Audiolab rubbish

Things go from bad to worse.

Following my recent disappointment with the Cambridge DAC Magic I am now at my wits end with the whole 'up-grading' quest.

On Tuesday of this week I took delivery of an Audiolab 8000Q pre amp and two Audiolab 8000M monoblocks.

I spent an enjoyable few hours unpacking, re-routing cables and setting up the new amps. I fully expected a harsh sound from new and that is precisely what I got through my Mission 753 freedoms. Anyway, they seemed quite punchy, compared to my old Sony, so I made a note to wait until they'd had a good run and then start getting serious about room EQ if they hadn't mellowed. By Wednesday evening I had to throw a folded towell over the tweeters because the treble really was ear-piercing, shrill and horrible. I'm not blaming the amps for this. I know my room acts like a bass trap and I need to try to sort this.

So far then, not having much luck. Money spent, sound is 100 times worse now than ever before. But here's the rub: I get up this moring, switch everything on ... except that one of the monoblocks doesn't come on - at all.

Checked fuses, swapped power chords etc, etc - nope - nothing - it is dead - already!

2 days! 2 poxy days it has lasted. I mean it's not as though there's much to go wrong is it? There's only an on/off switch and they can't even make that last more than 2 days!

I'm totally hacked off with this rubbish.

So, merry Christmas to all at Superfi and Audiolab - with a special mention for quality control at Audiolab. Well done people!

 

sorry to hear ......

if its new ? then you shouldn't have an issue .....should be able to find someone to repair the unt if not ...there not that complicated inside ...

if out of warrenty etc and your not getting any lights....check the power from the secondaries on the transformer ........if you have lights look for a blown power transistor ....but you need to find out why its blown ..otherwise just dropping a new one in will probable end up with another dead one as it will just blow aain ...

hope that help

 

Hi DrMartin,

If these are new, then take them back. Don't start to fiddle with the insides. You could invalidate your warranty. It seems you got these from Superfi, so take them back to them.

SCIDB

 

I assume these components are the new Chinese built Audiolabs. The original brand was solidly made and very reliable. Rather grey sounding but hardly harsh. My advice if new, you are entitled to return and get a refund.
I think you may have to spend more than these cheap Chinese clones to improve your system (they had to cut costs somewhere to make them far cheaper than the UK built amps - its not just labour costs).

 

The transformers are different, and they use new Sanken output devices as the old ones are no longer available. Other than that they remain identically specced inside, 1% metal and carbon film resistors and comparable caps.

The difference is in economies of scale and production, UK production of one of these amps would add £150 to the 'cost' easily- by the time that £150 hits your dealer its an additional £450 or more.

They have kept the spec as close as possible, or at least they were on the very first production runs that i popped open.

 

What about the quality of casework, switches etc ? Are these as good as a 20 year old 8000A.

 

Thanks for all the input everyone. I went away for the New Year and as soon as got back I contacted Superfi. All the Audiolab gear has now been returned to them and I am going to buy a Quad 99 pre plus a 909 power from them.

My brief experience with the Audiolab stuff confirmed my worst suspicions that, as things currently stand with my listening area, I definitely need the ability to knock the treble back and boost the bass a tad. The Quad 'Tilt' facility seems to fit the bill perfectly.

I know it's sacrilege to even consider - dare I say it? 'tone controls' - but until I can substantially re-model the listening area that's what I'm stuck with. I just have a very awkwardly shaped space that sucks out bass and has far too much HF resonance.

I have finally found a position for the speakers, whereby I can get decent imaging (even using the faithful old Sony TAF3ES) and I'm going to re-model the area around that position.

I'm just praying now that when the Quads arive they work for more than 2 days?

Thanks again for all the input.

 

No it isn't, if they make your hi-fi sound better you shouldn't worry.

Enjoy the Quads.

 

what did you not like about the Cambridge dacmagic out of interest
I am thinking about buying one for pc audio.

 

Re the cambridge Dac Magic. Initially I thought it too sounded a bit harsh but I've since come to realise that it is simply more 'revealing' than the DAC in my old Sony XA20ES. When I say revealing there seems to be more definition around the edges of notes - especially noticable at higher frequencies. So coupled with my listening area, which is very 'live' there was a bit too much HF bouncing about. I've got used to the extra detail now and I like it. So as soon as I can damp down the room acoustics I think I'm going to be well on road to some nice sounds.

PS. I forgot to mention earlier that those Audiolab 8000Ms had quite a noticable hum - not through the speakers but just coming from the amps themselves. They both emitted the same level of hum so I assumed this was par for the course but I didn't like it.

Other, little, things I didn't like were that the remote for the pre-amp did not like being off-axis - you had to virtually be pointing straight at the amp for it to work - unlike my Sony which is far more obliging.

The controls on the pre-amp felt a bit light-weight and vague. I prefer something that feels a lot more solid and positive.

Given that one of the monoblocks simply died after two days I just lost faith in the whole lot to last any sensible time at all.

Overall, on this experience, it's a big thumbs down from me with this Chinese revival of audiolab.

 

Re Dac Magic

I used to use the CA dac magic4 with the CD4 and Mission 734i speakers and they did give a slightly harsh top end-amp was a Sherwood int.

The CA interconnects work very well and seem to tame things down a bit might be worth trying a pair.

Very good stuff though the Cambridge.:MILD: