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Esoteric A100 Service Nightmare

My Esoteric A100 which has been stuck in a safety circuit mode after an electrical surge.  I have contacted the Esoteric Service department and the unit was shipped to TAP electronics in Buena Park CA.  I was contacted by the service department that the A100s cannot be serviced in the US and must be shipped to Japan due to a required tool that is only available in Japan.  What???  I was quoted a shipping charge in the thousands $ and that there is no guarantee that the unit is even salvageable.  The interaction with TAP electronics was a nightmare but its not relevant here.   A100 has essentially become an expensive paper weight.  I am disappointed and puzzled by the lack of adequate service support for a unit that sold for over $18,000.  Any thoughts or recommendation on addressing this unit?  I am ready to consider the unit dead and move on.  This is unfortunately a last resort plea before I drop this unit to recycling.


Regards

Frank

kimf70
rsf507
405 posts
 
But Elizabeth oh so true! 
inna
5,245 posts
 
Now I believe even less. OP, you have to prove your case here, anyone can say anything. I don’t care much about either Esoteric or Esoteric owners, by the way.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
5,112 posts
 
...that's why all of my stuff is American made backed up by those with proven support.  State of the art /time moves on - that's when you rely on customer support.  ...a lesson for buyers of expensive boxes.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
2,766 posts
 
I have a very expensive Esoteric SACD player that was built in 2008 and is hopefully my last SACD player. If I found out I couldn’t get my unit repaired, I would probably lose my mind or go postal on them.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
I'm gonna' sound completely unsympathetic, but this thread sounds a little like someone complaining about the upkeep costs on their mega-buck Ferrari.  Every review I came across described the A100 as the most complex KT88 amplifier ever made.  The amp cannot even be retubed by the user.  To have that done it must be sent to a qualified dealer.  Esoteric intended the amp to be a state of the art, reference quality product and according to the reviews they succeeded.
I have no idea whether TAP is treating you with respect or whether the shipping cost is reasonable, but your obvious frustration comes across.  From other posts it seems you've had the amp since at least 2011 and you state that it sounds wonderful.  Maybe a better way to look at this is to spread the repair cost over the life of the amplifier and accept that wonderful sounding state of the art performance really does cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars per year in upkeep costs.
Please let us know the outcome.

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