Any reputable Fisher repair techs in the Los Angeles area??
- Thread starter shrimpton
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Ouch! Any symptoms we can help you with ?
Dave
Dave
Closest I know of is FRED LONGWORTH in San Diego. www.repairaudio.com
He's damned good and is an AK member. Worth the 2 to 2-1/2 hour drive or so rather than shipping.
Someone may know the name of the Asian guy in the LA area whos supposed to be real good. I've heard good things about him too, but haven't been able to remember his name.
He's damned good and is an AK member. Worth the 2 to 2-1/2 hour drive or so rather than shipping.
Someone may know the name of the Asian guy in the LA area whos supposed to be real good. I've heard good things about him too, but haven't been able to remember his name.
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IMTubeHead
OsteoFisheritis
If You're Handy With A Soldering Iron...
Shrimpton,
Sorry to hear about your 800C. If you want to save some hassle of shipping and technician costs, there are SEVERAL resident members here who are very knowledgeable with all things Fisher! I'm a novice in this hobby and have learned a lot here from our members. There are a buttload of "800B, 800C Restoration" threads with detailed photos to help you. Good luck with your Fisher...
John
Shrimpton,
Sorry to hear about your 800C. If you want to save some hassle of shipping and technician costs, there are SEVERAL resident members here who are very knowledgeable with all things Fisher! I'm a novice in this hobby and have learned a lot here from our members. There are a buttload of "800B, 800C Restoration" threads with detailed photos to help you. Good luck with your Fisher...
John
The OP posted this ???? in the tube forum 1st. Maybe CLAY can combine.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=591035
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=591035
thanks for all the responses!
if anybody can remember the asian dude in los angeles, please let me know. san diego is definitley better than shipping and so is laguna beach but a local person would still be better if possible.
i've been using it everyday (8 hours a day usually) for the last 10 years with no problems AT ALL and then out of the blue there's a low hum. the hum is un-affected by the volume knob (it's the same hum whether the volume is up or down completely down) and the hum is easily heard. i was told by the fisher doc it was a filter cap.
thanks again for all the info, i really appreciate it!
if anybody can remember the asian dude in los angeles, please let me know. san diego is definitley better than shipping and so is laguna beach but a local person would still be better if possible.
i've been using it everyday (8 hours a day usually) for the last 10 years with no problems AT ALL and then out of the blue there's a low hum. the hum is un-affected by the volume knob (it's the same hum whether the volume is up or down completely down) and the hum is easily heard. i was told by the fisher doc it was a filter cap.
thanks again for all the info, i really appreciate it!
goldwax
dozy ming-mong
First off, the guy you're asking about is Tom Ishimoto in Simi Valley. Googling that will pull up his Yelp page etc. I've never used him.
There's also Brooks Berdan in Monrovia. My 500-C is there now. However, I can't yet give a recommendation because they already had it once and I had to bring it right back for a different problem. They seem like really nice folks, though, and turnaround was pretty quick.
The problem, btw, seems to be the same as yours: a hum in the right channel only that was unaffected by volume control or input selection. Actually, I think it did get a bit louder when I dimed it, but even with the volume all the way down the hum was very noticeable.
The tech just told me it was a failed output cap. (Or filter--I can't remember.) He said it was a $62 part and that it would take an hour or two of labor to replace it. He seemed to be hinting on the phone that the repair wasn't worth it--not sure if that's his general opinion or just one based on my particular unit. He did mention that there are three other output caps, any of which could fail at any time. Oy!
Anyway, I don't know what to do. Part of my wants to forge ahead and make this Fisher sing again. Part of me wants to get sell the unit as-is and out the money towards a decent solid-state amp or recent vintage. I don't know!
Gold -- one of the things I would recommend with a vintage piece like your 500C is to first have the tech make a thorough assessment of the unit before repairing anything. Even if they find nothing or very little, the hour or so it takes to do that is worth a lot to you. In the first place, it lets you know the complete range of (potential) issues with the unit, allowing you to pick and choose where best to place your money within your budget for the unit, and secondly, it helps to prevent from having to turn right around and fix something a short time later, that very likely would have been caught the first time if a full assessment had been done. Against this approach, if you just have a tech fix what is obviously broken at that moment in time, then it potentially sets you up for a lot of repeat visits, and more overall cost in the end to you.
I hope this helps!
Dave
I hope this helps!
Dave
goldwax
dozy ming-mong
Yep, good call. I had hoped that the tech was going to give it a thorough going over, but perhaps I should have been a bit more explicit. Well, it's not too late to back out from this tech--they guy's basically offered to refund me $150 if we part ways, which is really cool. On the other hand, considering his offer, maybe he's just the kind of guy I need to stick with, as long as I make sure to get a clear accounting of issues and repairs.
But then again he may NOT be familiar with tube gear and point to point wiring and feels uncomfortable working on it. If you read the 800-C and 400 rehab threads here you'll get an idea of what to expect if you should do it yourself. Plus the combined experience base runs into Decades. There are guys here who couldn't tell a coupling cap from an antenna trimmer (and still can't) yet they did a complete overhaul on their gear with help from the forum. But if you're the type where you have little patience for it being down and worked on, doing it yourself can run into problems. On the other hand, you can always brag to your friends "I fixed it myself. Can you do the same to that fairly new (under 15 year old) chip amp/radio???" There's a good bit of satisfaction in being able to bring a 50 year old piece of gear back from the dead and running reliably.
OUTPUT CAPS. Standard film caps in .1uf/ 400V don't cost $62. I would expect a high end JENSEN to cost about $30-40 each. Orange drops are about $4.00-5.00 each.
Main Filter Caps. Cans can cost up to $45-60 each, depending on which one is bad. These can be replaced with individual caps underneath (dis-connect the can and connect the individual cap) and these run about $3-7 each. There is enough room underneath to install them with no major modifications. Last is a custom set of can caps. You can get a complete set of can's from Hayseed Hamfest for about $110.00 and they are temp rated to 105*C. Most can's are only rated to 55*C to 85*C.
Drop right in, plug and play, so to speak.
Labor. If he's quoting you 1-2 hours to replace 1 cap, he's not comfortable with the unit, or he's trying to gouge you. Shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour to replace a CAN cap, if you know what you are doing. And if he's replacing all 4 of the can's not more than 2 hours. I'm slow and it took me under 1:45 to replace all 4 can caps, and the power resistors in the circuit. So it can be done.
Most shops only look at the failure, fix the failure, and move on to the next unit. PROFIT is the name of the game. A complete restoration is NOT a money maker for shops and they tend to NOT DO THEM.
Hope you get it fixed at a reasonable cost. And if you should decide to do it yourself, we'll backstop you, answer questions, and generally kibbutz. But it will be better than a shop would do. You learn something and have the satisfaction of a repaired unit you did yourself.
Larry
OUTPUT CAPS. Standard film caps in .1uf/ 400V don't cost $62. I would expect a high end JENSEN to cost about $30-40 each. Orange drops are about $4.00-5.00 each.
Main Filter Caps. Cans can cost up to $45-60 each, depending on which one is bad. These can be replaced with individual caps underneath (dis-connect the can and connect the individual cap) and these run about $3-7 each. There is enough room underneath to install them with no major modifications. Last is a custom set of can caps. You can get a complete set of can's from Hayseed Hamfest for about $110.00 and they are temp rated to 105*C. Most can's are only rated to 55*C to 85*C.
Drop right in, plug and play, so to speak.
Labor. If he's quoting you 1-2 hours to replace 1 cap, he's not comfortable with the unit, or he's trying to gouge you. Shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour to replace a CAN cap, if you know what you are doing. And if he's replacing all 4 of the can's not more than 2 hours. I'm slow and it took me under 1:45 to replace all 4 can caps, and the power resistors in the circuit. So it can be done.
Most shops only look at the failure, fix the failure, and move on to the next unit. PROFIT is the name of the game. A complete restoration is NOT a money maker for shops and they tend to NOT DO THEM.
Hope you get it fixed at a reasonable cost. And if you should decide to do it yourself, we'll backstop you, answer questions, and generally kibbutz. But it will be better than a shop would do. You learn something and have the satisfaction of a repaired unit you did yourself.
Larry
