Does anyone know a good reliable tech who knows his way around Audio Research vintage amps.
I have a pair of Classic 120's that were fully upgraded in 2005 by the now defunct GNSC in MN at a cost of $2000.00usd per amp.
They still sound amazing pair with a modded REF 3 LE and REF phono 2 (not SE version) but i would like to have them "checked out" particularly the electrolytic caps in the power supply. Since i have so much money already invested in them and i do not have the funds to trade them in for the likes of a REF150 or REF250 i may as well hold on to them. I have just replaced the tubes.
I would rather not go to Filtronique if i don't have to and neither would want to incur the costs to ship them out to a shop out of my area. There was a tech that use to work at Filtro many years ago who was really good but not sure if he is still around doing mods and repairs on his own.
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks

Denis deguire in prevost Quebec call him at 450 602 6374 . he love to work on tubes amp . he recapped my dual 75 A
45 minute from, you.5 minute north of st gerome.

Since you have so much money invested on it why not send them to ARC and be done with it.

What did it cost to recap the Dual 75A i have one i would like done.

around $375 he charge $50/hours and it make me laugh when someone say send it to the co. itself. specialy when it is in the states. shiping alone will cost you the price of the repair. in this case 2 mono block. about $600+ for shiping alone. I know it should be done correctly. but as far as price for the repair it will cost a harm and a leg.some company are more interested in selling you a new amp, more then servicing it.unless it is very close to your area.shiping is something to consider in your estimate. I had a estimate done for recapping a krell from a krell distributor in Canada. for my ksa 150. it was $3200
denis did it for $1100. I also sent a classe amp to classe who is 30 minute drive. cost me $226 to replace 3 fuses.so your choice. in some surcomstance it can be very costly for no reason.

The can-us border burns you, big time. the customs and duties are not set up to provide sensible or functional financials for individuals who might be doing returns for repair or whatnot. Part of the problem being that the vast majority would always say a item is being returned for repair or warranty, if they could skip duties and taxes. checkmark a box, avoid $50-1000 dollars in costs. Expect it to be done in about 100% of the crossborder cases, no matter if it is true or not. thus, huge barriers structured in a way that prevents fraud parasiting through loopholes and punishes the honest via overt complexity and difficulty...

The in-place agreements are for skids of shipped cargo, not for individual consumers. Nafta was/is designed for corporations .. not for the common citizenry.

Anyway, if the given items are modded out and the swapped out capacitors are only a few years old, then it's probably not a concern. If it is a decade or so since the mods and the item generates a lot of heat in that given modded out section of electronic bits, then it might be close to becoming a concern. Capacitors are time and thermal rated, the thermal part being the overarching ruler of the scenario.

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(Ken Hotte, of) Teo Audio