Just bought a 1206 - New member

[turbojr74]

Hello to all,

Just found this forum and glad I fell into it! ;-)

I had a HCA855a and wanted to get a bit more power, so bought a HCA1206 from someone on audiogon. The item was packaged really well from the previous owner, however, it came with no original box, different power cord, and reprinted manual. When I opened it I noticed that a couple chassis screws from the bottom were missing. Well I heard something rattling around inside the amp, opened it up, and blew out all the dust that was sitting inside and found that the screws were what was rattling around. I have no idea how they could have gotten inside but took them out and screwed them in.

Now for the Newbie questions here...before plugging this in should I have this tested first?? I paid the other owner $700 including shipping and to have it tested is $38 (however the woman at the service center couldn't really tell me anything of how they test it other than they test it to factory specs....however this service center is an authorized center). My other concern is the power cord. It is definitely not the original. Also the grounding prong is not there (not cut out, just looks like never installed) I tried to match up the wire specs that are imprinted on the wire with the one from my HCA855 but the numbers don't match. So I'm not sure if I can use the cord from my 855 or look at getting a new cord. The one from the 855 is an 18 gauge wire and the one that came with the 1206 doesn't say but looks like 16 gauge wire. I could really use this forums knowledge base and experience.

Thanks in advance for your replies!!

[nicholtl]

Oh man...it sounds like the seller was really, REALLY shady about this transaction...

Is there any way you could return this unit? I don't know if it's worth keeping with all these problems...

[turbojr74]

You know I'm not sure if I could return it (this is my first time buying a used amp)...I contacted him on the screws and power cord and he didn't know about the screws. He said he was second owner on this amp, which I didn't honestly ask if he was the first (probably should have). I let my wanting this amp for a while blind me a little (big on my fault). As for the plug, he told me that that was what he got when it came with it. Now if I sold this amp these would be things I would have mentioned, but that's because I'm not one to let someone get something they may not want.

I checked into a local shop I go to and he said it wouldn't be much to get a better upgraded plug for about $20. I believe he said Air was the brand?? I'll have to check.