service manual subscriptions for.

 

[Art K.]

Many companies are doing this not just Rotel. Welcome to the new Warranty situation.

It's not under warranty.

Kevin C recently had some problems with a Rotel repair. A good friend of mine was a Rotel dealer and repair center and Rotel threw him under the bus so he dropped Rotel. This is not an uncommon situation with Rotel. My guess is that Stereo Planet was not fully aware of how Rotel was going to deal with it. Enough times like that and Rotel loses another dealer.

 

[Art K.]

Yep. B&W and Classe do provide better support though. Can't say that B&W is great but I was able to get the answers I needed and fairly quick.

 

[wickedone]

I live in La Pine.

I have REALLY old B&W speakers I bought back @ 1980 (DM 14's) that still sound great. But that was way before B&W became the company it is today. I did send an e-mail to B&W a couple of weeks ago because both of my speakers have lost the logos after umpteen moves over the years. Unfortunately, their not unexpected reply was they no longer had those logos available.

My main system is Parasound and the components and company have been great - at least I haven 't had anything go out on me yet. I called them with a general question after I bought the Model 7100 and Richard Schramm (the owner) actually answered the phone and addressed my question. They shipped me the part I wanted no problem.

Dr*audio, your link is for the RSX-1067 manual. I found that manual and the 1057 manual on Hifi-manuals.com when the repair shop initially told me they couldn't get the manual for the RSX-1058. I called them and they said they had the manuals for both the 1067 and 1057, the unit preceding the 1058 but they were of no use in repairing the 1058.

The repair shop told me their belief was that the high end manufacturers didn't want their service manuals in the public domain because they are afraid they'll be reverse engineered. Quite possible? but wouldn't it be a lot easier to just buy a new unit and take it apart to see how it ticks? I'm certainly not an electrical engineer, but I would think it really wouldn't be that hard if you were?

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Also, there may be a good chance the DSP IC won't be available. Modern AVR units are loaded with Surface Mount IC chips, and heavy ASIC and DSP (Application Specific Integrated Circuits and Digital Signal Processing). Those IC chips are often not kept in stock for these units past warranty end, not just on Rotel but on most other AVR makes.

 

[KevinCorr]

Yes, the saga Art K referred to is this post: http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=518617

I ended up just giving it away.

LA PINE: Been there a number of times. My best friend Bill lives there, a brilliant guitarist. Well, actually about 8 miles down the road toward Vegas. They play country music for fun, places like the senior center etc...called the Armadillos I believe.

 

[dr*audio]

I live in La Pine.

I have REALLY old B&W speakers I bought back @ 1980 (DM 14's) that still sound great. But that was way before B&W became the company it is today. I did send an e-mail to B&W a couple of weeks ago because both of my speakers have lost the logos after umpteen moves over the years. Unfortunately, their not unexpected reply was they no longer had those logos available.

My main system is Parasound and the components and company have been great - at least I haven 't had anything go out on me yet. I called them with a general question after I bought the Model 7100 and Richard Schramm (the owner) actually answered the phone and addressed my question. They shipped me the part I wanted no problem.

Dr*audio, your link is for the RSX-1067 manual. I found that manual and the 1057 manual on Hifi-manuals.com when the repair shop initially told me they couldn't get the manual for the RSX-1058. I called them and they said they had the manuals for both the 1067 and 1057, the unit preceding the 1058 but they were of no use in repairing the 1058.

The repair shop told me their belief was that the high end manufacturers didn't want their service manuals in the public domain because they are afraid they'll be reverse engineered. Quite possible? but wouldn't it be a lot easier to just buy a new unit and take it apart to see how it ticks? I'm certainly not an electrical engineer, but I would think it really wouldn't be that hard if you were?

Oops. I plugged in "RSX-1058" and when something came up I didn't notice the number was different.

 

[dr*audio]

As far as reverse engineering goes, yes, it is possible. The Chinese do it all the time. They have software that can scan a pc board and make a schematic for it. Sometimes companies sell their product in China only to find that someone there made a knockoff of it, and there is nothing that can be done about it. Right now someone in China is making counterfeit Martin guitars. They even say "Martin" on the headstock. However, in Audio, there are likely very few new designs that are proprietary. There are only so many ways to design an amplifier and I am sure that they have all been tried. Companies just want to maintain control over their products and make some additional income on the repair work. They are entitled to do that, but they should realize that it makes life difficult for their customers if they have to ship the equipment back to the company for repair. Because they are making life difficult for the customers, those customers are going to get fed up and go elsewhere. It's just not a good business model, IMO.

 

[wickedone]

I'm going in tomorrow to pick up the unit - may list it on eBay for parts. The sad part is this unit is in pristine condition. I still have the double box and everything that came with it when new.

Even though this unit isn't under warranty (I read the thread on Kevin's fiasco) warranties in general are next to useless.

I bought a brand new JennAir slide-in range for the house in February of this year from Standard TV in Bend - $1,999.00. Nine days after I got it I was boiling water for pasta. All of a sudden I see sparks under the glass cooktop. Then a few seconds later everything goes blank - the unit is dead.

I call Standard TV and they say they'll have to send a repairman out to see what's wrong so they can fix it. I tell them, no way. I bought a brand new range and I don't want this one repaired after only nine days - I want a new range.

Their response is they can't give me a new range, they have to repair the one I have. I'm pissed. So a week later the repairman comes out and checks out the range. Turns out they'll have to order parts, some of which have to come from the Whirlpool factory in MI. After three weeks, they finally come back to fix the range the end of April.

In the meantime I called Discover to contest the $1,999.00 charge. The woman at Discover I spoke with completely agrees that she would not be happy if she just bought a new range and after nine days it died and was told she'd have to deal with getting it fixed.

Discover immediately credits those funds back to my account. The next day I get a call from Standard TV trying to get me to say that I accept the repairs they made to the range - no way. Yes they "fixed" the range, but I want a new range.

Well apparently Discover told them they aren't getting their money unless I get a new range because then I get a call from Standard TV that they are going to delliver a new range.

To make a long story short, I got the new range in May and (fingers crossed) it has been working fine since.

 

[Yamaki]

I know two good shops in Portland if you are still thinking about getting the unit repaired. Just PM me if you want their info.

Sorry for your troubles and Standard TV & Appliance customer service sucks. Ask me how I know...

Good luck!

 

[Rick Vestal]

Just for future reference, most of their service manuals are available online...

http://bwgroupsupport.com/manuals/service

Unfortunately, many of the newer ones aren't there yet, including the 1058...

 

[NutBucket]

As far as reverse engineering goes, yes, it is possible. The Chinese do it all the time. They have software that can scan a pc board and make a schematic for it.

Making the PC board is the easy part. I have software that has the same functionality. The hard(er) part is getting the proprietary ASICs that many companies use.

Heck, from what I see most PC boards in modern electronics (ignoring cell phones) are definitely low-tech. There's no size restraints really so there's no need to spend money on high-tech board manufacturing processes.

As for the OP he is probably out of luck unless he can source some parts on the second hand market.

 

[zebra03]

I'm going in tomorrow to pick up the unit - may list it on eBay for parts. The sad part is this unit is in pristine condition. I still have the double box and everything that came with it when new.

Even though this unit isn't under warranty (I read the thread on Kevin's fiasco) warranties in general are next to useless.

I bought a brand new JennAir slide-in range for the house in February of this year from Standard TV in Bend - $1,999.00. Nine days after I got it I was boiling water for pasta. All of a sudden I see sparks under the glass cooktop. Then a few seconds later everything goes blank - the unit is dead.

I call Standard TV and they say they'll have to send a repairman out to see what's wrong so they can fix it. I tell them, no way. I bought a brand new range and I don't want this one repaired after only nine days - I want a new range.

Their response is they can't give me a new range, they have to repair the one I have. I'm pissed. So a week later the repairman comes out and checks out the range. Turns out they'll have to order parts, some of which have to come from the Whirlpool factory in MI. After three weeks, they finally come back to fix the range the end of April.

In the meantime I called Discover to contest the $1,999.00 charge. The woman at Discover I spoke with completely agrees that she would not be happy if she just bought a new range and after nine days it died and was told she'd have to deal with getting it fixed.

Discover immediately credits those funds back to my account. The next day I get a call from Standard TV trying to get me to say that I accept the repairs they made to the range - no way. Yes they "fixed" the range, but I want a new range.

Well apparently Discover told them they aren't getting their money unless I get a new range because then I get a call from Standard TV that they are going to delliver a new range.

To make a long story short, I got the new range in May and (fingers crossed) it has been working fine since.

Good for you . That old piece of plastic came in handy .

 

[NutBucket]

Pretty sad that in many cases that piece of plastic is your only chance at making the retailer do the right thing.

 

[secretguy]

Amazing that companies still haven't caught on to what damage an angry consumer can do via forums/social websites. I know I'd certainly never consider anything from Rotel after reading this. As for JennAir....I just tossed one in the trash.

 

[cdfac]

OTOH, some companies, like Accuphase, have been doing this for a long time. Hardly anything past Accuphase's first series of units has a publicly-accessible service manual. If it's not an obvious fix that a decent tech can troubleshoot without schematics and whatnot, you pretty much have to ship it to California for repair, at least AFAIK.

 

[Augy]

Cambridge audio does the same

They make you send the unit to Montreal Canada for repair. I just paid $88.00 in shipping for what turned out to be a belt replacement an $ 8.00 part.