Backert Labs Rhumba 1.1 demo: Logistics

nooshinjohn

It did not exhibit this in my rig either. Was there any damage to the packaging?

Nightfall

Hissing and popping in one channel or both?

breal74

Nightfall wrote: »

Hissing and popping in one channel or both?

Both channels.

nooshinjohn wrote: »

It did not exhibit this in my rig either. Was there any damage to the packaging?

Everything looked good and there was no visible damage to the packaging.

breal74

I switched from my ZenWave RCA's to a pair of Kimber Hero's and the problem still persists. Also, the amp and preamp are on separate 20 amp outlets.

BackertLabs

We will need to speak with you to see if we can figure out the issue, and if not, we will need to look at the unit. Not likely to be the tubes. We will handle this offline and report back.

BackertLabs

Maybe after being shipped 47 times in a row it has decided to protest??

breal74

I just talked to Andy at Backert, on a Sunday at that, and he is getting ahold of Bob to help diagnose the problem.

I have to say that Backert Labs is one heck of a company that bends over backwards for there customers!

I will keep you posted.

tonyb

They are indeed, work it out and let us know when things are back on track. Still want to hear more about the sound from you when everything is back up to snuff.

nooshinjohn

I knew I should have used protection....

nooshinjohn

any updates here?

breal74

The Rhumba is on its way back to Backert for a once over.

BackertLabs

I'm sure it doesn't matter, but just out of curiousity was the trip from CA to WA via UPS or FedEx?

nooshinjohn

Fed ex

tonyb

BackertLabs wrote: »

I'm sure it doesn't matter, but just out of curiousity was the trip from CA to WA via UPS or FedEx?

Knowing John....it was by pack Mule.....Greyhound bus.....then handed off to a delivery service by the name of 2 kids and a big wheel.

erniejade

I have had issues with all of them BUT I have had better luck in general with fedEx vs ups or usps

nooshinjohn

I packed it very well guys

Nightfall

Everything I have bought/karma'd from John has been very well packaged.

breal74

The Rhumba was packed very well so no fault to John, or Backert for that matter. That preamp has been shipped all over God's country and back and strange things can happen. I am glad that they are a stand up company that backs their products and I have future interest in having them modify my McCormack.

Can't wait to get it back!

tonyb

erniejade wrote: »

I have had issues with all of them BUT I have had better luck in general with fedEx vs ups or usps

You had issues with pack Mules and 2 Kids and a big wheel ? Good to know you had better luck, in general, with FedEx. LMAO !!

Just bustin' John's chops a bit, I'm sure he packed it like it was his own private parts inside the box.

nooshinjohn

tonyb wrote: »

erniejade wrote: »

I have had issues with all of them BUT I have had better luck in general with fedEx vs ups or usps

You had issues with pack Mules and 2 Kids and a big wheel ? Good to know you had better luck, in general, with FedEx. LMAO !!

Just bustin' John's chops a bit, I'm sure he packed it like it was his own private parts inside the box.

My wife keeps those in a jar on the fireplace mantle. Sam Kinison tried to warn me before it was too late.

tonyb

Hope you have some blue tac under the jar, you guys are primed and pumped for another big one out there.

Blue tac for blue balls in a jar....yeah, makes sense.

BackertLabs

Just received the Rhumba. Thanks Brian. We will get this back to you shortly.
-Andy

tonyb

Andy's on the ball as usual. How about having the big dogs sign the back for the man, we audiophiles get off on these things.

nooshinjohn

I am curious to find out what went wrong

BackertLabs

I figured this would be a 1-day turnaround, maybe a part gone bad. But so far we have done a large number of tests on the Rhumba, on the bench and in various stereo systems, and have not found any problem. It sounds great - it must be psychology working here but I feel like this is my personal favorite Rhumba. Yet it clearly had an issue at Brian's place. Today we will subject it to another test that we came up with last night. We will keep you posted.

breal74

BackertLabs wrote: »

It sounds great - it must be psychology working here but I feel like this is my personal favorite Rhumba.

I'm rather fond of it myself. Thanks for all of the work and time you have spent on the unit and I can't wait to get it back!

tonyb

Hows about an update on this....is it back in the rig yet ?

Just wondering too if Andy has a beater Rhumba laying around, if there is such a thing, that might find it's way back around Chicago. Never hurts to ask, right ?

BackertLabs

We will be sending back Brian's Rhumba in a couple days. As for the question: if you're paying shipping, you are welcome to another demo. Was that the question?

breal74

Hey Polkies,

First and foremost I have to give the highest of praises to all at Backert Labs for being an outstanding company. We have been in constant contact and they are a real pleasure to deal with.

After putting my Rhumba on the bench and running several different tests trying to recreate my situation they concluded that there was actually nothing wrong with the unit. I am sure they would be willing to go into a little more detail on the tests that they performed. We talked several differnt times about how I had it set up, cabling used and possible interferences and they were not able to recreate the noise that was happening in my system. Hopefully it was some passing bad audio juju I had. I think I will burn some sage just to make sure.

In the end, Bob and Andy offered to put all new guts into my old chassis and send it back and see if that fixes the issue. They also offered to burn in the unit, but I declined for two reasons. First, I felt that it would be a better way to get to know the Rhumba as a whole and second, I thought that it would be fun to give updates on the sound throughout the burn in process as there never was a chance to do that with one set of ears with the demo.

Thanks again Bob and Andy! I greatly appreciate your hard work and dedication.

nooshinjohn

They just had to clean up the interior of the unit after my late-nite tryst. Sorry about that. Next time I will wear protection.