amprepairman
10+ year member
Member
I recently had a customers amp in my shop that I couldn't get parts for..It was the first time in a very long time that I had a amp I couldn't under any circumstances repair.It wasn't that it was in bad shape or that it was gonna cost a lot of money to repair it was simply a matter that Kicker wouldn't sell me a few simple parts that I'm positive couldn't have cost more that 20 and that's with shipping..in the mean time I'm feeling really sorry for this guy cause he spent like 50 dollars sending me this ZX2500.1 amp which anyone who has seen one knows they are fairly big..so I pay outta my pocket and ship it to Kicker for him so he wont loose any more money.I didn't really know how else to deal with the problem cause it never happens to me.I mean I have a few other shops that send me the amps they cant fix as it is.I felt really bad about this...I got a phone call today...It was the service department at Kicker and they told me the amp was just blown to pieces and there was no way it could be fixed and that they were just gonna give me a new amp for 25.00 dollars which I'm so happy for the guy but I'm guessing its a B stock..not that that's important either...SO this guy obviously didn't know I had had this amp apart and I knew there was a very simple power supply issue with it and that in fact there wasn't ONE power supply fet or output fet or driver in the amp that was bad and that it had in fact not "blown up" at all but was a simple power supply I.C. issue
There are some things that I have learned or would surely like to know about this situation..
1.If you do have a severely blown up kicker amp..send it to them and you might get a new one!
2. I'm really curious who's fixing(or trying) to fix those amps over there OR is there a issue with these amps that they aren't talking about/don't want people to know for fear of more bad P.R. cause I do get lots of calls and emails from people with broken kicker amps..like the ZX amps and instead of just simply fixing them..I have to give them stern warnings about the possible parts issue that even though is like a 5% chance thing..I don't need the bad PR either...
..Nice thing about a public forum is that we can all share opinions here...
My opinion is..If Stillwater designs would open up their doors to the service community and sell us parts..there wouldn't be people on public forums posting messages like this one...I'm not asking for a schematic..I'm not going to steal your designs..I'm not real fond of them anyway..I do respect the fact that the guy is gonna get a new amp but I did not like being flat out lied to on the phone by a service rep from Stillwater...You gave me your name too..Be happy I'm not posting it..I'm not trying to get anyone screwed outta their job I'm sure it was how he was trained to handle customers who they assume don't know one thing about electronics..I was going to really go off on these people(and offer to talk the tech through the repair) but when he told me they were gonna give my customer a new amp I figured I better just keep my mouth shut cause I didn't wanna screw up my customers new amp deal...
Based on my somewhat limited experience here on the forum..I'm positive not everyone holds my view of this issue...so before it even starts...If your getting ready to say something negative about the post...go for it..if your going to act 5 and make a personal remark...or get ignorant..give it some thought first...everyone can see what your write.I'm not picking on any one individual and like I said..I'm thrilled that the guys getting a new amp,but its companies like this who are ruining the industry for people like me and many others here who depend on things like accessibility to parts to perform our jobs.Automobile manufacturers HAVE to make parts available for a certain amount of time after they sell a car...I mean how would you feel if every time your car broke down you had to take it to the dealer to get it fixed? AND you were totally bound by whatever they said regarding time and amount of repair? Every time we buy a product from a company that operates like this we are participating in the destruction of the mom and pop shops that have kept this industry alive and kicking for many many years...Think about how many little custom car stereo shops there used to be? The places where ANYTHING was possible because they were willing to do what it took to get the job done and went the extra mile to make it special so that it was not like anything anyone else was doing..when I was young almost every shop had a nice show car and we ALL played a role in competitions and we were in a funny way like a family. When All the huge discount stores hit..slowly but surely we all started closing our doors..the car audio industry went bad fast for the small guys who put their whole lives into it and worked every day all day to make his dream a reality..there are some really nice shops left...but not many...Try to get Best Buy to do some serious custom work? Just think about the guys that are still in business before you go to Walmart and buy a amplifier...cause if your lucky enough to have a real car stereo shop left in your community your contributing to his demise when you make that purchase...
There are some things that I have learned or would surely like to know about this situation..
1.If you do have a severely blown up kicker amp..send it to them and you might get a new one!
2. I'm really curious who's fixing(or trying) to fix those amps over there OR is there a issue with these amps that they aren't talking about/don't want people to know for fear of more bad P.R. cause I do get lots of calls and emails from people with broken kicker amps..like the ZX amps and instead of just simply fixing them..I have to give them stern warnings about the possible parts issue that even though is like a 5% chance thing..I don't need the bad PR either...
..Nice thing about a public forum is that we can all share opinions here...
My opinion is..If Stillwater designs would open up their doors to the service community and sell us parts..there wouldn't be people on public forums posting messages like this one...I'm not asking for a schematic..I'm not going to steal your designs..I'm not real fond of them anyway..I do respect the fact that the guy is gonna get a new amp but I did not like being flat out lied to on the phone by a service rep from Stillwater...You gave me your name too..Be happy I'm not posting it..I'm not trying to get anyone screwed outta their job I'm sure it was how he was trained to handle customers who they assume don't know one thing about electronics..I was going to really go off on these people(and offer to talk the tech through the repair) but when he told me they were gonna give my customer a new amp I figured I better just keep my mouth shut cause I didn't wanna screw up my customers new amp deal...
Based on my somewhat limited experience here on the forum..I'm positive not everyone holds my view of this issue...so before it even starts...If your getting ready to say something negative about the post...go for it..if your going to act 5 and make a personal remark...or get ignorant..give it some thought first...everyone can see what your write.I'm not picking on any one individual and like I said..I'm thrilled that the guys getting a new amp,but its companies like this who are ruining the industry for people like me and many others here who depend on things like accessibility to parts to perform our jobs.Automobile manufacturers HAVE to make parts available for a certain amount of time after they sell a car...I mean how would you feel if every time your car broke down you had to take it to the dealer to get it fixed? AND you were totally bound by whatever they said regarding time and amount of repair? Every time we buy a product from a company that operates like this we are participating in the destruction of the mom and pop shops that have kept this industry alive and kicking for many many years...Think about how many little custom car stereo shops there used to be? The places where ANYTHING was possible because they were willing to do what it took to get the job done and went the extra mile to make it special so that it was not like anything anyone else was doing..when I was young almost every shop had a nice show car and we ALL played a role in competitions and we were in a funny way like a family. When All the huge discount stores hit..slowly but surely we all started closing our doors..the car audio industry went bad fast for the small guys who put their whole lives into it and worked every day all day to make his dream a reality..there are some really nice shops left...but not many...Try to get Best Buy to do some serious custom work? Just think about the guys that are still in business before you go to Walmart and buy a amplifier...cause if your lucky enough to have a real car stereo shop left in your community your contributing to his demise when you make that purchase...
