Central Florida Speaker Repair — Attraction in Orlando

First Experience was a bad one.

I wrote a slightly more detailed review on YELP (look for it)

I brought in 3 vintage (1980) rare / valuable woofers 2 refoams and 1 reattaching a lead.

Fernando (I guess he is the owner) couldn't answer basic technical questions - had to keep asking an older gentleman from the back for answers (technician Dave?) After Dave (?) came up front we all chatted a bit.

While looking at one of the woofers that needed re-foaming we discovered one of the leads was detached from the TERMINAL (my bad for not noticing that before - but an easy fix - no problem).

But then he was a little more aggressive than I liked moving the cone around without the surround and he accidentally pulled the other lead out of the cone near the voice coil! (NOT GOOD!) (Fernando witnessed this directly).

But they said they could fix it (good, because these speakers are unique, no interchange, no recone kits available) And hey - I do understand - these things happen.

BUT - When it was time to ask the price, Fernando said I would be paying an extra $40 to repair the lead THAT THE TECH BROKE OFF THE CONE RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM.

I protested and asked if he could at least do a little better on the price - we were at $166 (a LOT for 2 refoams which I am providing the kits for and 1 (or even 2?) Lead reattachments.

He just said (with attitude) "The price is the price"

I could have come up with the extra $40 - but his attitude! But hey - I've been in the business 30+ years - maybe prices have gone up. Maybe Fernando has a boat.

Anyway - I told him right there that I didn't like his attitude. He then said in a huff, pushing my speakers toward me on the counter - "we will not work on your stuff' (fine).

Look. I understand that the equipment is 40 years old and things happen. I told them SEVERAL times be careful, these are 40 years old. And I SOMEHOW even kept my cool as I watched him tear that lead out of the cone. (ugh!)

But DO. NOT. ASK. ME. TO. PAY. for additional. damage THAT. YOU. CAUSED. RIGHT IN FRONT. OF. ME.

LASTLY - and this is a pet peeve of mine: While this was all going on, Fernando (and by necessity Dave) took another customer/s ahead of me who just walked in after I was already there (Spanish) and fawned all over them - while I waited and he dealt with me with disdain. (Take from that what you will).

I don't know how long Fernando has been in this business but I find it hard to believe he has a clue what to do technically (he kept having to ask the older guy basic questions) and he definitely missed charm school. He seems kinda young to have had anything to do with this business 'back in the day'. But Apparently, he, somehow, is the owner (Who knows. Maybe he was the original owner's son).

I've been in the sound business for 30+ years, been an audiophile for 40 years, worked for a high end audio manufacturer in the 80's-90's (cough) where some of what I did was (cough) build speakers that (cough) cost upwards of $20K a pair. Before that I managed a used sound equipment store, a stereo shop and also it's repair dept, sold audio/video/ pro sound, was a service tech on commercial sound systems in large venues - blah blah blah.

So I'm older than dirt and I'm from an age when I expect to be treated decently as a customer - and I KNOW what I'm talking about. I 'could' do these repairs myself but I'm trying to get some $$$ vintage gear ready for sale and my repair skills are great for functional field repairs but not this level. That is why I went to 'professionals'.

Too bad this is the only shop of it's type in Orlando. Now I have to drive 1-2 hours away to 'Speaker Exchange' in Tampa (where I've always had good experience before - funny THEY recommended I try here after I said I was coming all the way from Orlando. I'll be sure to tell them to maybe NOT.)

Why not just ship these you ask? Experienced folks KNOW not to take chances with UPS shipping vintage speakers or sound equipment.

Just a big fat 'Nope.' from...

Responding to Fernando’s reply here. You can read my other review of the scam they implemented on me from earlier today

This is what he replied with:

“Hi Justin. Sorry to hear that but we cannot help you. First you call us dishonest people. Refuse to understand how the repair works, remember: after you agree and paid for the repair. Our technicians cannot help or teach you how they do the work after 40 years of experience. Your unit needs to be repair, you agree to the estimate and paid for the service and now everything works. That it is. Thank you and please don't do this to anybody else. Regards.”

Fernando, the unit was working just fine. It did not need a new power supply. The issue was the VERY simple jumper plug on the preout/main in. I trusted you guys since you have “40 years experience” like you say to inform me. THE SAME ISSUE WAS HAPPENING LAST NIGHT AFTER YOU REPAIRED IT. I WASNT GETTING ANY SOUND FROM THE LEFT OUTPUTS ON THE SPEAKERS. YALL OVER CHARGED ME FOR EXTENSIVE REPAIRS I DID NOT NEED. AND YOU KNOW IT

It was a simple jumper plug issue. You mean to tell me your technician of 40 years couldn’t figure out that simple issue? That’s what is causing the left channel not to produce sound. UNBELIEVABLE. EVERYONE PLEASE BEWARE OF THIS SHOP.

Fernando’s attitude alone is that of a child. Curses at you and talks over you and doesn’t even let you explain or talk.

Also if you look at my photo, never signed where it says “tested in front of customer” on bottom left. Thats because Fernando didn’t test it in front of me. Just goes to show you can’t trust this business

It’s evident here that Fernando won’t even listen but instead chooses to raise his voice, curse, and become irate. He doesn’t even hear you out if you have a problem. Irrational, childlike behavior from him = guilty

Response to your reply: I figured out it was the jumper AFTER YOU PRICE GOUGED ME. If you guys were honest you would have told me the problem was the jumper from the start and wouldn’t have needed to GOUGE ME. “I do this to everyone” you say? What the hell are you talking about? This is the first time this has ever happened lol.

You are the one who did the dirty work here Fernando. You don’t even hear your customers if they have an issue with anything. You have an attitude and immediately start cursing and raising your voice at people. YOU ARE A HORRIBLE BUSINESS MAN. I DID NOTHING WRONG. I AM ALLOWED TO DISPUTE THIS CHARGE WITH MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY BECAUSE YOU 100% OVERCHARGED ME AND DID NOT DIAGNOSE THE UNIT PROPERLY. ITS NOT A MATTER OF ME NOT HAVING THE MONEY, ITS A MATTER OF YOU GUYS OVERCHARGING AND PRICE GOUGING ME AND NOT DIAGNOSING THE...

I would be very leery of bringing him pro audio speakers. I had him recone 3x b&c18SW115. A week later all three spiders separated from the metal. 2 of the speakers voice coils failed but 1 did not. He quote only told me it was my fault from "too much power". The reality is I wouldn't have had a speaker that didn't have a voice coil damaged and a separated spider if that was the case. The voice coils were not melted - but physically damaged from the spiders seperating. He quickly blames the customer without understanding any technical details. (these speakers were in fact 3 stage limited on powersoft amps and it was impossible to overpower them in that way). The reality is he did s shoddy job and the speakers WERE NOT REPAIRED TO SPEC. We will be investigating with B&C to see if he used aftermarket kits. Perhaps just the wrong glue. Either way it is a hard $900 lesson to not use this guy.

Update : After asking the manufacturer about best practices to perform this recone and dissecting one of the broken speakers I have found that CFL did not remove the old spider and clean the old glue and metal. They instead attached the new recone on TOP of the old spider. This is not acceptable business practices for an almost $1000 repair.

Update after owner replay The speaker failed within a WEEK of being repaired It seems he did not use GENUINE B&C parts as he stated he did The spiders seperated. The glue failed. You can search 'central florida speaker' on youtube to see a youtube video of me pulling the speaker apart in 4k hd video. The owner is a rude man who will not even listen to an experienced customer (I've been in the audio business for over 25 years and have been published several times for my accolades). He just yells 'you blow it you blow it'

It should be known this guy did not actually deliver thousands fo speakers and repair speakers since 1968. He bought this company and apparently is running it into the ground....