Stereo Surgeons

The man is a thief, I want my two top shelf tuners back! that mmmmmooooottttthhhhheeeeerrrrr fffffuuuuuccccckkkkkeeeeer

Who is the person who sold my high-end tuners after the owner died. I will find you! Gary Hebert. tttttfffffbbbbb

Ken the owner passed away, no surviving family or Estate. I have speakers since November material in there any one else in this predicament ?

I have a piece of equipment with him for repair. He repaired something previously and transferred a number of VCR recordings recently. Then he "went AOL" from his Main St. E. Hartford shop. I was first told from the Main St Hardware next door that he was moving his store nearby then just now that he died. I don't know if true. I gave my repair ticket info to the hardware store but don't know if it will do anything.

On April 25, 2020 I brought in my Samsung DVD/CD in to have a VHS cartridge adapter removed that was stuck inside the unit .I asked how much the owner said $30 so I pulled out my check book he said cash only. I asked do you take credit cards he stated yes so he asked if the unit was in good working order I said yes it was the only thing was an adapter was stuck inside so he inspected the unit like a thief caseing a joint so I got suspicious and took out my cell phone and began to take pictures of the unit he became very upset and rude told me to get out of his place to go somewhere else I explained to him that this is the way I handle my business he was trying to pull the old bait and switch .I would give this business a negative zero earring and Ken just in case you didn't know Vino is not GOD . Jesus is Lord make Jesus Lord Of your life not gino.

I brought my turntable in to be fixed, Ken gave me the estimate later in the day and was fixed the same day! Great communication also. I couldn't be happier! Highly recommended!

I got it back in 3.5 months, runs great, gave me test results in writing and video of actual oscope testing of it. Nobody fixes this stuff anymore, so i was willing to wait for it, quality takes time uk..abt 500 bux repairs..well worth it imho. You got to talk to the man..he def really likes ppl who are passionate about quality hi end stereo stuff

I took my vintage mint condition Accuphase T 106 A.M/F.M. Tuner to Stereo Surgeons for a basic alinement. Somehow this lowlife switched my perfect condition Tuner with a rebuild, with very poor interior, electronic workmanship. The unit he returned to me was definitely not my unit. I didn't inspect the unit at the shop upon pick up. This guy praised my original Accuphase T106 as the best tuner he had ever heard. I learned a valuable lesson .

Ken Bernacky was happy to take in my bose head set for repair . The problem came when after 22 days he had not even looked at it and He had my $30 dollars cash for a diagnostic . He seems to want to do things at his speed in his own way ,the customer be damned . He was very childish and argumentative when I told him I wanted him to do the diagnostic or I would pick up my property . I did pick up my property . As far as I know ,he never even looked at the headset after I left the store . The only good thing I have to say about this guy is that he sent a check for the $30 after another week . By The way , Ken , I did fix them myself . They may not be professionally done but they sound like new . rayct60

I don't want to be too hard on Stereo Surgeons. The plus is-nobody will fix this stuff anymore. New electronics are disposable. I once had a receiver fixed for a $0.90 resistor. I bought a very small but compact Sherwood Receiver many years ago. I custom installed it in my RV. Unfortunately, I made the cut out the size of the receiver. This 904 had rounded corners and was maybe 3 inches tall. I made an opening in the wall of the RV so it fits like a glove. Unfortunately, the receiver would not stay on more than 10 seconds. I needed to get it fixed. As previously stated, that's not that easy to do. I brought it to Stereo Surgeons and it was diagnosed as a bad amplifier. I left him a $90 deposit and the parts were ordered. Estimated delivery time 1-3 months. 11 months later I got the call that the parts were in and it should be done in a couple of weeks. A month later I received the email that it was complete. What was replaced was some type of sensor. I gather they were sending the signal that the amplifier was overheating and shutting it down. I picked it up and the next day I hooked up all five speakers on my kitchen table. Right away, the subwoofer output was not working. Then after about an hour, the unit word shut off. I was a little disappointed that Ken would not look at it again. On the positive note, he refunded everything I spent with him. So a not great experience but it could have been far worse. Good businesses do exactly what Ken did. Refund the money and admit your mistake. So very rarely done today.

I brought a receiver to them to get fixed. The receiver is an older model but very small yet powerful 7.1 surround sound and all. It was supposed to be finished in three months. It took a year! Then I bring it home and the sub output is not working. That's not what it went there for and always worked in the past. I would recommend could find somebody else you would be better off. When you go into the location it is difficult to even stand inside the store. There are boxes and stereo equipment spread out everywhere you can go. I can't believe how it looks. Never mind that but what about damages. My receiver got a couple scratches that wasn't there when I dropped it off. These receivers are lying around all over the shop without boxes, bubblewrap, or any other protection. It's not like they're giving the repairs away. They are quite expensive. Keep in mind that this is a lost art. Most electronic equipment is considered disposable. It is nice to have the option to repair it.

I read the reviews of bad experiences, and I was a bit nervous, but his store front is close to me, so I decided to pay him a bit. I dropped the unit off one day, and it was fixed the next. My Pioneer VSX-8231 receiver had a dead channel, and he could reproduce the problem. He tapped the unit the other channel failed, fiddled with an internal cable, and it started working, but he couldn't make it fail again. He called describing that he'd found and said he wasn't 100% sure it was the problem, but that I had two options: 1) stop now and hope the problem is fixed for good 2() for another 1.5 hours he could eliminate it as an future problem. I chose to have him "hardwire" the internal connector Time will tell if this was the only problem, but intermittent problems can be hard to nail down, and his approach seemed reasonable to me! He was a nice person, easy to engage in conversation, and I would recommend doing business with him.

I brought a Pioneer SX-980 to Ken Bernacky at SS and he did a fantastic job on the piece. I have always enjoyed speaking with Ken and would have no hesitation bringing components to him. I also brought a Sansui TU-717 tuner to Ken. He also did a fantastic job on that piece. And for the record, the letters posted on his website are real because I wrote one of them. If you want an expert, go with Ken. Also, I drove 100 miles EACH WAY to his shop because I feel that strongly about his caliber of expertise. I am no "minion" and, in fact, am quite knowledgeable about electronics. Ken has always been "spot-on" with his analysis of the work needed to be done, and I have always felt I was in good hands with Ken.

I called Stereo Surgeons, first about a 1978 receiver I wanted to have cleaned up, re-calibrated, lubricated, etc. I started to tell Bernacky what it was doing wrong (tuner was acting up), and he started asking me if I tried this or that, like I was already an *** for not knowing how to diagnose it myself. Bernacky told me I'd have to pay him to do a compete reconditioning job because he does things his way, and doesn't want customers bringing equipment back because of something that he didn't attend to that someone else did wrong. That actually didn't sound unreasonable. It was the WAY he told me I would "have to" spend hundreds of dollars on the machine, whether I wanted to or not, if I was going to bring it to him at all, that put me off. I opted to take my receiver elsewhere. Another time, I called about potentially repairing a VCR after VCRs were no longer being made. Its tuner was going bad, so it was creating wave lines on my TV. I got Bernacky on the phone again, and thought I was just going to have a conversation about what might be possible to do for the VCR. What I got, instead, was a condescending rebuke for even calling about a VCR in the first place, that replacement parts were no longer available, that no one uses VCRs anymore (I, and members of my family, still do for things we can't find on DVD), etc. I asked if it might be possible to swap out a tuner from another VCR. Bernacky went into hyper-snotty mode then, talking to me like I was an *** for having the gall to even suggest that he would ever just "swap out" anything. I made an attempt to ask something else, but Bernacky literally hung up in my ear mid-sentence! That conversation couldn't have taken much more than 5 minutes. After I hung up, I felt very angry (for the second time), and more than sure I was NEVER going to bring anything of mine to him based on his attitude alone. After reading the other complaints on here about him, I'm glad I didn't say to myself, "Oh well, vintage equipment repair shops are hard to find, so I'll give him a try anyway", and hand off any of my electronics to him. What a major ***hole. Being abusive and condescending is not the way to court new customers and keep oneself in business. I agree with others on here: Finding shops that still fix vintage equipment can be difficult, but I've Googled several others in my state that I can go to, instead, that come well recommended - separately from the shop's own website - unlike what Bernacky does on his. That he's got those complimentary letters & notes posted on his site (were they really all written by customers, or by him and his minions?) only suggests to me that he doth protest too much, i.e., that he wants to be an abusive ***, and if you complain, he'll point to those letters to tell you how wrong you are for being offended by him - that it's his way or the highway - and possibly even tell you to *uck off altogether, considering that he hung up on me once he decided my line of inquiry was beneath him. I hope he finds himself locking his doors for good because of his untreated mental & personality disorders.

After five years of excuses Ken Bernacky has refused to return either of my audiophile tuners, a Sony and a top of the range Yamaha CT7000, despite having been paid over $1000. He used to provide a list of excuses as how he was overworked and would get around to it very soon but he no longer responds to emails or phone calls in any way. This is a simple matter. Bernacky is a thief and a fraudster and should not be allowed to work in this field. I have come across a few others who have been conned by him. Avoid like the plague.