I want to take this opportunity to talk a little about repair work in Malaysia. Over the past week I've conversed via email with the authorized repairer of AVI amplifiers and had a pleasant surprise when I threw a request to one of the leading sub-woofer manufacturers in the UK.
AVI S2000MI
First up is Phil of P.G. Electronics in the UK. I contacted Phil via email to ask if he had any literature on an AVI S2000 MI integrated amplifier. Unfortunately he couldn't help me there but he did provide a couple of tips on servicing the AVI. Very helpful individual and a brilliant human being overall. By the way, it costs £250-350 to get an AVI S2000 MI up and running in tip top condition from P.G. Electronics.
The second pleasant surprise of the week was REL Acoustics. You know REL, those guys who make those earth shattering sub-woofers, yup, those guys. We picked up a REL Q-Bass earlier in the week. This Q-Bass had been "repaired" previously for the princely sum of RM150. It got a new woofer and some major caps according to the owner...but it started cracking if the volume went past half.
Opening up the Q-Bass, immediately we gasped at what we saw. The amplifier's main filter capacitors were dangling off the board with wires and those wires had been covered with electrical tape which had already started peeling off. Imagine what would happen if the contacts on those caps were to touch or touch something else on the board! Another issue was the unbranded woofer with no specs on it sitting in place of the original REL unit.
REL Q-50 Sub-woofer
A quick check showed that the original unit was no longer in production and also looking at those dangling caps, we didn't believe those were the correct types. Only way to find out was to get a Service Manual. No luck finding one so decided to give it a go and ask REL themselves. They actually replied saying that the Q-Bass was under the old REL management and they too don't have the Service Manual and all they had was the Q-50 and Q-100 manuals which they sent over! Amazing people over there. Unfortunately, the manuals were of not much help as the Q-Bass uses a completely different design to the other Q-series subs. But anyway, kudos to the people at REL.
Earlier in this blog I said that I wanted to talk a bit about repairs in Malaysia, well, the REL above is an example of the workmanship we sometimes find in equipment we receive. Will expand on this in a different post sometime in the future with a few pictures for examples.
Well, this is the end of Part 1. In the next post, I hope to touch a bit on trade repairs. Till the next one!
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