[bfreedma]

Shall I break it down for you?

Hate to break up the Ragnarok love train, but unfortunately I have some very bad news concerning mine. It has completely died. I was listening to music with it via the speaker output, at about 2 o'clock on the volume knob on high gain, so nothing too loud, and had only been listening for about 45 minutes when it shut off and I began smelling smoke, and while I may not be an electrical engineer, even I know that's a big uh-oh.

I let it cool off for 30 minutes thinking it may have just gotten too hot, but after that time it was still not able to power back on, this thing is completely dead. I'm very disappointed that thing has died less than 2 months after I received it as a Beta tester. I'm not sure if any changes have been made since the Beta phase, but quite clearly 2 months life span is unacceptable for an amp of this price and one that I was hoping to keep for a long time (10+ years was my plan), so I felt obligated to tell everyone as I had nothing but positives to say about the Ragnarok until this point.

Being that this is my first Schiit product, I am not sure how their customer service is, but I have e-mailed Jason and will update this thread when I know more.

You state that you are not an electrical engineer, but you assure us twice that it is indeed completely dead. You break up the 'love train' as if you are bringing us back to reality.

Schiit's beta was a real beta, so naturally there is some risk (that you agreed to) with beta units. Those who couldn't handle a bump in the road shouldn't have signed up. So, a beta unit had an early failure, imagine that!

The last sentence reads to me (after the other hostile stuff) 'This public post will ensure they do what they said they would do, otherwise everyone will know my wrath'.

If this was your not your intention, learn to use less inflammatory language.

Massive overreaction. I see his posts as factual, not hostile. Sure, he's a little upset that his new toy has to be serviced - who wouldn't be.

 

[lukeap69]

Agreed.

 

[Maxvla]

Massive overreaction. I see his posts as factual, not hostile. Sure, he's a little upset that his new toy has to be serviced - who wouldn't be.

Someone who signed up for a beta.

 

[bfreedma]

Massive overreaction. I see his posts as factual, not hostile. Sure, he's a little upset that his new toy has to be serviced - who wouldn't be.

Someone who signed up for a beta.

And? I'm actually more curious as to your over the top defending of Schiit than GD's motives.

 

[goldendarko]

Someone who signed up for a beta.

 


I agree, but $1500 is still real money, and it may be chump change for some but it is certainly a large investment for me. I guess my main concern at this point isn't so much that it died, but the fact that it raises questions for me about what kind of longevity I can expect from this amp now. If the first one didn't last me 2 months, can I expect the next one to last 10 years?

Also, I'm not sure why Maxvla seems to want to be argumentative with me, obviously I am frustrated, but I took to Head-Fi to voice my concern with others and to keep people in this community informed, because ultimately that is the point of any online community. If everyone only posted the postivite things, there wouldn't be much of a point to this website. I didn't come here to critcize Schiit in a public venue, in fact their customer service has been exemplary, getting back to me within minutes of e-mailing them. And as for the part about coming to this forum to ensure they will replace the amp or "fear my wrath" as you said, well I don't even know what to say to that, they have a 5 year warranty as stated on their website, so it's absurd to even suggest that was my intent.

 

[Maxvla]

Over the top? No. It's about being a responsible adult. There is more at stake here than someone's lost amplifier joy. A small post about a smoking amp can figuratively start a fire that has massive repercussions.

He agreed to test the Ragnarok. This comes with certain expectations from the manufacturer, such as being the first to know and being given a chance to make good on the failure. If I were in his shoes, with a beta unit that failed, I would have contacted Schiit and had the matter resolved one way or another. If the failure was systematic, and thus applying to more than my unit, Schiit would issue a recall if necessary. There is no reason for him to create panic when he doesn't have the facts of what happened.

 

[twinkle]

Irrespective of Ragnarok's handling of speakers, I got curious about KEF LS50: a 85db sensitivity is indeed pretty low. However, the really important parameter to consider to evaluate if a speaker is an easy or difficult load (for any amp) is the impedance curve.
 
Both Soundstage Network and Stereophile did the measurement and obtained very similar looking impedance curves (anniversary model for stereophile)
 
http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=941:nrc-measurements-kef-ls50-loudspeakers&catid=77&Itemid=153
http://www.stereophile.com/content/kef-ls50-anniversary-model-loudspeaker-measurements
 
In short, as Stereophile notes, "Somewhat optimistically specified at 8 ohms, the LS50's impedance (fig.1, solid trace) drops to 4 ohms at 200Hz and to 5.4 ohms at the top of the audioband."
And "The electrical phase angle is generally mild, but the combination of 5.3 ohms and –41° at 135Hz, a frequency where music often has high energy, will make the speaker work at its best with a good, 4 ohm–rated amplifier."
 
Something to take into account if you're shopping for speakers (please note that I have no experience with how these sound or their strengths). Also check the amp's output impedance which will allow you to calculate the damping factor for a given speaker impedance (you just divide the speaker's imp. by the amp's output imp., minimum should be 10, ideally over 100. Some tube amps may escape this general rule). Hope this is useful

.

 

[bfreedma]

Over the top? No. It's about being a responsible adult. There is more at stake here than someone's lost amplifier joy. A small post about a smoking amp can figuratively start a fire that has massive repercussions.

He agreed to test the Ragnarok. This comes with certain expectations from the manufacturer, such as being the first to know and being given a chance to make good on the failure. If I were in his shoes, with a beta unit that failed, I would have contacted Schiit and had the matter resolved one way or another. If the failure was systematic, and thus applying to more than my unit, Schiit would issue a recall if necessary. There is no reason for him to create panic when he doesn't have the facts of what happened.

How is reporting a real issue he personally experienced "creating a panic"? The beta period is over, so I don't see the relevance of the rest of your post.

While you haven't in any way convinced me that GD has an agenda, you have convinced me I need to reread your comparison of the 3 TOTL amps now that your biases are on full display.

 

[Maxvla]

Someone who signed up for a beta.

 

Also, I'm not sure why Maxvla seems to want to be argumentative with me

You go to a clothing store. You buy a shirt. On the way out the door you notice it has a tear in it. Do you:

A) Walk outside, grab a megaphone, and proceed to tell anyone that will hear you that this store sells torn clothing.

B) Turn around and ask the cashier for a replacement. Receive said replacement, and walk out happy.

 

[Maxvla]

How is reporting a real issue he personally experienced "creating a panic"? The beta period is over, so I don't see the relevance of the rest of your post.

While you haven't in any way convinced me that GD has an agenda, you have convinced me I need to reread your comparison of the 3 TOTL amps now that your biases are on full display.

There is no bias here, only very conservative beliefs based on mutual respect and trusting those you buy from. I would NEVER publicly discuss a failure of a piece of my gear before I had discussed it with the manufacturer and it had been investigated and resolved.

In fact, this has been recorded in Matrix Mini-I/Pro thread where I delayed making comment due to a bug in programming creating a stuttering output. I talked with the regional distributor, who relayed the problem to China, their engineers fixed the issue. I was sent a replacement unit which did not have the stuttering and only then did I report the problem and how people that might have the same issue could go about seeking help.

 

[magiccabbage]

Lads just leave it be. We don't want this thread getting closed down or anything. 

 

[Currawong]

Let Jason and Co. check the unit and find out what happened. Everyone else should move on.  
 
That is, if I wake up tomorrow and find the thread has had a further meltdown I shall put the proverbial boot up your collective rear-ends.

 

[goldendarko]

Thanks currawong, will do and report back on what they find out

 

[preproman]

Thanks currawong, will do and report back on what they find out

goldendarko,
 
You did the right thing.  If you can come on here and tells us all the good to great things about the amp, you should be able to come on here and tell us the bad things as well.  In my mind, you did the right thing..

 

[cizx]

It'll all balance out when darko comes back and tells us how schiit fixed it and reassured him.
 
I just hope he brought it up to them in a calm and rational manner, and didn't go full nuclear on them.  they're good guys and mostly human beings.