chromewaves
Member
so I'm a bit of a Rega fan and during my last big gear upgrade, I ended up with a system of a Brio-R, P3-24 turntable, and Apollo (mk1) CD player, all purchased used via Canuck Audio Mart.
And while the amp and turntable have served me well, the CD player(s) have driven me up the wall. The original full-size Apollo started freaking out after a few months - too long to blame on non-disclosure of issues from the seller - starting with random skipping and eventually settling into an inability to read any discs. So I took it into Bay Bloor Radio in Toronto - Rega dealers - for repair and some $400 for a new laser assembly later, it was back and humming along. Until it started doing it again. Rather than repair it again at the same price, I opted for a used Apollo-R off CAM because it would presumably perform better and also match the Brio-R. Which it did, for better part of a year. Then guess what - same thing. Random skipping, then eventually crapping out entirely. Again, back for repair and a new laser assembly at $400, and back in my system. And a couple years later... once again. Same thing. So rather than pay once again for the same repair, I swapped it out for a Marantz CD6004 picked up reasonably cheap from Best Buy and that has been doing a solid job for digital duties in my main system.
and yet the Apollo-R haunts me, both physically because it's sitting there in my closet and intellectually because I can't understand how these things keep failing on me. I've seen a few threads hereabouts about some software and hardware issues, but I would have thought that those would have been looked at the first time I brought it into the shop? And I also note that it "appears" that Apollo-R-specific replacement laser assemblies are available online for way cheaper than I was getting charged. So I don't know how much I would trust the local repair shop.
So there's a part of me that's wondering if I should maybe find a different shop and get it repaired one more time and get my pretty Rega mini-stack back because what are the odds of this happening AGAIN?
tl;dr - what should one do with this paperweight?
And while the amp and turntable have served me well, the CD player(s) have driven me up the wall. The original full-size Apollo started freaking out after a few months - too long to blame on non-disclosure of issues from the seller - starting with random skipping and eventually settling into an inability to read any discs. So I took it into Bay Bloor Radio in Toronto - Rega dealers - for repair and some $400 for a new laser assembly later, it was back and humming along. Until it started doing it again. Rather than repair it again at the same price, I opted for a used Apollo-R off CAM because it would presumably perform better and also match the Brio-R. Which it did, for better part of a year. Then guess what - same thing. Random skipping, then eventually crapping out entirely. Again, back for repair and a new laser assembly at $400, and back in my system. And a couple years later... once again. Same thing. So rather than pay once again for the same repair, I swapped it out for a Marantz CD6004 picked up reasonably cheap from Best Buy and that has been doing a solid job for digital duties in my main system.
and yet the Apollo-R haunts me, both physically because it's sitting there in my closet and intellectually because I can't understand how these things keep failing on me. I've seen a few threads hereabouts about some software and hardware issues, but I would have thought that those would have been looked at the first time I brought it into the shop? And I also note that it "appears" that Apollo-R-specific replacement laser assemblies are available online for way cheaper than I was getting charged. So I don't know how much I would trust the local repair shop.
So there's a part of me that's wondering if I should maybe find a different shop and get it repaired one more time and get my pretty Rega mini-stack back because what are the odds of this happening AGAIN?
tl;dr - what should one do with this paperweight?