Hi just wondering if anyone has had problems with the LCD display on Audiolab kit, my 6000a play has lost some of the cells & others are dimmed. It’s just out of the 2 year warranty by 3 months😩. I’ve been quoted £55 plus postage plus vat by Audiolab to replace it. The LCDs on my primare kit are 10 years old & still going strong………have I just been unlucky?🤔
Failing LCD display on Audiolab 6000a play
- Thread starter Fidelity dom
- Start date
nopiano
Well-known member
It sounds unlucky to me. Obviously, as I happen to own Primare as well I particularly understand your frustration.
I would go to the dealer who supplied it, as your contract isn’t with the manufacturer, whether they can repair it or not. In my opinion this is a failing far too early in the life of product that should last a decade plus. Of course it’s impossible to prove it was potentially faulty when you bought it but in principle something like this simply shouldn’t go wrong so soon.
You may have to mug up on the Consumer Rights Act, which you can claim under for up to six years for something like your Audiolab.
www.which.co.uk
I would go to the dealer who supplied it, as your contract isn’t with the manufacturer, whether they can repair it or not. In my opinion this is a failing far too early in the life of product that should last a decade plus. Of course it’s impossible to prove it was potentially faulty when you bought it but in principle something like this simply shouldn’t go wrong so soon.
You may have to mug up on the Consumer Rights Act, which you can claim under for up to six years for something like your Audiolab.
Faulty product? How to get a refund, repair or replacement - Which?
If an item you've bought develops a fault, your refund rights depend on when you bought it and who is responsible.
Yeah I think I’ve probably just been unlucky, I’ve read that an LCD screen should last a minimum of 5 years & that 10 years + is pretty common. I know that since my purchase Audiolab have been offering an extended warranty if you register within 90 days of purchase, unfortunatly wasn’t available when I purchased. It’s not a fortune probably about £90 with the postage & VAT so I guess I’ll have to just bight the bullet & send it off to them. They are suggesting a turn around time of 4 - 6 weeks which would suggest IAG are getting quite a few returns at present. Just makes me wonder about the quality control on the IAG units. If I’d dropped £2000 on the 9000a & the display went down I’d be a bit more miffed.It sounds unlucky to me. Obviously, as I happen to own Primare as well I particularly understand your frustration.
I would go to the dealer who supplied it, as your contract isn’t with the manufacturer, whether they can repair it or not. In my opinion this is a failing far too early in the life of product that should last a decade plus. Of course it’s impossible to prove it was potentially faulty when you bought it but in principle something like this simply shouldn’t go wrong so soon.
You may have to mug up on the Consumer Rights Act, which you can claim under for up to six years for something like your Audiolab.
Faulty product? How to get a refund, repair or replacement - Which?
If an item you've bought develops a fault, your refund rights depend on when you bought it and who is responsible.
nopiano
Well-known member
But your legal rights are against the supplier, whoever that is. Audiolab may offer an extended warranty, but the dealer makes a margin on every sale, and sometimes they have to cough up.
However, if you’re happy to return it to Audiolab and pay then I understand.
However, if you’re happy to return it to Audiolab and pay then I understand.
The supplier was Sevenoaks sound & vision. I’ve a friend who is A solicitor who suggested that for the money they were asking for repair it just wasn’t worth the hassle of trying to use the consumer rights act as they will simply state that it’s out of warranty & that the failure could be due to misuse. He suggested the onus would be on me to prove the item was faulty as supplied which would be hard to prove, just a lot of grief at the end of the day for £90. I was interested if anyone else had a similar problem with IAG kit & displays……………hopefully the replacement display will last🤔
Al ears
Well-known member
I have heard of Naim panels going faulty but not Audiolab.
Unfortunately buying items with this sort of embellishments seem to potential decrease the life span of said devices.
Unfortunately buying items with this sort of embellishments seem to potential decrease the life span of said devices.
davidf
Well-known member
Yeah it has got me thinking of the benefits of a stripped back simplicity, as you say an LCD display is likely to be a week point when we look at longer term reliability. Does make you wonder how many of these units will be around in another 20 years. Yeah it’s a good point the replacement for the Audiolab is at least cheaper than the Naim display………😂
Al ears
Well-known member
Al ears
Well-known member
The best bet is that the manufacturer actually holds plenty of spare parts and doesn't charge the earth to replace them. However, this doesn't appear to be the case which is why I would not contemplate buy such a device.
Strange as my laptop display has been perfectly fone for ages.
IAGs UK service manager has explained that the £55 in a standard Labour charge & the part is provided free of charge. It’s just the carriage & VAT that bumps it up to £90. If it’s fixed & lasts then I can live with the fact that I’ve just been unlucky, I guess that even great products have the occasional failure. I’ve not herd of anyone else having a failure on the 6000a displays, there is no doubt a lot of them out there so I’d have thought if it was common then we’d probably all know about it. Anyways thanks to everyone for your thoughts……😀
nopiano
Well-known member
I agree with all that, as long as you’ve asked SSAV. I only say that because if they’ve had others, and value you as a customer, they just might get it sorted FOC. They must be one of the biggest dealer groups that Audiolab sell through.
They could easily return it and state a slightly different purchase date, unless you’re fully registered with the factory. Although that might sound a bit unscrupulous, in your case I think the manufacturer should cough up.
Lawton
Member
My first post in forum. Saw your post in Google search results on Audiolab LED issues. My 6000a display had a number of led cells not visible for some time. I even created a checklist of the remaining text on each menu item so I could interpret each. display. This had gone on for several months when I had the unit off for a while, switched back on and saw full LEDs once again. Has now gone back to reduced display. In my case we are often home most days and tend to do a lot of hours of music streaming. Wondering if the prolonged hours of use daily is related to the LED problem - either simple accumulated hours of display, or long period sessions. Certainly frustrating. As I live in Canada I don't have many options for servicing (amp purchased shortly after initial release in Canada). I guess I will keep amending my display cheat sheet till I get too few remaining cells showing . At that point I will likely just cycle through physical knobs till I hear something out of the speakers!
Lawton
Member
Other than the LED issue I am really pleased with the Audiolab 6000a. Matched with Paradigm bookshelf speakers, B&W subwoofer, Project RPM5.1 with Ortofon 2M bronze, Project Tube Box, & Speed Box. Blusound Node 2i, Yamaha CD player.
Yes my 6000a play has the same issue, having thought I had failed LCD cells the display came back to life has worked for several months without fault & then suddenly has a partial failure again. It has been doing this for months now. It clearly is nothing to do with the LCD cells themselves & iam guessing this is either a fault with the control circuit or a software problem. I contacted IAG about the problem but as my unit was just over 2 years old & therefore out of warranty they wanted to charge to repair the fault. With the cost of insured shipping it just wasn’t worth it for what is an annoying intermittent fault.
Sadly it would make me think twice before purchasing another IAG product🤔
Gray
Well-known member
Yes, it was the £55 that caught my eye in your first post - making me think it was a reasonable price.
Don't know why I thought it was reasonable though because even £55 is £55 more than you should be paying so soon after purchase.
I've said it before but I think not in terms of years, but decades when it comes to the trouble-free life of my kit - I fear that, like you, I'm going to be disappointed with the most recent of it.
It is the price when the insured shipping is added to the cost just doesn’t make it worth sending for repair. I’ve primare kit that is going strong with no problems 10 years on & I expect to get many more years service from it. Sadly I don’t have that confidence with the Audiolab, I guess you get what you pay for, but just over two years & a failure not covered by a warranty is pretty poor. When I spoke with the IAG service centre at the end of 2023 they were quoting a turn around time of up to 8 weeks due to the number of returns, they had received which didn’t fill me with confidence as to IAGs quality control…….🤣 I like my kit to be simple & like you say quality kit should last decades…………..
Gray
Well-known member
In view of the above advice, I can see some asking to be sent the free part - and seeing what's involved in doing their own replacement.
I'm not advocating that as a great option because it's not likely to be the easiest swap.
I wouldn't be surprised if, when they do it, IAG replace a complete display / PCB panel to make the job easier - if they could send you that, it might be worth paying say £20 for the 'free' part
Would be good if you could watch a nice, easy repair uploaded by someone on YouTube (too much to ask).
Yeah I would be good if that were the source of the problem, but I suspect the issue is not actually with the LCD display but with the control of its function as the problem is intermittent. That is the annoying thing as it will be fine for weeks & then suddenly only halve the LCDs will be illuminated. After another few days or weeks and the display will be functioning properly again. I did even think it might be a software glitch & might disappear at some future update. At the end of the day I didn’t think it was worth spending £150+ to sort out a problem that doesn’t actually stop me from using the amp/streamer. If I lived closer to the Huntingdon service centre I’d drop it in ……..
Gray
Well-known member
I can understand that.
But I couldn't accept the situation as it stands. You and Lawton have the same intermittency - who knows how many others are suffering in silence? It's not good enough.
I watched a lid-off video but annoyingly he was all over the place with the camera - however, it looks as if there may just be a small PCB with 3 white, multi-pin plug / socket connectors.
There may just be dry joints in need of resoldering.
But I'd be pushing IAG to supply the part they said was free 😉
Yes I suspect we are not alone with this fault, IAG could of course offered a free repair as it was only just out of warranty, what was really annoying is shortly after purchasing my amp they started offering an extended warranty of three years & if I’d had that it would have been covered under warranty. Still as they say once bitten twice shy, I will be avoiding IAG products in the future.
Just wanted to say a big thank you for your thoughts & advice, really appreciated 😀
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