Just got the "shock of the year" when taking to Request Media about an amplifier I pull out of a customer's home today.

About 4 years ago; I assisted another dealer, from out of the area, install a Request Media system at nice home in the Hamptons. Request product gave dealer a lot of issues when 1st installed & he turn customer over to me about 6 months after system was put in because it was costing way too much for him to handle the customer service from 150 miles away. Initial issues included software & firmware bugs that were fixed via updates & remote access. Then a touch screen went bad. Then the IQ amp went bad when the system was a few months old.

When the amp failed we sent it to Request for warranty repair & they were not able to do so because model was being discontinued due to a high rate of failure. They instead sent a newer model to replace it along with more firmware updates to be downloaded off their site. That was when the other dealer walked away & turned customer over to our company.

We have been maintaining this system since with only minor issues to solve. 2 days ago, customer contacted us to state no sound. During the service call, I verified the server was playing & outputting music to the amp but amp had no output. I had an old 12 channel Sonance amp laying around which I installed in place of the IQ amp & was able to get music. Unfortunately it was at full volume because the server controls the level on each channel of the IQ amp (thru an RS232 cable connected between amp & server) but obviously is not able to control the output on my Sonance. I left the Sonance connected w/ a 2 way table top volume control & showed the customer how to at least get audio in the Lvrm & Kitchen. Believing the IQ amp has failed again, I pulled it from the house to bring back to shop for possible local repair or send to Request for repair.

I called Request, talked to customer service & tech support. They helped me verify that issue is definately the amp. Not the server control of the amp.

HERE'S THE REAL KICKER: AMP IS OUT OF WARRANTY & NOT REPAIRABLE BECAUSE CHINESSE MANUFACTURER NO LONGER HAS PARTS AVAILABLE. MUST BUY NEW AMPS TO REPLACE IT @ APROX $3K COMBINED TOTAL; INCL SHIPPING! That's with a discount for being a dealer!! CATCH THIS: Customer's amp is an 8 channel amp. New amps available are only 6 channel. Thus, customer must buy 2 amps along with a data cable that links them, in order to get all 8 channels working again.

Planned obsolesants at its best.

Any one have another solution/idea to get this system working again at alot less money? Can anyone verify if there are any federal laws on the books that require an electronics manufacturer to keep parts & or repairs available for a certain # of years after the product was sold? When I worked at our family's TV repair shop many many years ago, my uncle kept telling us that the manufactures had make parts available to allow for repairs for up to 7 years.

No one has any comment on this? I am surprised since this is usually a very vocal group

well, I don't know about laws regaurding parts, etc. but I will say that I sold Request for about 2 yrs and it was a PITA, always having an issue here and there.
I am surprized that they haven't gone the way of Escient

I wish I knew what RS 232 commands are being sent from the server to the amp on the com cable.

Been wondering if I could get the RS232 comands that control the volume & source selection in each zone & translate them to something that would control another manufacturer's 8 X 8 multiroom audio unit. Such as a Xantech, Niles or Russound multiroom unit. This is because both Request Server & Amp are controlled by Request touch screen/keypads that are connected to the server.

So you are looking at $6k to get 8 audio zone outputs up again?!?
You've just convinced me NOT to recommend ReQuest's F3 and movie players for a long term and valued client.
Totally unacceptable that they are taking no responsibility for a supply chain that they should have recognized as limited. They should have ensured they had contigency stock for the viable life of the product. They are not alone in this: the mighty Crestron dropped a huge brick with thier TPMC-10 when the batteries became 'unavailable'. 'Yeah ...... just toss your $4000 tp out ...... we've got something better now.'

Taking a practical view: is it feasible to replace the IQ touchpanels? The servers are very versatile (IP, IR 232) so control from an iPad with suitable app (RTI?) could be an option? Your client ends up with a versatile control system no longer locked into IQ hardware. As you didn't sell them this system directly I guess you need to present this as an opportunity to 'rescue' thier installation.

Good luck.

UPDATE -
Since Server controls multi zone amp> Source switching & Volume by RS232, via IQ touch panels connect to server, we are cking into the possiblity of capturing the RS232 commands coming from the Server and converting them to IR commands that can control another brand multi zone preamp/amp.

Provided the commands are being sent properly from the server, we can accomplish the conversion to IR by using Xantech's RS232IR. We are considering setting up the conversion to Xantech IR codes which will allow us to try into 1 of 2 work arounds:
A] Created IR codes to control a Xantech ZPR68 preamp expanded to 8 zones & connected to the used Sonance 12 channel amp (I loaned them to get 1 zone working) as needed.
B] Created IR codes to control a Xantech MR88 which has source switching, preamp & amp all in one.

We will determine the exact game plan after reaching a few things; such as:
RS 232 codes found on Request web site for Crestron control of Request amp, to be correct; we able to confirm these codes are being sent by server; & prices of Xantech items.

Of course none of this will happen if customer decides anything over a thousand dollars is too much to spend on a 3 - 4 yr old system!

OK - good job on what you are doing to get this customer's system back up. I would keep the customer updated on what you are trying to do for them (no tech-speak) and make them fully aware that there will be considerable costs but that you are looking after thier long term interest.

Sad thing is, I really like ReQuest servers but they hung you out on this one.

This thread is going to give way to a discussion about not using request tomorrow in the office . Thanks

Let's go back to the original 12channel amplifier for a moment. one day it was working and another day all 12 channels are dead?

Sounds like an electronic tech could possibly repair the power supply in this amplifier while you create a backup plan.
I would like to know who built it for them.

You can capture the RS-232 codes from a variety of com programs. You can also program a controller from crestron, amx, RTI, URC to see these codes and create new codes to control a different amplifier.

We just installed an F3 player integrated with RTI - so far no issues. Sound quality is excellent.

Is this just an audio setup or are you using any of the ReQuest MP network client devices? I started a seperate thread about the ReQuest servers recently if you want to offer any more feedback:  [Link: remotecentral.com]
Thanks for your input.

We have reverse engineered these units and can successfully repair them.
Wizard Electronics, Inc. 1438 Tullie Road, NE; Atlanta, GA 30329 1-800-274-8863

hey there hows it going. I was reading what u wrote..... i have an IQ Request intelligent amplifier. [email protected] give me an email

Necromansor

Because you want to sell it?
Because you need it repaired?