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

[OKCRadioGuy]

I am in the process of installing a new studio for some people wanting to do a radio show. I suggested a Audio Arts based on a previous install that seemed to go well. Here's my beef though. They like to lock their product manuals behind a password. Not only is it bad that they do this and I've been burned a few times by not being able to just go look something up when a contract station calls me and I don't have the manual WITH me but now I find out they CHANGE the damn password after a week so even saving their crappy password won't help for future troubles. I generally like their equipment but I WILL NOT be buying anything from them again if I have to keep calling for a damn password. Do they think contract engineers keep their manuals strapped to their backs or something? Their suggestion is to download everything for future use. I guess I'll have to store in somewhere where I can get to it instead of using their stuff. Ridiculous!

 

[Jay Tyler]

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]

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

Congrads on putting the customer first and making the right move. It is rare that companies these days review a policy and change it due to input from the end user. Wheatstone corp. appearently does. THANK YOU! There will be several stations and contract engineers (maybe staff at times) that will most definately benifit from the change!

 

[TomT]

Second the motion.

Have been very happy with the large R-55E we bought for our production studio a few years back, (an 18 channel mainframe with twelve input modules). I have recommended the smaller version for new installs for two other stations. Put one in last year for the local college for their B-1 classics and jazz station, replacing a 1975 vintage Ward-Beck.

I have two lateral files with manuals for every piece of equipment I've bought for my station--but I built the station from the ground up 25 years ago & still do most of the engineering and install work. And the R-55E I installed for our production studio has every input and output wired to barrier strips, with a book documenting the wiring runs, to make it easy to add or re-route sources and feeds...

However, many station now rely upon contract engineers, or the local two-way guy to do their installs and maintenance. Hence the NEXT guy in that station must do a lot of guessing for even simple projects, such as wiring in a new program source. Having a detailed manual on-line to answer even the simple questions such as what pin connects to what on a module is an immense time-saver.