Experience with Blue Circle amps

Sugarbrie, when I was told their was a cost involved in regards to repair to the BC22, I told the dealer he could shove it. He then paid for the repair himself, so really I actually did not pay for the repair personally. I should have wrote their was a charge, not he charged me, sorry for the mix up.
Do you remember the test bench performance results in the Stereophile issue with the BC21/22 combo? They said the BC22 tested like a 15 year old SS amp, shutting down every twenty seconds during the test or so from overheating. I had a problem with mine when I used it on my speakers, it was unable to drive them and felt like it would melt, even at very low volumes. I then used an 8 year old Simaudio amp (4050, I think?) and it drove the speakers with ease.

I personally know more people that had the same problems with the BC22 and surprisingly mechanical difficulties with the BC21 as well. I had no problems with the BC21, I really liked that preamp and had considered getting a BC3 Galatea at some point.

I have to agree with Sugarbrie - Gilbert's customer service is second to none. Thorty40: I would be willing to bet that your dealer sold you a pooched amp in the first place. I know literally dozens of Blue Circle customers; all happy campers - mainly because of Gilbert's commitment to both his product and customers. In addition, I drove a pair of Aerial 5 (85 db sens.) speakers for two years with a BC22, never turned the amp off. It never got more than a bit warm.

The fact that the amp experienced mechanical failure does not bother me nearly as much as a manufacturer charging to repair an item that clearly was under warranty. The amp was sealed, brand new at the time of purchasing and the dealer was reputable and honest. This is in no way an attempt to bash anything or anyone, its just something that happened plain and simple.

I believe you completely; it is the dealers behavior that seems strange. How do you know Blue Circle tried to charge? It is just the dealers word for it. Was he really a Blue Circle dealer? He may have still been picking them up from somewhere else (another dealer selling out of his area) and not from BC directly, so him trying to return it as a warranty repair would make bells go off.

The BC22 and BC21 were dropped shipped directly from Blue Circle to me at the time of purchase. Its not only me that had this problem, I know of others who had simliar problems. I actually saw the e-mail from BC with the charges and the charges were made payable to BC, not the dealer.

Its not the efficency of the speaker, its the load thats the problem. Read the test bench report in Stereophile, its clearly shown in their report.

Regards,
Chris