Caveat Emptor

[Black Stuart]

Hi all,
Just received my Kenwood KD990 from Germany, which I bought on E-bay and yes I made the classic mistake of signing for it before opening and examining the goods - NEVER, NEVER EVER DO THIS. This must be the mantra for all E-bay purchases.

I can't fault the vendor over the general appearance of the deck and especially the acryllic lid - he clearly displayed that it was very scuffed and marked but the way he packed it was unbelieveable - instead of packing it flat he packed it on edge. The result is that one hinge has been smashed and the front right top edge has been smashed. Had he used styrofoam which is so easy to find, you don't need to purchase it, even as he packed it, there would have been no damage.

But it gets better (or worse) - THERE WERE NO TRANSPORT SCREWS USED. The PSU had come loose on one side from the rubber grommet and it's screw. He had'nt even bothered to take off the counterweight from the arm, or to use a wire twist to keep the armtube in place.

I fired it up with trepidation - it works but no thanks to this seller. So now I have two decks and two problems. The first deck - a supposedly Lenco 78, the vendor has agreed to repay me, now I have the second 'cabron' to deal with. Yes I checked his record before bidding it is 99.6% over 6 years. he's a power seller on E-bay, so should understand about the importance of packing. I don't blame the shippers, if he had packed it properly, there would have been no problem.

Remember - NEVER SIGN, WITHOUT EXAMINING PROPERLY YOUR PURCHASE and yes I have given myself a good bollocking but the worst is to come when Angela gets back from Granada - I may flee to the mountains for a couple of days.

Black Stuart

[James D]

Ahh, Stuart, I feel for you... what a shame,

Find a nice wee hole and bottle of good red wine...

James

[pre65]

Hi Stuart-perhaps you should hide in one of your local caves !

Philip.

ps we have been to your part of the world and must admit it would make a nice place to live.

[Black Stuart]

The vendor has e-mailed that he is sorry but says he packed it the best he knew how.Anyway he wants photos to prove the damage and thinks he can claim from Deutch Post - maybe he can but the damage was caused by his stupidity and lazyness.

An idiot knows you should always use the rigid polystyrene foam and bubblewrap. As he is a 'power seller' and as most germans speak very good English, my comments will definately hurt his business if he does'nt settle to my satisfaction.

By the way JamesD, as I have had the back off - I do like the way they designed the cast aluminium spider and I can see why the Japs would create a skeletal design. Also all the caps values are obvious should I need to replace any. In fact the whole layout is very easy to access.

It came with an 'Acutex' cartridge - I have never encountered one of these - any info welcome. The laquered plinth is in fact chipboard which ties in with Peter's comments on chipboard for speaker cabinets' of the time.

For anyone who has an 'Art Deco' home apart from it's sonic performance this deck will slot right in, I think it makes the likes of Mitchell decks look gaudy and showy.

Black Stuart

[Black Stuart]

Hi all,
The vendor got back to me yesterday, I had asked for E150 to be refunded, he offered E90. If he agrees to split the difference and send me E120, that will do.The arm works and is a beautiful piece of engineering

Yes Philip, it is a very nice place to live, especially as the local people are very friendly and it most definately is not the dreaded 'Costa del Sol'. There are negatives but if we leave, it would have to be somewhere else that has that 'big country' feel. I don't know when you visited but the air for most of the year is just a pure tonic - to take our dog for a walk in the early morning is beyond words. I had hoped by now to have a personal room that looked out on the Sierra Nevadas - esta la vida hombre.

Black Stuart

[pre65]

Hi Stuart-we had a week in a remote dwelling near Laroles,in the sierra navadas,no mains water or electric but peace and quiet. This was several years ago but i dont suppose its changed much.
one thing that did supprise us was how many new roads were being built,we were told its due to EEC funding.

Philip

[Black Stuart]

Hi Philip,
I intend to camp out for a few days at that end of the Sierra Nevada range. Laroles was the last place in Al Andaluz that Boabdil stayed before leaving for the Mahgreb - he cried his eyes out. In the time of the Arabs and Jews, the Alpujarra was a virtual paradise - it was all forested and very verdant but the Christians cut down all the trees, which of course led to soil erosion.

You will know how good the air is. Did you see the stars at night - around Lanjaron the stars are simply unbelieveable - we had never seen anything like it. If we stay in Spain it might well be the Alpujarras and the higher the better - somewhere around 2000m would be good - simply to escape the summer heat. Imagine a home built to northern European standards, all alt. energy supplied with pure water from the Alpujarras, with a big picture window looking out on that vast expanse of mountains and listening to a really good sound system - fingers crossed.

Black Stuart

[Black Stuart]

With his bad English and my even worse German, it would seem the vendor has agreed to refund E120.

So it's crunch time - do I repair the damage to the piano laquered plinth or go skeletal.

It just so happens that my good friend Paco just down the road runs a bodywork and respray business. So I can repair the corner and hinge area damage and get him to respray or go skeletal and get him to spray the aluminium spider.

The bottom line is I have a Kenwood KD 990 for E181 + E50 P&P (very bad packing). I think like JamesD - I must look for another and maybe sell the Technics SL120.

Black Stuart

[Greg.]

Hi Stuart,

If it was me, I'd go skeletal, but as appearance is important (for me anyway), I'd have all the casting marks on the spider polished off to make it all smooth. I then might even consider having it lacquered rather than painted. Then again, have you worked out if this deck would benefit from a CLD designed solid plinth? It might be better that way. I'm sure James will advise.

Best wishes,

Greg

[James D]

Ok, here is the thing. |For the skelatal design to work it needs to mount on a plinth that looks like an energy sink to all the energy travelling down the skeleton legs and that passes non of the room energy back up into the skeletal frame... so the plinth needs to be a CLD construction and then mounted on a low energy storage frame. Now whether the skeletal deck mounted this way or the motor unit remouted on a direct coupled CLD plinth is best I don't know... The Japanese like the Skeletal mounting and it is better than the standard plinth... but that doesn't help here...

Oh one thing to bear in mind is that typical Japanese hearing has less low end response than typical western hearing so the immense bottom end of the massive CLD plinths is not prioritised so much in Japanese sound systems and this might change the preferences between us and Japan - so what they like is a guide only...

James