Topic: Sound Devices Service

[voltronic]

There have been some people here making a point about the high cost Sound Devices charges for servicing discontinued units.

Yes, the repair fee for discontinued products is quite expensive. They explain why this is the case on their Repair FAQ, but I also wanted to share what I received today from them regarding repair of my 788T-SSD which I damaged after connecting it to too high a voltage. I don't know how many other companies would be this thorough. Aside from the cracked CF slot, I hadn't noticed any of these things:

Required Parts

-Replace smoked component.
-Replace broken CF housing.
-Replace both encoders.
   -Jumping/skipping. Weak clicks.
-Replace worn hardware.
   -Ripped, smushed, and/or falling off.
-Replace worn FFCs.
   -Kinked, bents pins, and/or buildup on pins.
-Replace internal batteries.
   -Over 11yrs old. Bloated.
-Clean chassis, button contacts, switches, and connectors.

The total for all of this is $835.49. $745 is the flat labor rate, so the parts are relatively inexpensive. Note that "required" parts mean they either you agree that they replace all of these things, or you decline repairs entirely.

The only thing they quoted me which was too high for my comfort was an optional SSD replacement for an extra $229. That I can easily do myself, but I'll wait until my 1-year warranty is up.

[breakonthru]

That’s great!

I grabbed one of those adorama 702s I wonder what that would look like under their watchful eye. That’s probably a little less dense than a 788 I’ll open it up for inspection

[voltronic]

That’s great!

I grabbed one of those adorama 702s I wonder what that would look like under their watchful eye. That’s probably a little less dense than a 788 I’ll open it up for inspection

Just be aware that even though it's a simpler unit, it would not be any cheaper for them to service it. All of the 7-series are in the same price category for service.

Sound Devices will sell you parts individually, but they do not provide repair instructions or schematics. After something clearly fried on my 788, I opened it up to see if I could identify and remove the damaged component. I'm a pretty handy person, having built and repaired computers for 30ish years. But the insides of the 788 are like nothing I've ever seen. It's honestly a work of art in there, but very densely packed. Everything is modular with layers upon layers of PCBs, and I could not figure out how to even get at the little DC input board where the fried component was. Rather than risk breaking something else, I bit the bullet and sent it off to the experts.

So while I'm going to be paying another $900 or so beyond what I initially paid for it, I at least have the peace of mind that every part of it has been brought up to factory spec.

[C.Clark]

And at this point that 788T is essentially a refurbished unit that should see solid use for another 10 years I would suspect, well worth it if your planning on keeping it for a long time.  I thought about getting my recently purchased Adorama used MixPre-D serviced but at that $700ish price level, i figured I would take it out and see how it performed and it was rock solid, so I'm going to skip the refurbishment for now and if it breaks in the future I'll just buy a mixpre10 for another 1000 and get 2 more mic inputs over my mixpre6.  Thanks for sharing the process with SD with us Voltronic!

[voltronic]

It is pretty much a new unit at this point.

[fanofjam]

^

She's a beut Voltronic!  Temped to send mine in...it's has a couple of tiny issues, but they don't affect functionality so at that price probably won't but still you have an essentially new unit. 

For what it's worth, they quoted me $175 two years ago to repair my Mix-Pre 3, which has fried USB power connectors but otherwise works fine.  I prefer using the off-brand sled I bought with hirose connector so decided it wasn't worth that much to me to have the repair done, but thought others might like to know what it costs.  That's a flat fee to service the unit, but obviously some repairs and cost of parts would increase the cost of service as Voltronic experienced with his repair.

[voltronic]

For what it's worth, they quoted me $175 two years ago to repair my Mix-Pre 3, which has fried USB power connectors but otherwise works fine.  I prefer using the off-brand sled I bought with hirose connector so decided it wasn't worth that much to me to have the repair done, but thought others might like to know what it costs.  That's a flat fee to service the unit, but obviously some repairs and cost of parts would increase the cost of service as Voltronic experienced with his repair.

Flat labor rate for MixPre 3/6 is now $245, which is the cheapest tier. (See link in first post.)

[fanofjam]

Flat labor rate for MixPre 3/6 is now $245, which is the cheapest tier. (See link in first post.)

  Yep there it is right there in black and white...thanks.  I love Sound Devices so much.  They just don't have anything to hide when it comes to their products.  And the fact that they service everything they've ever sold, including keeping a stock of all of the necessary replacement parts...I mean, that's just about unheard of in any industry.