Since these appear to be aged/mature AR pieces, the circuits may well be lacking soft start or other current protective measures. Does your friend have the money or desire to hire a tech to possibly install a relay or simple circuit to fix or improve this problem? I’d think with the audiophile network we have, there would be some good techs.
Yep, he's got the resources, it's just a royal pain in the butt when there are no reliable techs in the area. There's a guy in Dallas that might be able to add a soft start circuit... 200+ miles away. It might be a better option to simply sell the AR and buy another amp. He's great guy, and loves his gear, but he's tough on it.
Well, having the resources is a good start. Some things in life are inconvenient, a big pain, like me driving to Vegas tomorrow to simply get 2 new replacement drivers soldered. I told the guy I’d like to wait for this simple and quick job. If he’s in a good mood, he likely won’t charge me the customary $50 up charge to jump ahead of his other customers. If I was blowing up drivers a few times a year, I’d do whatever it took to resolve it.
As an aside, it was over 25 years ago that a friend invited me over to her neighbor’s place in a very upscale neighborhood in so. California. He had an AR pre and amp and a vinyl rig that sounded so sweet I can still appreciate it all these years later. The guy was also a rich, handsome guy in his 40s who had a beautiful 20 something year old living with him. A very nice lifestyle, indeed 😎
I had mentioned my replacement drivers needing soldering and I made it down to Las Vegas in the rain yesterday and got it done. Really meticulous work and I was able to wait. The shop was in a bad area area of town….not a pleasant experience to get there and deal with Vegas traffic etc. I’m fortunate to live to live in a small town and only go to Las Vegas, Los Angeles when I need to.
I'm glad you got it done. I wish we lived closer... I would have been happy to do it.
I'm moving to the Tucson area soon to be close to our youngest daughter. I'll plan a trip up to see you then
I was glad to pay $85 to finally get it done. It took months just to get the replacement drivers from France.
New Mexico May be The Land of Enchantment, but it sure is remote. So glad you are moving near your daughter in Arizona. Will you have room for a small shop area? I imagine you’d want to keep active with tinkering and improving products.
A visit would be great and I’d enjoy hosting you. I would sure learn a lot about acoustics and room treatments.