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Reliability of electronics

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As discussed elsewhere, I commented on the appalling reliability of 
certain items purchased from Jaycar and I expressed my opinion that 
Jaycar should not be relied on for anything sophisticated. Like 
capacitors and transistors.

It got me thinking though. I've been in the service business for quite 
awhile and, when I was Marantz service manager I was issued with a 
confidential list of reliability figures for various Marantz models. The 
list included any reported problem within the 3 year warranty period. 
Here's some of the models I recall:

Model 1070. 0.5% failure rate. Which, I might add, includes the early 
variant which suffered relay problems.

Model 1060. 4% failure rate.

Model 4230. 63% (yes, SIXTY THREE) failure. I put it down to the use of 
very early TO220 pack output devices. These were not reliable back in 
the early 1970s.

All the amplifiers fitted with TO3 output devices demonstrated quite 
respectable reliability, except....

Model 500. 100% failure rate. In fact, each Model 500 usually required 
service several times during it's warranty period. I budgeted 10 hours 
to repair each one. As a consequence, of the 3 amplifiers imported by 
Marantz, only to were sold to the public. It was cheaper to bury the 
last one in landfill. I negotiated a price and I still own the beast. It 
is a highly desirable amplifier. The Absolute Sound reported: "The 
Marantz Model 500 would be issued with our 'best power amplifier ever' 
if only we could manage to get one to operate for more than six weeks 
without blowing up. Designed in 1963, it used, unusual for the time, 
full complementary symmetry outputs. Unfortunately, the Voltage rating 
on the output devices was marginal.

I was a warranty agent for another major brand, when DVD players were 
first released. I was instructed by the Australian agent that their 
first DVD player would certainly fail within the warranty period. They 
were expecting a 100% failure rate. I was told it would be a busy time. 
They were correct.

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Reliability of electronics Trevor Wilson <trevor@rageaudio.com.au> - 2022-05-30 17:24 +1000
  Re: Reliability of electronics Trevor Wilson <trevor@rageaudio.com.au> - 2022-05-30 19:33 +1000
  Re: Reliability of electronics Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com> - 2022-05-30 16:01 -0700
    Re: Reliability of electronics Trevor Wilson <trevor@rageaudio.com.au> - 2022-05-31 10:35 +1000
      Re: Reliability of electronics Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com> - 2022-05-30 17:59 -0700
        Re: Reliability of electronics Trevor Wilson <trevor@rageaudio.com.au> - 2022-05-31 11:31 +1000
          Re: Reliability of electronics Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com> - 2022-05-30 18:52 -0700
            Re: Reliability of electronics Trevor Wilson <trevor@rageaudio.com.au> - 2022-05-31 12:00 +1000
              Re: Reliability of electronics Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com> - 2022-05-30 20:03 -0700
                Re: Reliability of electronics Trevor Wilson <trevor@rageaudio.com.au> - 2022-05-31 13:45 +1000
                Re: Reliability of electronics Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com> - 2022-05-30 21:02 -0700
                Re: Reliability of electronics Trevor Wilson <trevor@rageaudio.com.au> - 2022-05-31 14:05 +1000
                Re: Reliability of electronics Trevor Wilson <trevor@rageaudio.com.au> - 2022-05-31 14:08 +1000
                Re: Reliability of electronics Trevor Wilson <trevor@rageaudio.com.au> - 2022-05-31 14:18 +1000
                Re: Reliability of electronics Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com> - 2022-05-30 21:32 -0700
                Re: Reliability of electronics Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com> - 2022-05-30 21:26 -0700

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