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Tubes bad in 80 days on new Mc275? Are they BS'ing me?


32blownhemi

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On 12/5/2017 at 3:02 AM, wdecho said:

The standard line of not covering tubes is understandable but in your circumstance you have a good case. My vote is that McIntosh will cover them as well. Years ago there was no better customer service than McIntosh for tube gear. They use to have clinics at their seller's location and freely replaced tubes not up to par. Of course they did this to sell new products during the process. 

 

I attended a couple of those in the '60s.  They would come through Berkeley about once per year, I think.  They repaired McInotsh on the spot, in front of the "audience," at no cost whatsoever, and ran distortion tests to make sure the finished units measured below 0.1% distortion, 20 to 20K.  You got to keep the graph.

 

 

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On 12/27/2017 at 2:59 AM, amb3cog said:

So did they pay for the tubes? I read this all the way to find out, but no finish here! I'd like to know. Lol

 

NOPE, I had to pay $300!!! Picked it up yesterday. Latest update was the lady in the warrantee Dept at McIntosh (Sharon or Shannon?) said "McIntosh warranties tube amp's for 90 days. Period! But, then why did she research {or so she said} what was going on by talking to the repair shop (George Meyer in Los Angeles). She said weeks ago it would depend on what the repair man said. When I picked the amp up at the place I bough it at (Shelley's Audio in Woodland Hills, Calif) Alon (salesman) said "Repair guy said tubes had excessive wear on them. And that he paid Meyer's $300 for the repair." Alon said tubes can wear out in 3000 hours. I only used the amp for 80 days. The day I got my Xilica back in the mail from Chris who programed it for me until it quit working. For it to be left on for 3000 hours in 80 days it would have had to be left on for 37 1/2 hours a day straight...  Oh, and shouldn't they have given me the old tubes back?   Bill

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On 12/27/2017 at 2:59 AM, amb3cog said:

So did they pay for the tubes? I read this all the way to find out, but no finish here! I'd like to know. Lol

 

NOPE, I had to pay $300!!! Picked it up yesterday. Latest update was the lady in the warrantee Dept at McIntosh (Sharon or Shannon?) said "McIntosh warranties tube amp's for 90 days. Period! But, then why did she research {or so she said} what was going on by talking to the repair shop (George Meyer in Los Angeles). She said weeks ago it would depend on what the repair man said. When I picked the amp up at the place I bough it at (Shelley's Audio in Woodland Hills, Calif) Alon (salesman) said "Repair guy said tubes had excessive wear on them. And that he paid Meyer's $300 for the repair." Alon said tubes can wear out in 3000 hours. I only used the amp for 80 days. The day I got my Xilica back in the mail from Chris who programed it for me until it quit working. For it to be left on for 3000 hours in 80 days it would have had to be left on for 37 1/2 hours a day straight...  Oh, and shouldn't they have given me the old tubes back?   Bill

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58 minutes ago, 32blownhemi said:

 

NOPE, I had to pay $300!!! Picked it up yesterday. Latest update was the lady in the warrantee Dept at McIntosh (Sharon or Shannon?) said "McIntosh warranties tube amp's for 90 days. Period! But, then why did she research {or so she said} what was going on by talking to the repair shop (George Meyer in Los Angeles). She said weeks ago it would depend on what the repair man said. When I picked the amp up at the place I bough it at (Shelley's Audio in Woodland Hills, Calif) Alon (salesman) said "Repair guy said tubes had excessive wear on them. And that he paid Meyer's $300 for the repair." Alon said tubes can wear out in 3000 hours. I only used the amp for 80 days. The day I got my Xilica back in the mail from Chris who programed it for me until it quit working. For it to be left on for 3000 hours in 80 days it would have had to be left on for 37 1/2 hours a day straight...  Oh, and shouldn't they have given me the old tubes back?   Bill

You are all over the map in this thread.  You started out saying she told you they don't warranty tubes at all.  That wasn't accurate.

 

They warranty tubes for 90 days from date of purchase.   Your "tube amps" are still under warranty, not the tubes.  You need to find another Mac dealer, it wouldn't have been any issue at all at most Mac dealers.

 

You keep asking questions after the fact.  Yes they should have given the tubes back, but did you ask for them?  

 

 

 

 

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I was kinda thinking the same thing. You're not on top of this like you should be. You're not showing them any challenge on this. You're basically just letting them call the shots. If you let a business, who's there to make money, just do whatever they choose. More often then not. They're going to choose to make money off of you. If you didn't ask for, and get your tubes back. They just may be in the tech or managers amplifier right now. Maybe they did get them replaced by McIntosh, and kept them for themselves even. 

 

You need to push them to do right by you if they won't do it themselves. It would be a cold day in hell, before I would pay for those tubes. There's no way I would put up with that nonsense. Those tubes should have rightfully been replaced. And if I were you I would talk to McIntosh themselves about this issue. It just doesn't seem right to me in the least. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

On 1/6/2018 at 10:58 PM, dwilawyer said:

You are all over the map in this thread.  You started out saying she told you they don't warranty tubes at all.  That wasn't accurate.

 

They warranty tubes for 90 days from date of purchase.   Your "tube amps" are still under warranty, not the tubes.  You need to find another Mac dealer, it wouldn't have been any issue at all at most Mac dealers.

 

You keep asking questions after the fact.  Yes they should have given the tubes back, but did you ask for them?  

 

 

 

 

I'll try to keep my ADHD in check & start over...  Update!  Ok, I bought a Mc275 last May (my second one, first was purchased last March). Last August, 3 months after I purchased it I hooked it up. Vertical Bi-Amp'ed, using 8 Ohm connections. 80 days later it quit working. Yes, I know mac tube amp's are warrantee'd for 3 years from date of purchase but the tubes are only warrantee'd for 90 days from date of purchase. I figured, at most, I played the amp 60 hours. Ok, the cast of characters are; 1) Alon at Shelley's Stereo in Woodland Hills, Ca where I purchased the amp. 2) Morris at George Meyer Audio in Woodland Hills, Ca. 3) Shannon at McIntosh warrantee department... I took my amp to Alon & he sent it to Morris to be repaired. Alon then called me & said my amp had a broken transformer & it would be covered under warrantee but also 4 bad tubes (the KT88's). And these were not covered under warrantee, the charge was $300. He said that Morris said the tubes showed excessive wear. So I called Shannon, told her the details (owned for 6 months, used for 80 days, etc). She told me tubes were only warrantee'd for 90 days but she'd call Morris & talk to him. I talked to Shannon & Alon several times over the next 2 or so months (I was gone on vacation for a few weeks). After I got back from vacation & called Shannon & she said "No" they weren't going to warrantee the tubes because they showed excessive wear. I then called Morris & asked him details. He said; the transformer had 'dead shorted'. Of the four K88 tubes, One tube had 'flashed'. One tube had an 'open filament'. & two tubes had 'low emission gain'. And said all 4 tubes didn't show a 'bright yellow glow' that tubes stop showing after 800-1000 hr's or so. I didn't understand what he was saying but took notes. So bottom line when I picked up the amp I had to pay for the tubes. I asked for the tubes but they didn't have them when I picked up the amp from Alon. So I called Morris & he mailed them to me... I then wrote McIntosh an e-mail explaining how unhappy I was & how I was going to tell everyone I talked to what I thought of them.... Got to go... I'll finish later...   Bill

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5 hours ago, jjptkd said:

Damn, wouldn't expect that from such a large reputable company, sorry to hear this!

Me neither, I call :pwk_bs: on Mac and the tech who made the determination that these two problems are/were not related. A damaged output transformer which was covered in warranty could not take out the tubes? Bull Feathers!!

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Part II... Ok, so I went back & forth with McIntosh with several e-mails. Told them how unhappy I was, I was going to bash them on-line, etc... They asked lots of questions, how the amps were set-up,  type of active crossover, what make/model of speakers, etc... McIntosh finally said the reason my amp showed excessive wear was because I was using the 8 ohm connections. That my K-691 horns are rated 5 ohms & my Jubilee bass bins are 4 ohms. But I looked at the Jubes & they say 8 ohm's on them. Horns don't say... So being hooked up like it was made the amp work twice as hard as it should & wore the tubes out. But, the good news is he said he'd mail me 8 KT-88 tubes! Yes 8... I was thinking 'checks in the mail' but I got a tracking number today. Said they'll be delivered next Wednesday. And 8 tubes cost a lot more than $300!   Thanks everyone,   Bill

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/2/2018 at 6:48 PM, 32blownhemi said:

McIntosh finally said the reason my amp showed excessive wear was because I was using the 8 ohm connections. That my K-691 horns are rated 5 ohms & my Jubilee bass bins are 4 ohms. But I looked at the Jubes & they say 8 ohm's on them. Horns don't say... So being hooked up like it was made the amp work twice as hard as it should & wore the tubes out. 

 

OK, they are covering them, but as a tech who mainly works on tube gear, I call complete BS on their claim here.  You can be 100% off in impedance match with pretty much any tube amp with not much consequence other than diminished power transfer.   An amp like this with higher negative feedback and damping is less susceptible than the average Fender guitar amp mismatch which may do 300 road gigs with no problem.  

 

To me this reads like the transformer was faulty from the get-go and causing excessive current draw in the tubes, which would wear them prematurely.  You certainly wouldn't have the tube faults described from an impedance mismatch.  

 

....but I don't really know, at a distance with second hand information......  

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One lesson here it to plug those suckers in and start using them as soon as you buy them.  I've learned the hard way when I didn't use some tweeters until almost a year after I bought them. 

That said...

They really came close to damaging their reputation if they hadn't replaced the tubes... why in the world would anyone buy new if that was how they would be treated.

 

Did the tubes show up?

So do I understand they are telling you to connect to your setup with the 4 ohm connection?

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11 hours ago, 32blownhemi said:

They sent me 8 new tubes & installed 4 new ones in my amp (& I got the 4 'bad' ones back). But I had to pay $300...  I guess it was easier/cheaper for them to send me 8 tubes than refund money? I'll post a pic of the e-mail they sent me.. 20180221_190549_resized.thumb.jpg.fee0ac154e8b94bbeaf0d7842a8065e1.jpg

 

 

You aren't forcing the amp to put out double power, that is nonsense.  Why, let's see, if it did, shouldn't that pop the fuse?  Immediately?  

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16 hours ago, EMRR said:

 

 

You aren't forcing the amp to put out double power, that is nonsense.  Why, let's see, if it did, shouldn't that pop the fuse?  Immediately?  

Wow! At least they made it up to me by giving me 8 tubes in addition to the 4 they put in the amp. Now that I think about it the place I bought the amp from should have been the ones to handle this for me...    Thank You!   Bill

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Yea they should have, and I would go in there and remind them of that. I also would post my experience on review sites. Many times I want to, but hold off because I get it. Mistakes happen. As long as they don't become impolite to me. I usually cool off. I hate the idea of hurting someones income source. But if it costs me lots of time, and/or money it's a different matter. In this case I wouldn't though due to the amount of money you spent. Twice now! 

And had a big hassle too. For what you spent on the amp. They should have sent a guy out to hook it up for you. That wouldn't even cost them $50 to do so probably. Depending on how far away your house is. Or they could have at least talked you through the right way to hook it up. That way if you did it there way. They can't say any BS like they are now. This is nonsense. I'd be furious myself. Spend that kind of money, but get worse customer service then McDonald's. I don't think so. I would not be okay with that AT ALL! 

 

But that's me. I'm a very principled type person. And can be a little aggressive with these things. I do get what they are supposed to give me in the end though. Every time too. Many, many bill credits from cable, cell phone etc. Just got an extra $100 out of Verizon last month, because the person who sold me my Pixel 2 XL straight up lied to my face and put me through a big hassle. Got every penny I had coming too. Two months with no bill right after Xmas was very nice indeed. But I spent about 4 hours on the phone to get it. It was over $200 total I would have lost it I didn't though. So $50 an hour, not bad. Lol

 

 

Those companies will walk all over you if they can get away with. And they sure seem to try. With me anyway. 

 

I'm glad it worked out for you though in the end. I guess McIntosh took good care of you, and they probably do for everyone else also. That's all the more reason to be upset with the place you bought it at though. Seems they just wanted more money, and didn't want to give you any service for it. I would never do business with that place. Ever! 

 

Pretty cool to have them extra tubes though from McIntosh. You'll be set for a very long time now. Be sure to put them in a very safe place away from kids, and pets. Heck adults too. Lol

 

Enjoy your amp man. I'm jealous. :D

 

Andy B. 

 

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Unbelievable! My Mc275 (the same one) just quit working! I'm sitting here listening to it & it just quit! I turned it off & then tried to turn it on but same thing. The little red light that's above the on/off switch is on but nothing else! What would you guys do? Send it straight back to McIntosh?   Thank You!   Bill

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