Service work on my Parasound equipment

[Chris D]

Sorry I've been scare here lately, I'm in the process of moving. Sadly, I had to essentially demolish my home theater for my house buyer, but at least I'm keeping all the electronics for my next house.

Thought some of you might be interested in some work that I'm going to have done on my Parasound gear. If you read previous threads of mine, you'll see that I've been having spontaneous input switching/dropout on my Zhd. A couple of others here in the club also described similar things with the Zhd.

With my C1, almost since I've owned it, after a while, the front volume/input selection knob stops working at times. Seemed to happen after the unit had been on for a bit, so I wonder if it's a heat thing. Also, 1-2 years ago, I started getting a ghosting image in my component video, which I think I troubleshot to the component plugs on the back of the C1.

I talked to Tony in Parasound's tech support about these things the other day, and we're going to have them checked out. To be safe, he's going to have me send in my C1, Zhd, RS-232 cable, and my MX-700 remote, all to recreate my setup and test it out. I don't have a new address yet for where I'm moving to, so Tony didn't want me sending in my gear during my move, to just sit in their warehouse. So he took down my info, and when I get to my next place and unpack, he'll bring in my stuff then, check it out, and send it right back.

Stay tuned.

[RebelMan]

Chris, I hope your experience ends on a happy note. Despite the great things Parasound has done with their product development, their service record seems to be a weak spot for them.

[Peter Nielsen]

Chris, I hope your experience ends on a happy note. Despite the great things Parasound has done with their product development, their service record seems to be a weak spot for them.

Yeah... different customer, different story.

Here's my service history with them:
1. C2 surround output went dead after firmware upgrade. 3 month old unit. Parasound sent brand new unit to replace.
2. JC-1 heat sink fin slightly bent on new unit. Very minor, so I did not notice it until ~4 months into ownership. Parasound sent replacement heat sink and allowed me to do the service myself.
3. JC-1 humming transformer. I waited more than 1 year to report the problem to Parasound. I asked for new transformer (self service). They did not have any transformers in stock, so they replaced the JC-1 with a brand new unit instead.

Best service I've ever had from any company. :T

Peter

[psychdoc]

I have to agree with Peter. My 7100 was acting funky when I first got it. Turned out it needed a software upgrade. I have never been treated better by any other company. That experience alone will keep me coming back to Parasound in the future. To that end, how many years until they make a real HD/BLU DVD player and a Pre/Pro that can handle the audio? When that does happen, I'll be there to plunk down some serious cash with little worry about any bugs popping up.

I fully recommend Parasound to anyone who values customer service. I should get paid for this type of endorsement...... :W

[Peter Nielsen]

:beer::beer2:

[Peter Nielsen]

Best service I've ever had from any company.

Oh, to be fair, I also have to give kudos to Martin Logan that sent me a new toroidal transformer for my humming Descent and let me self-service it, although I had failed to mail in the warranty registration. This was very professional of them, and I will repay them by upgrading to 4 Descents shortly... (For those that read my posts, the Lyngdorf W210 corner woofers did not work out. I had them, did the measurements, and it did not work out at all. The Magnepan MG20.1 low end is identical to the W210 (less than 4dB difference in frequency curve < 80Hz). The problem is my room. Room treatments (bass traps) is the solution to my problem.)

Peter

[mitch57]

To all of you who posted stating that "Parasound" sent you replacements... Did you actually talk to Parasound support and they sent you the replacements or was it your dealer that got your unit replaced?

I did not have a very good experience with Parasound support. On their behalf, they did look at my amp but sent it back with no indication of any problems. They agreed to try again and replace some parts but in the mean time I asked my area's Parasound distributor to get involved and he got them to replace the amp with a new one. Parasound was not willing to to do so until the distributor got involved.

The new amp developed a nasty ground loop like hum immediately upon arrival in the fifth channel even when there was nothing connected to the amp but power and a speaker. It didn't matter what speaker or what speaker cable was connected to channel number 5. It hummed regardless of what you had plugged into it. Parasound claimed they went over the amp with a fine toothed comb prior to shipping the unit to me to make sure everything was perfect.

Round three... The distributor got involved again and hand delivered a new amp to my house which was over 75 miles one way. The distributor ROCKS!!! Bob Entrop Jr. is his name and I have him to thank for getting things taken care of for me. While Parasound did try to fix the problems they were not willing to replace the unit even though it was less then a year old. But once Bob got involved they changed their tune.

As has been stated before in this forum a good dealer/distributor is vital to getting good customer service and support.

[mitch57]

Sorry I've been scare here lately, I'm in the process of moving.

Are you transferring from the area or getting out of the Air Force?

[Chris D]

Well, the Air Force is moving me elsewhere... will find out soon where that is!

[mitch57]

Well, the Air Force is moving me elsewhere... will find out soon where that is!

Keep us posted. What kind of duty station tours do you have in the Air Force? Four year tours?

When I was in the Navy I had a five and two rotation cycle. Five years of sea duty (shipboard duty) and 2 years shore duty.

[Peter Nielsen]

To all of you who posted stating that "Parasound" sent you replacements... Did you actually talk to Parasound support and they sent you the replacements or was it your dealer that got your unit replaced?

Parasound support arranged for the replacements. The C2 involved my dealer as this was my first encounter with their support. The JC-1 was replaced as a result of talking with Parasound support only...

Peter

[mitch57]

Parasound support arranged for the replacements. The C2 involved my dealer as this was my first encounter with their support. The JC-1 was replaced as a result of talking with Parasound support only...

Peter

You obviously had much better luck then I did. Perhaps it's because they new you had 5 or 6 of them and didn't want to lose you as a customer. After all, one of your JC1s cost as much as my A51 and I'm sure you will attest to the fact that they are well worth it. ;x(

[RebelMan]

Chris, do you have any updates?