Mr. Bear, is your vacation home climate controlled while you are away? Humidity and heat are notorious enemies of electronics and the sealed nature of subwoofers makes them even more vulnerable once humidity gets in... I know that at my cottage, I have more issues with my electronics than at my home. Partly because they don't get as much use but mostly because my cottage is not air conditioned when I'm not there.
I have to agree with others though, I'm not aware of any electronics company that would give you a freebie swap after 8 years. Most would be willing to work something out (like I believe Axiom did) but beyond warranty, forget it. I recently took in a NAD amp for repair at a local shop and the diagnostics and subsequent capacitor repair/replacement cost me $300 (for what was likely a $0.50 part
). This was on a 12 year old unit. I could have shipped it to an authorized NAD repair center (at my cost) and would likely have faced a similar repair bill.
My neighbour has a Classé CA-2300 amp that died on him. The unit was less than 6 years old (and originally cost $7000 with a 5 year warranty). Classé graciously repaired it for him for $1200! Considering what he paid for his system, he still didn't expect it to be free. Just like owning a luxury car, he knew the repair bills would be higher
