Schematics


Is a manufacturer required to provide schematics to their gear?
pedrillo
I was asking because a friend claimed that he was accustomed to getting a schematic in his time, he is much older than most of us.
I understand that it is a matter of protecting ones intellectual property, but most electronic equipment can be reversed engineered, so those that want badly to illegally copy will manage to find a way, and the hobbyist who doesn't have the resources will be stuck.
I would think the proper course would be to provide them when the unit goes out of production. When I was a Meridian dealer I could not get a schematic for the 605 amps I was using but I recently requested and received one as they are no longer in production. I have not been a dealer for years. Some companied just want to corner the repair market on their products; I have this problem myself with a couple of units; I am quite willing to pay for the schematics of the products, which are discontinued. If they won't provide them I have a technician friend who can repair them anyway, it will just take longer.
Stanwal,
Those are the same feelings I had when asking the company for the schematic of their amp. They kept insisting they couldn't find a copy of the schematic. What does that say about the company when they can't produce a schematic of their most popular amp, of course it was a nice way of saying we don't give out schematics. My technician just as yours can repair it anyway so I will have the amp fixed by him anyway.
I have schematics for my older equipment including CJ, but I have not been able to get schematics lately from Audible Illusions.
Distribution of schematics is 100% up to the company, as a previous poster quoted: they are that company's Intellectual Property.

In this day and age of offshore manufacturing and all the copying and cloning going on, I would suspect that acquiring schematics will only get more difficult in the future.

I work for two foreign manufacturers (dCS and Nagra) and am also McIntosh, Plinius and a few other brands authorized, and none allow me to provide schematics to end users or non-Authorized service providers.