Anyone delt with "Reference Audio Mods"?

Kenny, I've had no experience with Reference Audio Mods, but I'm curious as to the broken promises. Could you explain further?

Have you checked at "The Asylum"?

You got to be more specific as to what your concern is. I have dealt with Kyle at Reference Audio Mods(West) multiple times & he has always been responsive to my questions.

If his business is a corporation, you might also see if your state has a Department of Corporations. Also, getting a consumer rights local television show to call him up might work wonders. I had to do this with Advent, believe or not, to get a replacement woofer sent to me. As soon as the TV show called them, all of a sudden they found one in a back room in the warehouse.

That sucks. Sorry about the problems.

I am thinking of sending my Oppo to ASI-TEK for modifications myself. I hope I don't have the issues that you have suffered.

How can you justify sending something out for modification if the outfit at the very least will not provide measurements pre and post?

Not good. Have you asked for a refund and your original units returned?

ASI-TEK is a seperate company!

Obviously.
I never said they were.
But ASI-TEK offer similiar services. Same Issues can arrise.

Reseller Ratings has no reviews at http://www.resellerratings.com/store...nce_Audio_Mods

Maybe you should submit these problems as a review to warn others.

Just give AVS a call and see if their story checks out. The issue isn't with the quality of the service but the delay.

I know how it feels... sort of...local Magnolia service department can't seem to get their act together to delivery my repaired unit to my local store for pickup!

But if their story does check out, I wouldn't put to much pressure on them...a rushed mod or repair job is not something you want to deal with after the warranty runs out.

Ever get any satisfaction from Reference Audio Mods? They were some good posts about them from people I trust and have done business with (e.g. Mark [markl] Lawton of Lawton Audio), but now I have the same problem as the OP.

Sent them a Pioneer DVD unit and a special capture board from Europe ... lots of money sunk in to this ... for them to mod and install. Taking so long, and no emails back after a fine start. Worrying ...

BTW, FWIW, I have had gear modded by ASI-Tek and they were a pleasure to deal with ... fast and great communications.

Sounds like the guy who complained the "treated" speaker cables he bought online never showed up. I wonder why scams target people who like expensive and controversial mods the most.

I am scratching my head trying to figure out why you would even chime in to say something like that? If you don't have experience with mods, be quiet.

Or do you just like seeing your name?

I'm also scratching my head wondering why you bothered responding to my post when I wasn't even talking to you. I do have experience with mods but that's out of context, this is a public forum, I have the right to post my opinion. Sounds like you got a personal problem with me though and if you do feel free to PM me.

KennyG,

Did that situation ever get staightened out ? Kyle at RAM seems like a fair minded person to deal with. I had two experiences with RAM. Both units sent to him sounded very good after receiving them back. One unit did have trouble later on ( a DVD player), but RAM fixed the problem.
Make sure any modifier or technician does neat work. There is no excuse for them to do otherwise.
There was one instance of another modifier (Aberdeen Components) who worked on a player for eight months. It was a $500.00 mod. He got mad and supposedly sold my player for $250.00. There was not much I could do, because he is out of State.

So be careful and get everything in writing before proceeding.

Actions like this never cease to amaze me.

Actions like this never cease to amaze me. I am not discounting the responsibilities of the companies involved but ordering new equipment to be sent directly to a 3rd party modifier goes well beyond my levels of trust.

Why not just buy better equipment in the first place. Why spend $7000 to upgrade a player when you could just buy a player that is $7000 more?

I don't get modifying at all when you send a brand new toy away without hearing it in the first place. For $7000 it should be a totally new player so why even buy the Marantz in the first place. I am not trying to be sarcastic, just really confused on your thought process.

Hello,

RAM was just recently made aware of this post. Without going into any details of the purchase and modification services... Unfortunately, RAM and Mr Gunlock were unable to finalize a transaction successfully. We do our best to communicate effectively although sometimes the seller/buyer relationship is not meant to be. We do apologize to Mr Gunlock for any inconvenience he experienced and did provide him a full refund.

Sincerely,

Reference Audio Mods

any "upgrade companies" like RAM and TUC are a joke

just buy better equipment instead of wasting money on this

But the Kool-Aid tastes so good!

Hopefully, Mr. Gunlock will post here confirming that a refund in full was issued and the matter was concluded successfully.

What is more amazing is that they say the can upgrade even the higher end electronics. Wouldnt the Engineers working for the high end electronics company do the simple upgrades if they really mattered?

How can any upgrade cost more then the sum of all parts? Those who buy into this have to be the most gullable types around.

This is the one that has always amazed me too.

If an Oppo BDP-83SE costs $900...

...and modding it costs $1000 ($400 parts, $400 labour, $200 profit - guesses; probably more like $200 parts, $300 labour and $500 profit)

...using the better parts by Oppo would be an incremental $375 (assuming the $400 replaced $25 in cheap parts, which again is being generous to modders)

...installing them would cost no more than installing the original parts, no increment

...everyone who bought the BDP-83SE would gladly have paid $1275 instead if it made even half of the difference the modders claim

There is absolutely no way these "upgrade" companies can do something that the original couldn't do period. That is where the flaw exists in thinking these are actually real "improvements"

btw, you would be amazed how cheap those parts are when bought in bulk