I know that this post is about a nominally professional piece of audio gear but some people may also buy it for home applications so I thought I'd post here. Below is a letter I just sent to Peavey - it's self explanatory.

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Let's get the preliminaries out of the way first - I'm just another idiot customer. I know I'm just a means to enhancing the revenue stream and increasing shareholder equity. I know you and the rest of the company don't care whether I live or die so long as I buy, BUT NONETHELESS I JUST HAVE TO GO ON RECORD TO SAY I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS.

I purchased a VSX 26 based on what I felt was the single most important feature it offered over the similarly priced competition - a GUI interface. Now that I've taken delivery of the unit I find out that the GUI is vaporware. On top of that the RTA is also non-existent. What good is a speaker set-up device without RTA?

Yeah, I guess I can try to use my Rane RTA in conjunction with the VSX box but why should I? I bought the Peavey box to be able to clean out my rack of a bunch of Rane boxes - no point in that apparently.

I don't know what else this thing doesn't do that the web site says it does (I've only had it an hour and half of that was on the phone) but it's just unbelievable to me that I should be in this position. It's even more unbelievable that Customer Service says "Yeah, I know. Watch the web forums for updates". If the web site said what the box DOES do and what it MIGHT some day do, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place.

And then the cherry on the top - Customer Service says I can return it to the factory for a CREDIT!!! A credit - why in the world would I want to buy ANYTHING else from Peavey? So I can get hosed again?

I know, I'm not only a useless customer but a whiner too and nobody gives a damn once the money's in the bank. That said, this is the most unprofessional experience I've had in 30+ years of buying PA audio gear (then again, it's the first time I've bought Peavey - you think they might be related?).

Yours in incredulous disappointment,
Charlie DeLuca

• The Amazing VSX26 - Even the manual's vaporware!

I may just have to ride this out to see where it goes.

Yes, it's been quite a while since I checked in. We're pretty well under control now (just in time for the new season!). I have some patching left yet but things are reasonably back to normal, which is why I'm back fooling with audio again.

• Those zany Nipponese