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Why I won't be buying any more Audio Arts or Wheatstone products

I had two of those God awful Arrakis Digilinks a 2 and a 3. They would have problems all the time. I called the jerks at Arrakis and they said that I would have to pay them 20 dollars an hour for them to talk me through them. They said that they wanted nothing to do with them. I told them that I would have nothing to do with Arrakis ever again either. We even had one of their piece of junk 10 channel consoles, I removed it and put in something that worked...an Autogram IC-8. Concerning Wheatstone, their stuff is just ok kind of like Soundcraft stuff these days its just ok. For PA boards the Midas is a great console, but for broadcasting I don't know what I would get. 10 years ago I would have bought a PR&E BMX 3 (the greatest console ever built PERIOD). But Harris ruined the PR&E consoles they are nothing but pure junk. The studer digital broadcast consoles are not bad.

But for the Soundcraft someone mentioned, Soundcraft stuff today is junk. The Pre-Harmon stuff was fantastic! The Soundcraft Deltas and the Soundcraft Series 600 were great consoles. But leave it to Harmon to ruin what they get. The only thing Harmon has ever helped and did something with is JBL, everything else you can hear a huge flushing sound.
 
I have to disagree with some statements here about AA/WS. I have more than a few that are on the air and tech support has been great. Quality control is not an issue since everything is done for the most part in New Bern NC. Yes, maybe taking away the passwords for the manuals is something I would do, but when you come down to it, Wheatstone and SAS are the PR&E's of this time IMHO (I would put Wheatstone higher because of what they are doing with Audio over IP).
 
wgliradio said:
I have to disagree with some statements here about AA/WS. I have more than a few that are on the air and tech support has been great. Quality control is not an issue since everything is done for the most part in New Bern NC. Yes, maybe taking away the passwords for the manuals is something I would do, but when you come down to it, Wheatstone and SAS are the PR&E's of this time IMHO (I would put Wheatstone higher because of what they are doing with Audio over IP).
Click to expand...

Wheatstone is known for secrecy and keeping everything under lock and key. My question is why? Are they afraid someone will come along and copy what they are doing? Oh wait a moment that's their gig. They copy from all the other manufacturers. Didja ever notice that the Bridge looked an awful lot like an SAS 32KD, the Wheatnet looks alot like an SAS 16000 or now the E2 IP solution which looks alot like the Axia stuff. The big issue with their copies though, are they somehow fail to deliver ALL the features the others do. And if they do offer it up, they charge you extra after you buy.
 
Ah saying that Wheatstone is the PR&E of today is like saying that a direct replacement for the 1959 Cadillac is the 1984 Buick Century. The build quality of a PR&E is the finest ever! P&G faders, gold connectors, and everything worked all of the time. You could practically use the power supply of a B-3 to weld with! But when you compare a Wheatstone to a BMX-3 there is no comparison in quality. But If I were building out a facilty and cost were no object there would be NO Wheatstones in the building PERIOD. But SAS would be there. Don't ever ever say that Wheatstones and PR&Es are comparable because that is just like saying the 59 Cadillac and the 86 Century are ! One is a Cadillac and the other is a poor mans wannabe!
 
What an interesting series of posts....The AudioArts comes with a comprehensive manual. Any prudent station would retain it in an equipment file that would be accessible for the engineering personell. If there is no such file, should they be responsible? Just think back before the internet...if you needed a manual you paid for it. I think the issue is being blown out of proportion...BUT...I do maintain a file of manuals....TNX  JBI
 
Only an issue because so many stations use contract engineers. They may have a manual, but it is filed away somewhere.

Usually what is needed is not a comprehensive schematic but simply a table or diagram showing the in and out connections because external rewiring needs to be done.
 
Many years ago it would be unheard of for a guy to say grace over 10 transmitter sites and studios. Guess what? That's how many total I have. Others have more. Threre is a file and its 60 miles out of my way. Other times I may be called by someone with problems and I have never been there before. If you have AA/WS and don't happen to have the manual or download available its tough luck until biz hrs start.
 
Fenway Frank said:
Wheatstone is known for secrecy and keeping everything under lock and key.
Click to expand...

Ain't that the truth. They've even pushed their suppliers into pulling the info about the gear they make for Wheatstone off their own websites! Of course, if I wasn't doing my product development in-house, I might not want everyone to know about it either.

Fenway Frank said:
now the E2 IP solution which looks alot like the Axia stuff.
Click to expand...

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. Is that a blatant me-too copy or what? I guess Axia must be hurting them since just a year ago they were telling everyone who'd listen that IP audio would never work right. And I have several buddies who've gotten quotes for the stuff and turned it down because the features aren't implemented yet, "oh, we'll get that working by the tiime you need it", yadda yadda...

Agree with the comments here about the BMX III. Funny - even back in the PR&E days, Wheatstone was notorious for copying Jack's features and then claiming they'd invented them.

-- Doc
 
Happy Holidays Everyone!

Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback regarding web access to our user manuals. After evaluating the general consensus we have decided to "Unlock" our site. All Manuals for Wheatstone Radio, Wheatstone Television, Audioarts Engineering, Vorsis Processing, and Wheatstone Commercial Audio are available on-line 24/7 with no password protection.

Links for easy access:

http://www.wheatstone.com/techmanuals.html

http://www.audioartsengineering.com/techmanuals.html

http://wheatstone-commercial.com/techmanuals.html

Wheatstone proudly manufactures all of our equipment in New Bern, NC. Wheatstone welcomes visitors to see our modern 52,000 square foot manufacturing facility. We are equipped with the latest technology and tooling: from Lasers & CNC routers to three complete surface mount lines. Tours are available M-F 9AM-5PM.

Please contact me directly to schedule a tour.

Cheers,

Jay Tyler
Wheatstone Corporation
(252) 638-7000
[email protected]
 
That's a good move Jay. I can understand a company wanting to be paid for an additional hard copy manual, but immediate access to an internet one for the guy in trouble that never saw the original manual because it was misplaced three engineers ago makes good sense.
 
Thanks Jay,
Nothing like being on site and asking for the manual.Get that deer in the head lights look."we don't know what happened to it is the usual response".usually i just say something sarcastic,like well, why don;t we just get a case of bud lite and have a party..Happy Holidays to all of you in these turbulent times...
 
Sometimes like today, I'm the guy in the office helping someone else debug and figure out their problem and their schematic over the phone.
Sometimes I'm the guy who shows up and finds no documentation.
When people buy a product like a printing press or broadcast equipment, the manufacturer should be aware already of
the urgency when these products fail by nature of the businesses they are used in.
Anything that can be done to improve availability of documents is worthwhile.

Naturally, if you get the situation with lots of undocumented mods or squirrely installation you're going to have to just figure it out
anyway.
 
Amen Tom! I'm glad to see that Audio Arts/ Wheatstone decided to do the right thing. Looks like I can continue to buy their consoles now. I have them in no less that three studios I have put in. I will most likely continue that trend now. THANK YOU Jay and staff!
 
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