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After sales service

For any of you who haven't had the need to call on it, Hugh is magnificent when it comes to helping out in cases where for any reason, you might have a problem with one of the many products he's created over the years. For me, the problem was self induced, so it's extra good of Hugh to help me through with his email trouble shooting system

16 years on and my AKSA 55N+/GK-1 combination is still working perfectly, in harmony with my fairly efficient [96db] DIY speakers from the same time. I did have a small incident late last year, after having to uproot the whole system to escape from the bushfires that ravaged our east coast forests and their residents both human and animal.

The Incident: I post this because it might help somebody else. Many RCA sockets, that are fitted to cases, depend entirely on friction to keep them from rotating when you remove/replace a cable from them. Simple enough in a way but given there's no specified torque, or toque wrench, to give you the right tension on the retaining nuts and that squashing a nylon washer doesn't give you much feel for the correct tension, these things can slip/rotate. For me, this happened when I removed some cables that hadn't been touched for maybe 20 years [and were tight]. When I re-installed the cables, the RCA terminal was loose so the ground ring was also loose, so the connection caused problems.

Now, I'm using a dab of loctite plus the more mundane and obvious strategy of checking the RCAs more carefully while removing/replacing cables.

Thanks again Hugh.

Jules
 
Jules,

My sincere thanks. A very nice gesture to write this anecdote with AKSA amps!
For me, your wonderful manners and quiet approach won me over, you are a most personable individual and working with you was a pleasure!

I hope that your home was not damaged in the bushfires? And your wonderful car is OK too?

Ah, that RCA connector has caused lots of angst for audiophiles. They are not good designs, none of them.......

Hugh
 
For any of you who haven't had the need to call on it, Hugh is magnificent when it comes to helping out in cases where for any reason, you might have a problem with one of the many products he's created over the years. For me, the problem was self induced, so it's extra good of Hugh to help me through with his email trouble shooting system

Jules

Absolutely! :checked:


The Incident: I post this because it might help somebody else. Many RCA sockets, that are fitted to cases, depend entirely on friction to keep them from rotating when you remove/replace a cable from them. Simple enough in a way but given there's no specified torque, or toque wrench, to give you the right tension on the retaining nuts and that squashing a nylon washer doesn't give you much feel for the correct tension, these things can slip/rotate. For me, this happened when I removed some cables that hadn't been touched for maybe 20 years [and were tight]. When I re-installed the cables, the RCA terminal was loose so the ground ring was also loose, so the connection caused problems.

True. :( For this reason, I now use RCA sockets which have an external nut (rather than the normal internal nut).

Andy
 
That still does not prevent the problem unless there is a lock washer on the other side of the panel.
And if there are shoulder washers to isolate the RCA from the chassis, you can't use a lock washer.

Sure, it doesn't stop the problem (of the nut unwinding, so the RCA socket is loose) but it does enable you to get a spanner on the loose nut, to tighten it. :)

Andy
 
AS,

No, although I have thought of it. I tried it from Canada from some years, but it's expensive, and the results were no better than email support. In difficult cases I'd have to have the system in my hands anyway, and if that happens I generally send another module to fix the issue quickly. Even if I had a US rep it is very unlikely he would live in the same city anyway; I find that the best for the customer is to get on the email immediately and support him in his frustration, and placate him with a few simple checks. I found that customers love talking to the original designer, they feel much more secure the issue will be resolved regardless of my remote assistance.

I really think that the big issue is trust and communication. I have seen large corporations robotise the 'email help', particularly web hosters, and the service is just appalling, largely because of the complete absence of personal service. This reflects the high cost of human responders, I guess, but by being small, enjoying the community and trying to get to know all my customers, I can do much better than 'robot email'.

I also realise that very few engineers would do what I do with customer help. They might be in a design department of a large corporation, of course.
But judging from many of the EEs on this forum they would say that they have better things to do than talk to customers, but my attitude is that I'm more practical than theoretical, I'm not the smartest shrimp on the barby, I was trained as a Science Teacher and I can certainly chat with people and find out their audio problems!

Cheers,

Hugh
 
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I can vouch for at least 100x times over praising Hugh's amazing devotion to customer service. Its not just that he is a honorous professional, but the human relationship stands out.

About the RCA posts, i skipped them altogether in the Maya's ! Yes i know, not for everyone, but my power amps dont have RCA's, just cable that is soldered directed to the pcb inputs :). The pre-amp does use them, it would be impratical to have multiple umbilical cords :)
 
Dear Hugh/All,

Hugh was always very helpful and a joy to deal with. I remember asking for some missing spare parts and without any question got them on the post. That was in the early days of the AKSA 55. That was the start of my journey and interest to amplifier building.

Regards,
Rom