Experience with United Radio in NY


I have a ML 333 that smoked recently. My local repair guy looked and determined that it is beyond his ability to put in the time to make the repair. I contacted ML and got the names of several of the authorized service centers and came across two that seem promising. One is United Radio in East Syracuse, NY. United radio has an estimate of 125.00, reasonable enough but my feeling is they mostly concentrate on automotive audio equipment and may not have the means to tackle this problem.

I am thinking of them as they are located in the same state and I am hoping that traveling a shorter distance might improve the odds that it arrives in one piece

There was one in Texas also(name escapes me at the moment) that responded to an email. The repair service in LA has on its website that it is not taking any new repairs due to a backlog, which as I recall, I read in another post where it took a great deal of time to get their unit back.

I am hoping that someone somewhere has dealt with these guys and can give me a feel as to whether they are up to the task. They are ML authorized but not sure how much that means anymore....

.Anyone with experience with United Radio or Pyramid Audio (TX) or Technetron in NYC (I believe they did the recap for the previous owner) I would like to hear, the good the bad and especially the ugly

SteveA


128x128stevea11757
No experience with United Radio in NY, but I can recommend Ben Jacoby at High End Audio Repair in Brooklyn NY. He does beautiful work.
Sent an email to ask if he works on ML as they were not on his list of brands serviced
I had one experience with Pyramid Audio. A friend has a complete stack of more than 25 year-old McIntosh gear he wanted checked and renewed if necessary. Since Pyramid is in the town where I live, 200 miles from my friend, and was one of only two McIntosh service facilities we could find in the state, I went by to ask them about doing the work. It was not a good experience, to say the least. The conversation was curt and dismissive and the quote just to look at the gear was outrageous. I came away convinced that bringing the gear to them would be a big mistake. He went to the other facility and was very happy with the outcome.
United Radio has been around forever.  They were authorized warranty service agents for just about everything back in the day:  Grundig, Phillips, Sony, Marantz, Motorola, BSR, Garrard, JBL, Altec Lansing and more.  I haven't had any experiences with them recently, but 25 years ago they were the place to go for consumer electronics repair in CNY.

That said, I'm not sure they are a good spot to service Levinson gear.  You might want to contact Audio Classics in Vestal NY.  Not sure they'll work on ML as they're mostly a McIntosh house, but they might be able to steer you in the right direction.

Good luck & happy listening!
sfar,
I had heard a similar story about them, I will stay clear of them.

effischer470,
United is a ML authorized service, but not sure if they are more mobile electronics. Will shoot an email to Classics, but if you are not a authorized center obtaining parts is suppose to be a big issue, but worth the shot.