Problem with victoria magnetics....

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I wanted to buy custom transformer for alephX and other tansformer, and have been trying to contact John at his victoria magnetics email.

But I haven't got any response so far (it's been a week).
Does he accept international orders? I'm afraid he is reluctant to accept international orders.

Anybody knows how to contact him via "other" email (without having to phone him overseas)?

Thanks,
 
I tried contacting him almost a year ago - still no reply... :rolleyes: oh well, he must not want my business. on to the next place. i have found a local source for me now that will do custom transformers through a friend of a friend. when i do actually make contact with him and get one of his products, i'll be sure to update the forum on a new source if they're descent.

avel lindberg is a pretty popular commercial company - they are available at parts express now (www.partsexpress.com). I'm not sure what size X you're building, but you may be able to get a couple smaller ones, one per channel or something. They were very friendly and quick to respond when I inquired about custom ones too. I'd recommend them just based on the friendly service I got from them via email.

Good luck,
Scott
 
I keep wondering what criteria they use to select customers at Victoria Magnetics. In November last year I e-mailed John and he was very slow to respond, about 5 days delay each time. After exchanging three messages I had confirmed my order and asked por payment instructions. I never heard from him again, even though I e-mailed him once again, about a week later. I work very hard for my money, and am not going to hand it to a jackass like that. I never contacted VM again and don't plan to. I ordered from Plitron and even though the lead time was five weeks, they delivered exactly when promissed.
 
Guys,

Thanks for sharing your experience. I just thought that it was because that I'm ordering from foreign country that he felt reluctant doing business with me.

I am interested in buying vm trafos because many of alephX builder satisfied with their products. Also because I think it's relatively cheap for their custom trafo.

Tieftoener,
I want to build a standard AlephX (+- 15V dc rail), and it's very rare to find 11-13 VAC secondary for > 500VA ratings. Why don't I build a high power version alephX? It's a matter of taste. I had mini crescendo (about 50 - 80 watts) at the moment, and I feel that I don't need that much power. I once played "doom" (game computer) with it, and every time the enemies shot a bazooka, my whole room was shaking and my window felt like blowing out. :hot:

Cheers,
 
John is pretty much a one man shop. His first priority is to manufacture transformers for Smart Devices, a cinema equipment manufacturer from whom he also rents his space. I've been a Smart Devices dealer for over 20 years myself and thats how I came to kow about John. I have never had any problems with John.

A story he told me a couple of weeks ago may be related to some of the delays you may be experiencing. Acording to John his mothers house burnt down about 8 or 9 months ago and he has ben helping her out from time to time. Most recently John took about a week away from work to help her move back into the new completed home. So that may be why the delay in corespondance. As for foreign orders I couldn't say about that but you should call John and ask him yourself on that one. I don't suspect he has alot of time for e-mailing.

At any rate his products are first class and are also used exclusively by Dr. Marshall Leach at Georgia Tech. I have had zero problems with them.

Mark
 
I have no idea of what you guys are talking about, furthermore I would like you to stop trash-talking a perfectly legitimate, honest, reputable guy that on top of that makes great transformers and delivers them within 10 days from your initial contact.

I am just about the biggest pain in the *** to deal with, ask Peter Daniel. I have had NO problems with John.
His transformers are much better than the standard plitron range.
I would argue that they are more like the plitron audio grade for 1/3 the price.
John is very busy, if you call him he will get specs from you and he will have your trafo on the truck a couple of days after he gets your money. What I hear is a bunch of people that are window shopping nobody has made a serious attempt to contact the guy or sent him any money.
 
Retired diyAudio Moderator
Joined 2002
I have also ordered about a dozen transformer from John for the past 2 years, and had seem friends order many as well. I haven't had any problems with John at Victoria Magnetics either. A couple of times, I went down to see him, and he winded me a custom transformer right on the spot that worked great. He is a very nice guy. Other times, it took him a week or so to get a transformer made. I have always contacted him via telephone, not e-mail. I would recommend this method of contact.

Here at Georgia Tech, about 5-10 people a semester buy a chassis kit and transformer for the Leach amp (most of them building a leach amp for 1hr of special problems credit with Dr. Leach), and none of them have had problems recently that I have heard of. (chassis kit is based on the smart devices 2x150 chassis, only sold to students [makes the first amplifier building much easier with a good chassis ]).

As for the quality of the transformers that John makes, they have all worked fine for me, with the build quality matching or exceeding all other transformers that I have seen.

I have heard great things about Plitron also, which is a considerably larger company.

--
Brian
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2002
Poor Service ...

In the best restaurant, if they provide me with poor service by looking at my country boy shoes, I would never go there because they are selectively service minded and actually the food taste is not very different from other places.

:ashamed:
 
That is blilliant deduction JH6you!! I once expleience same thing about 15 years ago in Chicago High End Hi-Fi Shop by the name of Victors. I actually had over 10 grand in cash in my pockets and they obviously took one look at my shoes and somewhat ragged jeans and they completely ignored me. So I traveled down to Champaign Audio in central Illinois and bought my Wadia transport and D to A from a dealer in farm country where I obviouolsy fit in better. Victors actually shut down and went out of buisness soon after that anyway, so I still got one more good laugh out of them.

Chanpaign Audio is still in buisness and I highly reccomend them if one has to purchase something factury built. They are exceptionally nice people to do buisness with.
Mark
 
I also had a positive experience with Victoria. I ordered 2 12-0-12 dual primary transformers and sent him my check. A few weeks later he called to confirm the specs. About a week later I had my transformers. They are top notch in build quality and performance.

When ordering one-off custom units from a small manufacturer, I'm in no hurry. In the case of Victoria Magnetics it's worth a month to wait.
 
gratuku:
I have no idea of what you guys are talking about, furthermore I would like you to stop trash-talking a perfectly legitimate, honest, reputable guy that on top of that makes great transformers and delivers them within 10 days from your initial contact.

I am just about the biggest pain in the *** to deal with, ask Peter Daniel. I have had NO problems with John.
His transformers are much better than the standard plitron range.
I would argue that they are more like the plitron audio grade for 1/3 the price.
John is very busy, if you call him he will get specs from you and he will have your trafo on the truck a couple of days after he gets your money. What I hear is a bunch of people that are window shopping nobody has made a serious attempt to contact the guy or sent him any money.

Simmer down... I'm not trash talking anybody. I simply stated my experience with him. If his mother's house burned down and he's taking some time off that's perfectly fine, and certainly a legitimate excuse. But not contacting people who contact him about business is ridiculous. If in over a months time (or a years time in my case) he hasn't gotten back to me, that's pretty poor business etiquette. Don't advertise the email address right on the main page if you're not going to use it. I'm glad others have had good experiences with him and maintain good relationships. I'm well aware of the quality of his products - its the reason I contacted him in the first place. The good testimonies I have read have put him back in my neutral graces territory. Just don't chastize me for sharing my experiences...
 
I dealt with John of VM on a couple of occasions. He was very helpfull and I got very good custom transformers. Sometime he was slow to come back by email, but I always got good feedback from him. I understood that his business was a one man job and I respect that. I know how hard it can be to satisfy every customer.

One of my contact from Italy order an VM transfo for his DAC and also had good relation with John.
 
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