Sourceless

[Yikes]

Well I am fucking sourceless again . My Exemplar 3910 developed a problem in March.

I sent it to the most experienced (at working on modified Denons)repair depot in the country.

They took seven weeks . ,$320 including shipping, and it?s got a fucking worse problem than when I sent it to them .

Now it?s going to be at least another $100 in shipping and however long it takes them this time.

I?m not totally sourceless, but I am lacking a quality source. I?m pissed.

[hungrych]

Join the club.

[tkam]

Wow that sucks, but out of curiosity why didn't you send it back to Exemplar?

[Salt Peanuts]

Man, that sucks. Here's hoping it gets fixed quickly.

*Slaps self in the head for not listening to it more at the previous meets.

[n_maher]

I too am currently sourceless, or at least down a source. My primary DVD player in the living room has given up the ghost after moving and will not read anything but a virgin DVD and refuses audio discs altogether. So my trusty Toshiba that has already blown a power supply has been moved to the living room leaving the headphone rig sorely lacking for a transport for my Monica DAC.

I think Haj will agree, I've got crap luck when it comes to DVD players!

And Ethan, that sucks man. I can only imagine the anguish that goes along with losing a source that you actually like.

[Yikes]

Ah.. The true down side to a modded unit. Exemplar will fix the Exemplar bits, and Denon fixes the Denon bits. Hopefully it is repairable.

I have a Pioneer DV563 and frankly it just doesn?t cut it. For a spare source I was using the 563 digital out to my EAD 7000 D/A, not in the Exemplars league but listenable. Now the 7000 is failing to lock on to the digital input from the Pioneer. I?m hoping it?s the Pioneers output that is bad, not the 7000.

I?m toying with the idea of buying a spare player. I?ve heard good things about the Cambridge Audio Azur 640C. The exact quote was ?A steal at $600?. I?ll have to sell some stuff to raise the necessary funds.

[tkam]

I’m toying with the idea of buying a spare player. I’ve heard good things about the Cambridge Audio Azur 640C. The exact quote was “A steal at $600”. I’ll have to sell some stuff to raise the necessary funds.

Just sell a few more cables that should cover it . I hope the 3910 gets fixed correctly this time around I hear really good things about Exemplar modded ones.

[Salt Peanuts]

I think Haj will agree, I've got crap luck when it comes to DVD players!

That, I think, is an understatement, Nate.

[K2Grey]

Hmm, does a TBAAM and an iPod count as a source? If not, then count me into this club as well

[n_maher]

That, I think, is an understatement, Nate.

True enough it is my friend. Total utter crap, shit and awful luck with DVD and CD players alike. What is only remotely hilarious is that the first real CD player that I ever bought (I was an early adopter) ran for the better part of 10 yrs and was treated with a total lack of respect. Ever since then I've tried to be a bit more gentle with my gear and what has that gear done, kicked me square in the nuts every chance it gets .

With any luck after I clear a few projects out of the way I'll finally be able to get back to dealing with the source issue properly.

Hmm, does a TBAAM and an iPod count as a source? If not, then count me into this club as well

The Ipod is all I've got right now so I guess "no" is the answer .

Nate

[en480c4]

If it makes you feel any better, I've had complete crap for luck w/ my Denon DVM-3700 lately...

I've had it for years, but it was still covered by the extended warranty I got with it when it was new.

For a few months, it had a problem where it would switch discs in the middle of playing. Then in the beginning of December it stopped recognizing about 90% of all discs. So I finally have to send it out.

First week in December - ships out to Tweeter's service center... nobody seems to know what's going on for the next 10 weeks, as it goes to Denon and Tweeter has no idea when it might get back.

Finally get it back in late February... set it up, and it seems fine. It recognizes discs and plays through. The 2nd time I use it, it jumps discs again. Time to go back out...

It's out for less time, and comes back in mid March. I get it home and open it up and low and behold the unit took a major hit, with the face plate taking the brunt of the impact. Dents, scratches and the face plate pushed over a good 3/8", with broken plastic trim everywhere. I didn't even turn it on to see if they had actually fixed the problem... I brought it right back.

Well, it was gone until about 2 weeks ago, and I finally got it back. Denon did a great job replacing the whole front panel and trim pieces, and the unit looked new. Which is great, because the only thing it does well is look good. I thought they might've actually just replaced the unit... but wait! Its problem jumping from the disc I'm in the middle of watching to the next disc might even be worse than before. So clearly it's the same piece.

So I went in today and they say because it's over a year old, their lemon policy (3 times out for the same problem = store credit) doesn't apply. So they want to send it out again, depsite the fact that the last 5 months and 3 tries have only proved they have no idea what's going on. Why sell an extended warranty if they're not going to stand behind it... They clearly can't fix it, either because the unit is beyond repair or they're incompetent, so what do they suggest? Send it out again, go without it for another month and, in all likelyhood, get it back with the same problem.

The $40 open-box buy Sony I got at Circuit City to hold me over at least works! It may not look great, or sound great, but at least I know I can watch a movie without the damn thing flipping out on me.

Needless to say, Tweeter's lost my business for good.

[Yikes]

Write a letter to Tweeters CEO COO ect. You'd be amazed at what they'll do when you piss up high.

[boodi]

omg is it that frequent source crap ?

happy wadian here

[tkam]

Hmm thats a rather strange extended warranty Tweeter has, I know the ones best buy has almost always result in them giving you a new unit no questions asked and in fact that is even one of their big selling points on it.

[Post]

i love best buy's warranty. i have a spankin' new portable dvd player sitting in the closet because of it. when my ipod finally dies, i am so going to activate its bestbuy warranty too. btw i got a scare both going to and from LA on the plane with my ipod, which refused to work, but works fine on the ground. i chalk it up to the ipod being scared of heights.

[n_maher]

Hmm thats a rather strange extended warranty Tweeter has, I know the ones best buy has almost always result in them giving you a new unit no questions asked and in fact that is even one of their big selling points on it.

In the past this used to be the case, but at least at my local BB they are now almost exclusively sending things out for repair, especially big ticket items like ipods and such. For something <$100 I'd bet they still replace at will be my camera has been sent out 3 times now for minor issues and the last time my Ipod chucked a HD they sent it to apple for repair.

Nate

[Post]

In the past this used to be the case, but at least at my local BB they are now almost exclusively sending things out for repair, especially big ticket items like ipods and such. For something <$100 I'd bet they still replace at will be my camera has been sent out 3 times now for minor issues and the last time my Ipod chucked a HD they sent it to apple for repair.

Nate

lucky for me, my old portable dvd player wasn't carried by BB anymore, so they just told me to grab something off the shelves - can you say upgrade from a polaroid dvd player to a Panasonic? score!

[en480c4]

Well, the problem is compounded by the fact that they don't have any comparable units in their store network, and it looks like Denon doesn't have any N.O.S. or refurb units either. And for whatever reason, they won't suck it up and give me store credit. I spent about an hour there today and they're going to go to Denon directly, ask why in 3 tries they haven't fixed the problem, and see if there's any old-stock units to swap it out with. At this point, I'd take a 3700, 4800, 2900, whatever... even though I would lose the knowledge of exactly where my unit has been and how it's been cared for. I really dig their ALPHA processor/DAC setup and it sounds great with my speaker rig, so I don't want to stray from that if I don't have to. But I'm not holding out much hope. They're really proving themselves to be real ass hats over there. The manager was "sorry" I haven't had the thing working right since the first week of December, then says "we may have to send it out again." Clearly he's not that sorry, as any time out for repair will be pushing this into the 6 month range.

What a bunch of fucktards!

[Yikes]

They received the player Friday, and I got a VM from them saying that they had verified the problem (The first hurtle is finding the problem) and that the required part (the drive that they had installed had failed) is on order. They however did not mention how long it was going to be until the part arrives.

Then I am having them send the player to Exemplar in WA. for the latest mods, and a going over. So I'll be lucky if I have it back in 4 weeks, probably 5 or 6

[tkam]

Man that wait really sucks I hope it sounds fantastic and doesn't break again when you finally get it back.

[Post]

two months? man yikes - seriously, just grab a dvd player from around the house and invest in a cheap external DAC for now or something. 2 months is killer.

[Yikes]

I have a cheap source. I?m a longtime audiophile snob, and it just isn?t the same.

I?m going to harass the repair shop today.

[Yikes]

The Denon repair shop finally finished last week. I then had them send the player to Exemplar Audio. EA is going to do a quick update. Hopefully it?ll be done any day. Then a week shipping back home.

I?ve been (Quality) source-less since March. :'( I think I?m going to have to find another quality source that I?ll use in my bedroom, and as a backup for my main system.

[Salt Peanuts]

That's a great news, Ethan!

Maybe pick up another Exemplar off of Audiogon? They show up there often for a great price, but I think you knew that already.

You know, your misfortunes (and Nate's) with sources are making me want get myself a backup source as well. (knocks on wood)

[tkam]

You know, your misfortunes (and Nate's) with sources are making me want get myself a backup source as well. (knocks on wood)

One of the reasons I have two sources is because of the less than stellar reliability history of the SACD 1000. Luckily I haven't had an problems with it yet. I've thought about possibly selling my two sources at some point and just getting one, but I kinda like have two sources and I think it'd be a challenge to get decent money for the sacd 1000.