Light Harmonic Amp & Customer Service discussion

[Sm4llz]

I know they have been hit or miss for many folks but my experience has been different. I waited to order until after the units were shipping. I purchased the amp and door speakers. Delivery was prompt and opted to use a 3rd party sub, which has been fantastic. My front channels recently went out and again, LH was prompt in setting up the RMA. I'm waiting on a replacement but if that goes quickly then I'd have nothing bad to say. When the product is working, it's fantastic.

 

[CuriousG]

I know they have been hit or miss for many folks but my experience has been different. I waited to order until after the units were shipping. I purchased the amp and door speakers. Delivery was prompt and opted to use a 3rd party sub, which has been fantastic. My front channels recently went out and again, LH was prompt in setting up the RMA. I'm waiting on a replacement but if that goes quickly then I'd have nothing bad to say. When the product is working, it's fantastic.

Therein lies the rub. There have been so many people that has QT issues. If they have to replace or fix that many amps, it's not reliable. Time and time again they overpromise and underdeliver.

 

[timvracer]

Sounds a little like the Production and Delivery forum regarding Teslas. LOL

(Disclaimer: I love my Tesla, no problems, and I love my soundsystem by Reus, no problems - I passed on LH)

 

[OregonBob]

My new one has been bullet proof - I have been hammering it - in fact I think I cooked the hatch speakers - looking for good aftermarket options.. since they sound "crackled"

Well, I'm jealous. After a three month wait, I got my new, supposedly revised amp to solve the front channel problem. It worked for two days. Sounded great. Then, listening to Slacker while sitting in the parked car waiting for my kids to come out of school, the entire LH amp failed. No noise or warning. It just stopped working. I lost front door speakers, hatch speakers and sub. Reset the car. Nothing. This is amp number 4. I'll soon be reinstalling the factory amp. I give up.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

I have two systems now - one in the P85+ and one in my wifes 90D - both are rocking!!!! Wife actually noticed - I never told her - she said the car now has bass and sounds HD.. her words---- she can't tell when our TV is in SD or HD - amazed she noticed...

 

[supratachophobia]

Well, I'm jealous. After a three month wait, I got my new, supposedly revised amp to solve the front channel problem. It worked for two days. Sounded great. Then, listening to Slacker while sitting in the parked car waiting for my kids to come out of school, the entire LH amp failed. No noise or warning. It just stopped working. I lost front door speakers, hatch speakers and sub. Reset the car. Nothing. This is amp number 4. I'll soon be reinstalling the factory amp. I give up.

Wow, just wow. That is terrible.

 

[OregonBob]

I have two systems now - one in the P85+ and one in my wifes 90D - both are rocking!!!!

Like I said, I'm jealous.

Sent an email to Larry and got a quick response. He did offer to reimburse my installation costs. That was very nice to hear. He asked some questions and I responded with what he wanted to know. I'll post when I know next steps.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

They will square you away - I have had worst experiences with other vendors on here related to wheels I ordered over a year ago - and still don't have!!!

 

[ebrown7b]

Well, I'm jealous. After a three month wait, I got my new, supposedly revised amp to solve the front channel problem. It worked for two days. Sounded great. Then, listen to Slacker while sitting in the parked car waiting for my kids to come out of school, the entire LH amp failed. No noise or warning. It just stopped working. I lost front door speakers, hatch speakers and sub. Reset the car. Nothing. This is amp number 4. I'll soon be reinstalling the factory amp. I give up.

I've been waiting for more than three months and after rep

Like I said, I'm jealous.

Sent an email to Larry and got a quick response. He did offer to reimburse my installation costs. That was very nice to hear. He asked some questions and I responded with what he wanted to know. I'll post when I know next steps.

Lucky you. I've been without a working amp for over 3 months. The last contact I had from LH was almost two months ago where they said it would be a couple of weeks while they complete testing on the revised amp. I e-mailed them again week and a half ago and have still heard nothing.

 

[Muzzman1]

Well, I'm jealous. After a three month wait, I got my new, supposedly revised amp to solve the front channel problem. It worked for two days. Sounded great. Then, listening to Slacker while sitting in the parked car waiting for my kids to come out of school, the entire LH amp failed. No noise or warning. It just stopped working. I lost front door speakers, hatch speakers and sub. Reset the car. Nothing. This is amp number 4. I'll soon be reinstalling the factory amp. I give up.

Maybe the fuse popped? Did you happen to change it to the one supplied with the amp? (I'm just hoping that it's something simple as that) as I've not heard of the whole amp going dead.

 

[OregonBob]

Maybe the fuse popped? Did you happen to change it to the one supplied with the amp? (I'm just hoping that it's something simple as that) as I've not heard of the whole amp going dead.

Reasonable question. But, no, it wasn't the fuse. Read on to understand how I know that.

Here are the details: Around 3:00pm yesterday, I was in the Tesla in a parking lot waiting for my kids at school. I was using my phone (not talking) and had the Tesla audio at about volume 3. The LH amp just stopped working. No noise, no crackles, no warning. It just stopped working. I rebooted the car. There was no change.

We arrived home around 4:00pm, parked the car in the garage and rebooted the car again. Still no change. At that time, the LH amp was dead - no front door channels, no rear hatch channels, no sub.

Around 7:00pm, I went out to the car and simply turned on the audio. No reboot. I didn’t even have the key with me. All but the right front door came alive. This may sound good but the right front door not working is a bad omen as this is exactly what happened with amp #1 and amp #3. In amp #1 and amp #3, a left front failure would follow a short time later. I assumed this would also happen with amp #4. I rebooted the car and there was no change. The right front door was dead.

This morning around 6:45am, I went back to the car (after being parked all night in the garage), got in and turned on the audio. Everything, including the right front door, was working again. I drove my kids to school and back - about an hour - and the audio worked perfectly. On the return trip, I had it cranked to about 8 or 9 (about all my ears could handle) and it didn’t hiccup once. I got back home and checked to ensure all was working normally and it was.

So now I don’t know what to think. Right now, it works just fine - and sounds great. How long will it work before it fails again???

I will say that Larry Ho has been very responsive. He sent several emails yesterday and is trying to figure out what is happening. Apparently, they have determined from my prior amps that the NXP integrated circuits are going in self protection mode, shutting down output. The new amp design was supposed to correct that. Why this new amp is still exhibiting problems is currently a mystery.

I will repeat what I have said all along: the LH product sounds great when it works. If reliability were good, I would not hesitate to recommend. But no one should have to put up with these reliability issues. At least this time, Larry is communicating. That isn't something I could say in the past.

Bob

 

[supratachophobia]

Reasonable question. But, no, it wasn't the fuse. Read on to understand how I know that.

Here are the details: Around 3:00pm yesterday, I was in the Tesla in a parking lot waiting for my kids at school. I was using my phone (not talking) and had the Tesla audio at about volume 3. The LH amp just stopped working. No noise, no crackles, no warning. It just stopped working. I rebooted the car. There was no change.

We arrived home around 4:00pm, parked the car in the garage and rebooted the car again. Still no change. At that time, the LH amp was dead - no front door channels, no rear hatch channels, no sub.

Around 7:00pm, I went out to the car and simply turned on the audio. No reboot. I didn’t even have the key with me. All but the right front door came alive. This may sound good but the right front door not working is a bad omen as this is exactly what happened with amp #1 and amp #3. In amp #1 and amp #3, a left front failure would follow a short time later. I assumed this would also happen with amp #4. I rebooted the car and there was no change. The right front door was dead.

This morning around 6:45am, I went back to the car (after being parked all night in the garage), got in and turned on the audio. Everything, including the right front door, was working again. I drove my kids to school and back - about an hour - and the audio worked perfectly. On the return trip, I had it cranked to about 8 or 9 (about all my ears could handle) and it didn’t hiccup once. I got back home and checked to ensure all was working normally and it was.

So now I don’t know what to think. Right now, it works just fine - and sounds great. How long will it work before it fails again???

I will say that Larry Ho has been very responsive. He sent several emails yesterday and is trying to figure out what is happening. Apparently, they have determined from my prior amps that the NXP integrated circuits are going in self protection mode, shutting down output. The new amp design was supposed to correct that. Why this new amp is still exhibiting problems is currently a mystery.

I will repeat what I have said all along: the LH product sounds great when it works. If reliability were good, I would not hesitate to recommend. But no one should have to put up with these reliability issues. At least this time, Larry is communicating. That isn't something I could say in the past.

Bob

Any chance we are looking at a heat/ventilation issue causing the protection mode.

I will comment that the nvx 300 watt micro amp that is in the location of the premium audio factory amp has never once shut down or caused any problems whatsoever. So could it be install location?

 

[OregonBob]

Any chance we are looking at a heat/ventilation issue causing the protection mode.

Possible. But I'm not using an NVX amp. The LH amp powers the NVX sub. So, if there is a heat related problem, it is likely with the LH amp.

 

[supratachophobia]

Possible. But I'm not using an NVX amp. The LH amp powers the NVX sub. So, if there is a heat related problem, it is likely with the LH amp.

Right, what I am getting at is install location. I'm using the same location Tesla uses so they apparently think there is no issue with that location. But you install location might have environmental factors contributing to the problem. Although you aren't the only person with problems so I'm leaning more towards poorly designed/built hardware.

 

[OregonBob]

Right, what I am getting at is install location. I'm using the same location Tesla uses so they apparently think there is no issue with that location. But you install location might have environmental factors contributing to the problem. Although you aren't the only person with problems so I'm leaning more towards poorly designed/built hardware.

Yes, the LH amp location is the same as the Tesla UHFS amp location. I haven't heard anyone having problems with the Tesla amp in that location and no one has specifically identified heat as a LH problem (though someone at LH mentioned that as a potential problem prior to the redesign). That doesn't mean heat isn't a factor. I just have no proof that it is. So, yeah, it's possible.

I do think there is some kind of design issue.

All that said, my LH amp has been working fine since this morning. Probably have about 3 hours on it. It really does improve the sound in the car.

And Larry Ho emailed me again. I cannot describe how thrilled I am that someone at LH is showing interest. I dislike the lack of reliability but I HATE being ignored.

 

[OregonBob]

Not long after I wrote the prior post, I'm again back in the school parking lot waiting for my kids. Car is powered off but audio and air conditioning are running. LH amp has worked flawlessly all day. I mute the audio to make a phone call and when I unmute, the LH amp is gone. No door speakers, no hatch speakers, no sub.

I tired rebooting. No effect.

I power up the car. No effect.

Power off car and power up and the LH amp is back. Working just fine.

Emailed Larry with the news. He writes back in about 30 minutes (WOW, thanks Larry) and says: "It looks like the MUTE signal is randomly set from tesla to the amp. This info is good. At least we are sure Amp work with speakers just fine. Mute signal is only one pin in the connector.

MUTE and UNMUTE few times might help to find a pattern. And I think I will have a good solution soon."

At least it appears there is a fix. Power cycling the car is pretty easy to do. Let's hope Larry can come up with a permanent solution.

 

[Sm4llz]

Any updates Oregon? I've been waiting to get my RMA and was told they would send one with their next shipment. I'm wondering if they are trying to solve the issue you uncovered before finalizing the last revision.

 

[OregonBob]

Any updates Oregon? I've been waiting to get my RMA and was told they would send one with their next shipment. I'm wondering if they are trying to solve the issue you uncovered before finalizing the last revision.

I determined that I misinformed LH regarding using the MUTE function. I was actually using PAUSE. Other details were correct. This is important because there was some concern about a connector issue which could have been true for MUTE but not PAUSE. Result is the connector is not of concern.

That point aside, since manually power cycling the car on Friday, May 12, all has been working as it should. So I am hopeful, but not 100% convinced, all is now OK.

I have not received another revised amp and don't know that a revision to the revision even exists. Nothing from LH has been changed since my posts last week.

I also need to give credit to Larry Ho. He's been notably responsive during this situation and, for that, I am very grateful.

 

[supratachophobia]

I determined that I misinformed LH regarding using the MUTE function. I was actually using PAUSE. Other details were correct. This is important because there was some concern about a connector issue which could have been true for MUTE but not PAUSE. Result is the connector is not of concern.

That point aside, since manually power cycling the car on Friday, May 12, all has been working as it should. So I am hopeful, but not 100% convinced, all is now OK.

I have not received another revised amp and don't know that a revision to the revision even exists. Nothing from LH has been changed since my posts last week.

I also need to give credit to Larry Ho. He's been notably responsive during this situation and, for that, I am very grateful.

Well to be fair, we kinda lit him up in this thread. I'm certain he is aware of it and if you go back to other owners posts, The good communication you are having has not been the case all around.

 

[OregonBob]

Well to be fair, we kinda lit him up in this thread. I'm certain he is aware of it and if you go back to other owners posts, The good communication you are having has not been the case all around.

Yes, I certainly agree that communication from LH took a nosedive when Gavin Fish left. I think it is fair to say I've been very critical of LH in this thread and the two prior, LH sponsored, threads. But I also believe in giving credit where credit is due. Larry has been excellent in communicating with me regarding my recent problems with the revised amp. Is this because I publicly post about my difficulties? Maybe. I do know he reads this thread. Does that erase the sins of the past? No. But I think it is important to be as a balanced as possible so I give the good with the bad.

Others might be considering the LH product so I'll repeat what I've said many times before. When it works, the product is excellent. Speakers have proven reliable. Amp has not. Is this new design the solution? Don't know. I was off to a bad start and now things are good. That always gives me pause. Other than power cycling the car, nothing has changed. So why did it not work and now it does? I just don't know. So I cannot recommend until reliability is proven. Caveat emptor.