Vista damaged by power surge...

[F=ma]

Anyone have any suggestions for this problem?

Last week we had some thunderstorms that passed through the area. In addition to my receiver, my wife's ridiculously expensive coffee machine, and a pool pump, one of my Vantages sustained damage.

When powered, there's a constant, low frequency hum coming from the woofer, with an occasional crackle. The panel sounds fine. It's only when the speaker is plugged into power that the woofer makes the noise. Normal audio does not play through the woofer now.

I took the speaker to the local ML dealer last Friday, but I've not been impressed with their inability to identify the problem. They keep saying they are waiting for the factory to call them with suggestions. It seems to me the local dealer should have people capable of servicing products on staff. I can understand if there's a part that needs to be ordered, but unable to troubleshoot a problem? Really? It's as if I'm dealing with Best Buy here.

 

[Cherian]

Sounds like the crossover got taken out.

 

[Rich]

I can understand if there's a part that needs to be ordered, but unable to troubleshoot a problem? Really? It's as if I'm dealing with Best Buy here.

Welcome to the new world of high end audio! You could always give MartinLogan a call yourself and see if their customer service department can help you troubleshoot the issue. That is, if they still have anyone left in that department that knows anything about MartinLogan speakers.

 

[shakham]

Welcome to the new world of high end audio! You could always give MartinLogan a call yourself and see if their customer service department can help you troubleshoot the issue. That is, if they still have anyone left in that department that knows anything about MartinLogan speakers.

You mean they outsourced it to China or India?

 

[F=ma]

Sounds like the crossover got taken out.

Could be. Time will tell, I suppose.

Welcome to the new world of high end audio! You could always give MartinLogan a call yourself and see if their customer service department can help you troubleshoot the issue. That is, if they still have anyone left in that department that knows anything about MartinLogan speakers.

Silly me to think the quickest, easiest way to resolve the problem was to give my local dealer the work. :banghead:

 

[jmschnur]

Give ML service a call and work from there.


J

 

[F=ma]

I called the dealer again today. ~$1,000 to replace the power supply. That's more than double what I would have expected a repair of this nature to cost.

 

[Rich]

That's almost half the cost of a single Vista speaker when they were new!!!! Ridiculous!!!

I would call ML customer service and double check their prices for a Vista Power Supply, just so you know what kind of markup your dealer is getting for labor.

Welcome to the new MartinLogan model of customer service: It will cost you more to refurbish/repair/upgrade your legacy speakers than it would to buy brand new models. That seems to be their game plan with their recent across-the-board huge price increases on parts for all legacy models.

 

[jmschnur]

Once you know what type of power supply it is. It is possible that there might be a non ml supplied power supply that will work for a lot less and that you could install on your own .

Perhaps ML will let you download their service manual for the vista. Might be worthwhile to look for a used vista.




J

 

[F=ma]

The speaker is a Vantage. I did a quick check to see if I could find someone parting out a Vantage, or selling one. There is one Vantage for sale on e-bay, but the ad isn't very well written, leaving more questions than answers, so I didn't investigate further.

I think the dealer might have said something about the Vantage's internal amp being part of the power supply board...I'm not sure about that, because I was struggling to comprehend the $1,000 figure quoted.

 

[goodwinaj]

I have a Summit X Amplifier that was going into protect after about 5 min of being powered. The Tech rep via email was very helpful in the trouble shooting process, he even sent the service manuals to me. Email them via the website and see what they can do.

 

[Rich]

F

The speaker is a Vantage.

Ok. You might want to edit your first post then. You state it is a Vista in the title and body of the first post. Regardless, please keep us informed as to how it all works out.

 

[cocobob]

Why did you not have your speakers going though a good surge protector.That would have helped.

 

[Northy]

I wonder if Audio Advisor still is selling a pair of new Vistas for $2K taxes and shipping included. They are not Vantages but sure it beats getting the part for a ridiculous $1,000.

 

[F=ma]

F

Ok. You might want to edit your first post then. You state it is a Vista in the title and body of the first post. Regardless, please keep us informed as to how it all works out.

Thanks for pointing that out. What a bizarre error. I can only attribute that to being distracted by my two-year old. Perhaps an admin can change the title, so if someone in the future is searching for information, they'll have a better chance to find this thread.

Why did you not have your speakers going though a good surge protector.That would have helped.

You're assuming they weren't plugged into a surge protector. That would not be the case. Oddly enough, the lightning strike/power surge somehow reset the time on a battery powered clock in my living room. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

The other Vantage, plugged into an identical power strip on a different outlet, was undamaged.

I wonder if Audio Advisor still is selling a pair of new Vistas for $2K taxes and shipping included. They are not Vantages but sure it beats getting the part for a ridiculous $1,000.

That's worth considering. I'm pretty fond of my Vantages though. If the second one would have been damaged, I'd probably be looking for a used pair of Vantages, or maybe something a little higher up the food chain.

I'll support the local ML dealer this time, since I have limited time and patience to fix everything that was damaged by the storm. I've offset some of the Vantage repair expense by replacing the pool pump myself. I'd rather support ML and their dealer than any of the idiots who've either installed or performed maintenance on our pool in the past.

Now if a panel quits sometime in the next couple of years....

 

[F=ma]

I have a Summit X Amplifier that was going into protect after about 5 min of being powered. The Tech rep via email was very helpful in the trouble shooting process, he even sent the service manuals to me. Email them via the website and see what they can do.

Thanks for the advice. Next time I'll have lower expectations of our local ML dealer, and I'll be less likely to involve them.

 

[Rich]

I'll support the local ML dealer this time, since I have limited time and patience to fix everything that was damaged by the storm. I've offset some of the Vantage repair expense by replacing the pool pump myself.

Before you go fixing all this stuff yourself, have you checked with your home insurer? I would think it is possible that your home insurance policy would cover damage caused by a lightning strike.

 

[F=ma]

Thanks Rich. I considered that briefly. I suspect the current (not replacement) value of the damaged items (or the cost to repair, if applicable) is about $3k. With a $1k deductible, it doesn't seem worth pursuing, especially given how insurance companies react to claims.

My wife wanted to upgrade her expensive coffee maker. I've wanted to put a bullet in the Onkyo tx-nr807 for over six months now after the HDMI board failed on it...leaving me without a receiver for six weeks back in December/January as it shuttled back and forth between my AV cabinet and a service center in Detroit. The pool pump was a time critical item since we're hosting a birthday party for our son this weekend, and without a functional pump, we'd have lost control of the water within about five days...with perhaps a week or so to get the water presentable again. I'll pay a premium to not **** off a bunch of two to five-year-olds who are expecting to get to swim this weekend!

My initial focus was on recovery. Things seem to be progressing now, so I may give our agent a call to discuss the potential hassle and intermediate term fallout from filing a claim...as well as what amount could reasonably be expected to be recovered. I'm inclined to save the insurance card for when a tree falls on our house in the future, or a hailstorm damages the roof.

It is nice to have these kinds of problems. Beats the days of crawling around on the floor hoping to find a quarter to buy a can of biscuits for dinner back when I struggled to put myself through school.

 

[Toppgunn]

Are you looking for a power supply for Vista or Vantage?