Your Digital Media Has Never Looked So Good
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- wernerbird
- Posts: 7
- Joined:
- Location: Delaware, USA
Roku Soundbridge radio with internal speakers
I have had two Roku SoundBridge radios for a couple of years and love them. Suddenly, however, one simply stopped working with no power, no light, no display. I triple checked the power cord with both jiggling, reattaching it firmly to different outlets and testing it with a voltmeter (simply from wall to female end to unit). Any ideas for repairs?
Wernerbird
Like many other users in these forums, for whatever reason, you appear to share a reluctance to have your "Profile" show in which country you reside –
Take your time to read some of the threads in this forum to decide how you intend getting the PSUs in your Radios repaired & upgraded now they are out of warranty. The following two guys have had great success, and their charges are most reasonable -
"burkhardi" Matt Burkhard in the USA -
http://forums.rokulabs.com/profile.php? ... ile&u=2460
contact via PM or burkhardi@hotmail.com
"g0pkh" – Pete in the UK -
http://forums.roku.com/profile.php?mode ... ile&u=5008
contact via PM or hillyp01-roku@yahoo.co.uk
Take your time to read some of the threads in this forum to decide how you intend getting the PSUs in your Radios repaired & upgraded now they are out of warranty. The following two guys have had great success, and their charges are most reasonable -
"burkhardi" Matt Burkhard in the USA -
http://forums.rokulabs.com/profile.php? ... ile&u=2460
contact via PM or burkhardi@hotmail.com
"g0pkh" – Pete in the UK -
http://forums.roku.com/profile.php?mode ... ile&u=5008
contact via PM or hillyp01-roku@yahoo.co.uk
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- wernerbird
- Posts: 7
- Joined:
- Location: Delaware, USA
Roku Radio Soundbridge
Thanks for your reply, alanmc. You're right, I'm new and have not read all of the threads as the number is quite overwhelming. I loked at the burkhardi posts and that was helpful in lettig me know this is not a new issue. I had no reluctance to post my locations and have since added to my "profile." It looks like "burkhardi" and "grandefuturo" have a lot of experience with the issue.
Wernerbird
Hi again wernerbird,
Yep, when it comes to repairing/upgrading these crappy R1000 PSUs in the USA, then there's no doubt that "burkhardi" has a wealth of experience in this task . . . . and you'll not get ripped off
Matt of course is an Electronics Tech in his 'day-job', so your unit will be in safe hands.
Yep, when it comes to repairing/upgrading these crappy R1000 PSUs in the USA, then there's no doubt that "burkhardi" has a wealth of experience in this task . . . . and you'll not get ripped off
Matt of course is an Electronics Tech in his 'day-job', so your unit will be in safe hands.
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- wernerbird
- Posts: 7
- Joined:
- Location: Delaware, USA
Soundbridge radio Repair
I shipped it to Pyramid Audio in Austin, TX and they called to confirm receipt/get a credit card, and said they would start work on it in about a week. I'm a little nervous about sending it off and giving out credit card info to a company whose web site says explictly "...we support only the HD1000", although the guy on the phone said they also repair the soundbridge radio R1000. We'll see.
Wernerbird
Re: Soundbridge radio Repair
wernerbird wrote:I shipped it to Pyramid Audio in Austin, TX and they called to confirm receipt/get a credit card, and said they would start work on it in about a week. I'm a little nervous about sending it off and giving out credit card info to a company whose web site says explictly "...we support only the HD1000", although the guy on the phone said they also repair the soundbridge radio R1000. We'll see.
If you were leery of sending it to a brick and mortar service center, then I am sure you were very leery of sending it to some yahoo's house from the forums then
Let me put your worries/concerns at rest, Pyramid-Audio has been in business for over two decades and is one of the best. They have a very nice portfolio of brands they service and one that comes to mind as far as being high-end (since these pieces of equipment are the type that people are really careful on who they pick to service it) is the Mark Levinson brand. They had an amp that is ~$10,000 and it's mono, so you need to have two of them for stereo or 6-8 of them for surround sound. I have seen many a high-end piece at Pyramid
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Please let me know if you have any questions and/or concerns and I'll do my best to address them since I hang out there from time to time (the head honcho and I go way back). As far as their web page, I brought that up to him a while back, but what they excel in as far as troubleshooting, they lack for web stuff, but then I truly think that is because they are too busy fixing things to learn how too. They use to have a clerk that would dabble at updates on his spare time at work (few and far between), he has however left for the next chapter in his life. I’ll pass this on to the owner since I too had the same worries that having “only HD1000â€
Roku3 and Roku HD1000 [Rev B] on a Samsung HLP5674W DLP in the living room; a Roku2 and two Roku XS and a few SoundBridges.Win7; Kubuntu and XP via RT-N66U, E2000 and a switch or two. I own stock in Roku, it's just all in the form of hardware.Viva la Roku
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- wernerbird
- Posts: 7
- Joined:
- Location: Delaware, USA
SoundBridge Radio recevied back OK from Pyramid Audio
I got my Roku SoudBridge radio back today from Pyramid audio in the mail and it works OK (maybe a little better since it had some fuzzy static before the power died, and now it is a nice clean sound quality).
As for my nervousness about sending it to a brick and mortar company, it was not entirely clear from the web site that this was a real company, or just somebody's house, in a rough part of town, based on the GooGle Earth Streett view photo avilable on the web site. I agree that knowing a place is a brick and mortar company and not just some yahoo in his mom's basement helps provide confidence, so it is curious that Pyramid Audio does not step outside for a half minute with a digital camera and snap a photo of the place, whether it is humble of not, for the web site.
Also, despite your observation about the web site, it still shows the inaccurate:
"While ROKU makes several products we support only the HD1000."
The whole experience tells me there is still a lot of improved productivity to wring out of this econmy. Presumably, there are some talented techncial people associated with Pyramid and they just need to be connected with more customers to provide more revenue and more jobs for everyone, and have the "good as new" product come out of USA instead tossing it broke into a USA landfill and having us spend our money on buying a new one from China.
Also, a week after shipping my unit to Pyramid, I got a belated e-mail reply from ROKU saying they would repair the power supply on warranty.
unfortunately, it was $104 too late for me.
It remains disturbing that ROKU sells a product with this chronic flaw. Another opportunity for improvement of an otherwise wood product.
As for my nervousness about sending it to a brick and mortar company, it was not entirely clear from the web site that this was a real company, or just somebody's house, in a rough part of town, based on the GooGle Earth Streett view photo avilable on the web site. I agree that knowing a place is a brick and mortar company and not just some yahoo in his mom's basement helps provide confidence, so it is curious that Pyramid Audio does not step outside for a half minute with a digital camera and snap a photo of the place, whether it is humble of not, for the web site.
Also, despite your observation about the web site, it still shows the inaccurate:
"While ROKU makes several products we support only the HD1000."
The whole experience tells me there is still a lot of improved productivity to wring out of this econmy. Presumably, there are some talented techncial people associated with Pyramid and they just need to be connected with more customers to provide more revenue and more jobs for everyone, and have the "good as new" product come out of USA instead tossing it broke into a USA landfill and having us spend our money on buying a new one from China.
Also, a week after shipping my unit to Pyramid, I got a belated e-mail reply from ROKU saying they would repair the power supply on warranty.
unfortunately, it was $104 too late for me.
It remains disturbing that ROKU sells a product with this chronic flaw. Another opportunity for improvement of an otherwise wood product.
Wernerbird
Broken Soundbridge Radio
Well it's happened. My R100 is now lifeless, 20 months old - so about the right time. Haven't yet poked about inside but suspect the PSU as all externally is OK. Happened as I had to power cycle radio after it locked up and would not switch off (ie not go into standby).
Will try approaching Roku/Pinicle but suspect I will end up taking it apart and doing battle with the internal sealant. After reading the forums not sure which route to take - how is single 19V supply going - I'm worried that it will fry the display and computer side of things.
No time to look at it yet so will come back here next week.
Thanks in anticipation.
Mike
Will try approaching Roku/Pinicle but suspect I will end up taking it apart and doing battle with the internal sealant. After reading the forums not sure which route to take - how is single 19V supply going - I'm worried that it will fry the display and computer side of things.
No time to look at it yet so will come back here next week.
Thanks in anticipation.
Mike
Brewboy
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- wernerbird
- Posts: 7
- Joined:
- Location: Delaware, USA
Roku power unit
I tried opening my Roku and it is sealed pretty well.
If I had to do it over (as I suspect I will since my second unit is about to reach the 20-month age mark), I would inquire with Roku directly and send it to them. Roku sent me a letter indicating they would repair it, even though the orginal warranty had expired. I think they know they have a chronic design flaw.
If you have $104 and less patience, as I was, Pyramid seems like a reliable, competent and prompt repair place, despite their casual web site. Forcing Roku to repair, however, wuld be a useful market signal to Roku to redesign their units for a longer life.
good luck
If I had to do it over (as I suspect I will since my second unit is about to reach the 20-month age mark), I would inquire with Roku directly and send it to them. Roku sent me a letter indicating they would repair it, even though the orginal warranty had expired. I think they know they have a chronic design flaw.
If you have $104 and less patience, as I was, Pyramid seems like a reliable, competent and prompt repair place, despite their casual web site. Forcing Roku to repair, however, wuld be a useful market signal to Roku to redesign their units for a longer life.
good luck
Wernerbird
Re: Broken Soundbridge Radio
Brewboy wrote:I'm worried that it will fry the display and computer side of things.
Brewboy:
If you are not confident then do not undertake your own repair. Here in England, you can get your R1000 repaired by Pete (forum name g0pkh), contact him at hillyp01-roku@yahoo.co.uk. You will have it back working in just a few days.
Do not bother with Pinnacle, they do not repair them and you will end up with someone else's dud device.
The extended 2 year warranty from Roku is only viable if you are in N America, you still have to pay for shipping.
R1000, M400, M1001
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- wernerbird
- Posts: 7
- Joined:
- Location: Delaware, USA
Allegation aganist Pyramid
That's quite an allegation against Pyramid.[sic] [oops I made a mistake here in hastily replying without a second take at the name. I apologize]
When I got my unit back from Pyramid (NOT Pinnacle], it not only worked fine, it still had the same radio presets, so I did not suspect it as a replacement.
[Sorry to clutter up this useful Forum with unthoughful posts.]
When I got my unit back from Pyramid (NOT Pinnacle], it not only worked fine, it still had the same radio presets, so I did not suspect it as a replacement.
[Sorry to clutter up this useful Forum with unthoughful posts.]
Last edited by wernerbird on Sun Oct 04, 2009 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Wernerbird
yeah, I think wernerbird is mixing up his Pinnacles with his Pyramids 
@Brewboy - like jjaf says, Pete's your man - between him & Matt (u/n Burkhadi, in the US) these 2 have rescued many a SB Radio user from an expensive doorstop.
Search under their usernames if you want further reassurances.
@Brewboy - like jjaf says, Pete's your man - between him & Matt (u/n Burkhadi, in the US) these 2 have rescued many a SB Radio user from an expensive doorstop.
Search under their usernames if you want further reassurances.
G5, OS X 10.5.8, 3 x M1000, iTunes 10.4, slimserver 6.2.1/alienbbc (now redundant), firefly svn 1586, uNSLUng 6.8
Re: Roku Soundbridge radio with internal speakers
After two years, my SoundBridge radio began to die with a constant crackling of static, regardless of volume setting. Apparently, I am not the only customer to experience this problem, but the warranty coverage is one year, regardless. That is a disappointment, because this product is not cheap. I know that things break, but when a problem is common, it is a design flaw and I hope for manufacturers to take better care of their customers. So, I am not changing my rating - it was a great product while it lasted - but two years of life from a $300 product is not good enough for me to buy another, even at the low, low RMA price of $200.
Re: Roku Soundbridge radio with internal speakers
Harson wrote:After two years, my SoundBridge radio began to die with a constant crackling of static, regardless of volume setting. Apparently, I am not the only customer to experience this problem, but the warranty coverage is one year, regardless. That is a disappointment, because this product is not cheap. I know that things break, but when a problem is common, it is a design flaw and I hope for manufacturers to take better care of their customers. So, I am not changing my rating - it was a great product while it lasted - but two years of life from a $300 product is not good enough for me to buy another, even at the low, low RMA price of $200.
Hi - sorry to rehash an old topic but my device has again failed after being repaired in the UK by Pete Hillyer (aka Roku Repairs). Has anyone had any luck have these units repaired in Australia?
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