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Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for a tale of darkness and deceit, customer service hell and unprecedented reliability issues. Put the kids to bed, gather around the fire and listen to the tale of the Audio Aero from Hell (creepy music).A few month ago, by a clear summer day in France, I bought an Audio Aero Prima Mk2 (Sony transport) despite my audio friends all telling me that I was crazy, that Audio Aero had too many reliability issues. I ignored the warning. The sun was shining, the air was crystal-clear, what could go wrong ? Courtesy of the very long leadtime to get the wonderful Ars Sonum Filarmonia (no regrets, it twas worth it !) the Prima saw the light of day for the first time in February 07 (I didn’t have an amp before that so couldn’t use it). I plugged it and after a few hours… it checked out.
I called one of my friends and said « Remembered how you told me not to buy AA because they all break down ? » He answered « Yeah, and you’re going to tell me yours works amazingly right ? » Me : « No it broke down straight out of the box ». Man, could I feel his smugness down the line.
Ok, shit happens. It’s all about the way it’s dealt with isn’t it ? « They have terrible customer service » adds my friend. Uh-oh… This time I was more inclined to believe him. Damn him, he was right again.
I returned the player. First thing they say was « It’s not our fault, it’s Sony’s». Now a lot of you might have heard « It’s not our fault it’s Phillips » before... They’ve just changed provider so that they could lay the blame on somebody else.Four weeks later, nothing. Five weeks later, nothing. Six weeks later… you get the gist.
After TWO MONTHS, I opened a law book and saw that the maximum amount of time allowed for a repair in France was a month. Past that deadline, I was allowed to ask for a full refund. so I sent a letter to Audio Aero and they suddenly, for the very first time, called me and said « Oh, we’re sorry, we thought your player was fixed…. » DUH!!! This is absolutely authentic. Keep reading.So my legal letter did wonders and since they promised to send the player back the week after, I gave up on the refund, accommodating that I am.
I got the player, plugged it again. Very sweet sound. Very analo… Wait, what sound ? It stopped again. Oh no, it won’t start again ! What’s that clicking noise ? Why does it say NO DISC ? Why does it make those electrical noises in the speakers ?Breathe in, breathe out. Anger won’t get me anywhere. (At this point I should add that I’ve had a variety of players in that system, from $100 to $7000, and none ever had a problem).
I very calmy sent an email asking either for a refund (as entitled to) or for a brand new player (once more, trying to be accomodating). I thought they would obviously settle for a new player, considering I’ve heard the Prima for two hours in the two months and a half since I took it out of the box.Surprise surprise : I just received and email saying (exact quote) « There would be no reason to give you a fresh machine ».
I swear, I almost fell off my chair. I’ve been to French forums in the meantime and learnt plenty of equally interesting and alarming stories. The best one has to be the following one : a guy just returned his Prestige (12.000 dollars) to the factory because it had checked out too (80 Prestige went back in the last three months by the way…). They told him « Sorry, the Phillips transport is crap » (authentic). « Now you have two solutions : either we replace it by another new Philips transport, same model, or by a Sony transport which doesn’t have reliability issues (yet) ». The guy scratched his head « Ok, I think I’ll go for the Sony then ». Audio Aero : « Brilliant. It’s going to cost you 2000 euros as we consider this an upgrade ». This story is absolutely true and those of you who speak French can find it on www.homecinema-fr.com. The cost of the transport itself is 69 dollars online. Add a dedicated card and the total factory cost for AA must be around 200 dollars.I am so glad I ONLY went for a Prima and « ONLY » spent 2000 euros (about 2500 dollars). Audio Aero have such serious reliability and customer service issues it’s just unbelievable. I would forgive the high failure rate (probably one of the highest on the market today) if I had adequate service. Don’t expect it, you’re going to have a better treatment if your 100 dollar Sony CD player bought on Amazon breaks down.
This is a very serious problem, and all the more regrettable since their players sound good. But buying an Audio Aero is like playing Russian Roulette. As for buying second hand, I wouldn’t recommend it… There are plenty of other manufacturers who offer stellar machines and stellar customer service (Ayre comes to mind), and I don’t even understand how AA hopes to survive their competition. Maybe I’m just naïve.
It is my understanding that the US are a little bit spared by that problem since AA’s distributor there does a good job of stepping up where AA fails. They do the repairs themselves and even improve the players with a mod that, for some reason, AA hasn’t « approved of » yet (AA’s own words to me), even though everybody says it’s a great mod.In my case, I’m going to court with Audio Aero in order to get a refund, as per the French law. Unfortunately AA think they’re better than the law, and better than their customers. I’m done with the brand, and will stay away from everything Audio Aero in the future. I recommended you tread very carefully when considering buying their players outside the US.
Follow Ups:
Disclaimer: I am an Audio Aero distributor.I have been an AA member since the very beginning and have more than 1000 posts, mostly DIY advice to fellow inmates. I do not recommend any product I distribute or praise them on posts (easily verified through a search), however, I believe that my experience with the brand can help shed some light on the subject.
Audio Aero's flagship product is the Capitole. I have sold quite a few units, mostly by word-of-mouth.
I believe AA sells more Capitole than Prima players.I have had no, zero, zip, nada manufacturing or quality issues with Capitole CD players, except for a unit with a poor contact on a cable, most likely a shipping problem, which was easily fixed over the phone. The owner, Dr. George, is an AA member and can confirm the facts.
Another Capitole had the laser lens damaged while cleaning it with abrasive paper towels! This is not a product quality issue.
That's all I have seen in four years distributing Capitoles.
I did a search on AA and found a complaint regarding tube failure on an Audio Aero player.
Tubes fail occasionaly, we all know that for a fact.
Audio Aero's players use a rugged military sub-miniature tube that was specified for anti-aircraft artillery shells, subjected to 450 G acceleration, vibration, heat and cold. These are facts, Google "6021 data sheet" and read the stric quality assurance and batch testing criteria.My own Capitole MK II (home system) has 4 and a half years of heavy usage, which totals aproximately 38.000 hours on the original tubes. The tubes are dead quiet and the player never skipped a track or refused to play a disc.
In summary, I suggest that early teething problems with Sony transports on Prima CD players should not become a general accusation against Audio Aero.
Enjoy the music!
The UK distributor offers the finest service available, but is dependent on the service from the manufacturer, who in turn uses parts in his equipment, which are made by other manufacturers, and in the case of a CD player, the basic transport, although upgraded by the high-end manufacturer, still retains its inherent weakness.The speed in which parts are supplied to a distributor has a major bearing on the time it takes to repair a product, and when simply replacing the faulty transport in not sufficient, and when a further part needs to be sent by the manufacturer, a decision again has to be made as to whether the part should be sent to arrive the following day, or through the standard postal service. We would have personally sent it to arrive earlier.
Despite working perfectly for the distributor for 5 days, the machine did not continue to work for the customer after shipping and one has to suspect that something may have been dislodged in transit.The customer chose not to have this verified and remedied by the distributor, but instead wrote a legal letter to the manufacturer, who was outside of the jurisdiction of the territory of the original sale, invoking a law peculiar to France. Then the distributor was not able to take any action, but could only suggest what might be the response of the manufacturer, based on all known circumstances.
Once the manufacturer had agreed to go beyond the terms of the guarantee, and replace the machine if it was found to be faulty, despite territorial inconsistencies, then the distributor was able to visit the customer and verify the problem, which was the action proposed immediately on being aware that the problem still existed.
Finally we have a resolution, and AA have agreed to supply a new machine, once the distributor had verified the problem. The distributor is in their hands as to how long that will take to do, but I hope that it will be done in such a manner as to prompt a follow up from JBCortes expressing his delight.
It is our contention that, since all internal parts would have been replaced, JBCortes' immaculate, mint condition Prima would have been returned in a condition as good as a new machine, even better in this instance. But then, c'est sa choix!
Had an AA Capitole mk1......big buzz through speakers. Fixed.
AA Prima I.....bad tubes
AA Prima II.....fried power supply. Globe Audio gave me a b=new unit but it took 2 months. I was please.Their players are amazing - but GD!! - they need to make 'em better!!!!
....as I'm still waiting for my Prestige to go back to AA.I've had the new transport which cost £400 and even though this improved the sound it still misbehaves and doesn't read begginings of discs and has what i describe as 'tape hiss' sometimes.
Very dissapointed with the level of quality and service from AA.
Yet, my Capitole MKII worked flawlessly. Maybe the Capitole referencesSE would have been a better choice than the Prestige.
Hope we get it all sorted soon.
cheers
smart
JB... I'm very sorry to hear about your problems, but I am happy to see they are finally doing the right thing for you.I must feel fortunate, as I have not had many problems with the MK2 Prima CD players. I do have Jody and the folks @ Globe Audio Mktg who are terrific, no fantastic. when it comes to support and standing behind what they distribute. If I do get a bad new Audio Aero player, Jody replaces it no questions asked with a new unit. To MAKE sure customers have no problems, I do test each player out for a few days before shipping/delivering it to the customer.
I have to disagree with you about second hand Audio Aero players! I have recently sold a couple of used MK2 Capitoles and even a used MK1 Capitole. All players are in happy customer hands and are working fine. Now, I do put some work in up front on these players (thoroughly test them out, replace tubes, and fix anything that is amiss), but again I do that with any used product I sell (putting those engineering and techincal skills I have to work). You also just need to be sure that they are packaged properly and well (double box) and shipped quick (FedEx 2 day or Express saver service) as most problems I have run into with Audio Aero players has been damagae as a result of shipping. Used Audio Aero players can be a great value... properly mainatained and handled they can provide years of very satisfactory use.
Happy Listening,
Rich Brkich
Retailer & Audio Asylum Industry Liaison
Better late than never, I guess, I'm not going to hold any grudges if they do the right thing in the end. It was a little bit overdue, but hey, they did the right thing and finally offered me a replacement CD player.
JB
The high end customer base will sooner rather than later be filling the forum boards not buying the magazines. I read about a similar issue with a PSB loudspeaker that practically self destructed and they were sitting doing nothing until it was plastered all over these forums.With thousands of companies selling audio gear - customer service better be a priority.
And if AA is going to blame Philips or Sony or whoever then they should either not buy transports from them and buy from maybe Teac or they should get out of the transport business and sell expensive cables. Cables never break down and if you charge enough money then people will buy. With cables the more you spend the better they sound apparently. So if they get some copper twist it more than everyone else and hire a nuclear physicist to seal his approval on them and then charge $100,000.00 per centimeter then it only takes one gullible customer to set you up for life. Hmm -- I just had an idea.
In many, many EU countries the Social Democratic governments, labour and industry formed a long-term partnership that allowed all three groups to shit all over citisens, union members and customers! That first changed in the UK, and is moving slowly elsewhere. This place is cartel heaven and consumer hell. In Denmark the government is proposing a law to allow companies to make agreements so that they do not hire each others employees. I think that is called slavery/indentured servitude in the US constitution.Hang in there. Good luck. Hope it works eventually.
I ultimately sold it out of frustration and also a desire for a less "romantic" sound, but I must say this: Globe Audio Marketing, the U.S. distributor, is a great company and has terrific customer service. They did try to rectify the situation, but the problem was inherent in the Philips transport AA was using at the time. Don't know the situation in France.
Hello There,I usually never react to user's e mail as I respect everybody's judgment. However, as the general Manager of Audio Aero in France, I would like to bring a few elements to the Warning of Jb cortes.
First of all, be aware that as soon as I had known the nature of the problem of Mr Andre ( JB Cortes real name !!!) I called him and I solved his problem. This is not due to his unfounded threats but to the fact that we never let a customer's problem unsolved.However, Mr Andre forgot to explain a "little" detail that is important: this personn is not living in France as he said but in London,and he never bought his player in France, but in England,to our Distributor.
This little difference is important, as Mr Andre insinuates that he bought his player in France and that he dealed with us for the repair. This is not true.
Mr Andre also mix up our Distributor's remarks with ours as noboday at Audio Aero answered him that he will not get a new player. He tries to accuses our Company with other people's word. This is also not correct.
I admited that the delay of fixing has been too long and as I personnaly apologied to Mr Andre on the phone. This delay was due to a late order from our Distributor.Finally, our Distributor will visit Mr Andre and will deliver him a brand new Player after checking the supposed non working unit.
As some abroad dealers explained on this forum, we have built our reputation on service through a commited Ditributors network. Unfortunately, as in every business I know on this planet, some miscommunication can sometimes happen and create frustration. This is what happened to Mr Andre/ Cortes. This case is now closed to me, and I hope that Mr Andre will finally enjoy his listening.
Sincerely,Jerome ANDRE - General Manager of Audio Aero Design.
Look I've been doing a search all day long on Audio Aero and have repetedly seen quality control issues mentioned. This will probably be the single most important reason for me to NOT be buying one of these products, unless I can get some sort sense of assurance from a US distributor. To add poor customer service to a product with reliability issues is a lethal combination IMO.
I feel for the opening poster, as I've been there (as with so many consumers). In my experience so many companies go into denial rather thant the just own up to issues up front. I don't know the details in thsi case, but a simple denial just doesn't cut it for me. It's sort of like blaming Sony or Phillips transports, when it was Audio Aero that decided use these transports in the first place.
In this e-mail, it looks like there is some attempt to "put the blame" on the UK distributor. But Audio Aero is the one who allowed them toi became as distributor and hense a representative of the company. Sorry France Audio Aero, but as we say in the US, the "buck stops here" (with you).
And I am glad to hear that the original poster finally got the unit that he had paid for long before. But from a consumer point of view, look what he had to go through to finally get what he paid for! IMO he should not only get a working player but also some refund (or upgrade if possible)to make up for the time loss and upset that your company put him through.
And as a company you need to look at your product reliability as well as company wide customer service. Especially the audiophile world is a small one and word get around. And I suspect that it is due to posting on this forum creating a little "heat" that is the reason this finally got rectified. Too bad it has to come to this.
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