John (Owner) reached out to me and explained in detail about the issue they have been facing since the fire damage. The shop is in a very bad shape. I got my speakers back and he also returned the $150 initial diagnosis fee. Thanks John for running this business with high morals and integrity. I hope the store gets back in shape soon. read more

Since Yelp does ot allow users to "hate" reviews, I will respond to some of the idiotic reviews here. Yes there is a charge to look at any pice f equipment. This requires a lot of work, and this is ot a non-profit shop. I brought in several old Mcintosh vintage pieces. They needed a lot of work. One ended up costing a lot more to repair than what was estimated. They stuck to the estimate and asked if I would not mind at least paying for the additional parts needed. They basically lost money restoring an MP1-4 (look it up it is rare). they did it as a labor of love. They told me few were made and only a couple had ever come through the shop. They restored a pre-amp, tuner and power amp as well as the MP1. John explained what could and should not be done to bring these back to pristine condition. This is an honest good shop with techs who love working on vintage gear. I have to check if they are back up and running after the fire. I hope so! read more

I had a vintage KLH model 24 that I wanted to have gone through before I gave it to my granddaughter and started researching trying to find someone in the bay area to do this job. I found a few places that stated that they could do it, but they were more " Generic " and I wanted someone who was more then just familiar with KLH. On top of all of this, there are not that many places around anymore that will work on electronic repair, let alone vintage, Most of the places I used in the past are long gone, either out of business from lack of interest, or lack of qualified people or dead, I ended up talking to John on the phone and was impressed regarding his knowledge, not only about the KLH, but other vintage gear. And even though it was three freeways and a bridge, 70 miles from my house, I'm very grateful for the work that was performed. There was a problem with the Garrard turntable,that's a built in part of this combined unit, that was not repairable , and as I'd told him I'd like to keep it as original as possible, he called to check with me before making any changes to the original turntable. I appreciated his consideration and he was able to trackdown a replacement turntable that was an upgrade and better in the long run. The bottom line is I'm happy with the repair, the extra effort made and John keeping me informed and for those of us that are willing to pay to have vintage gear done right...then this is the place! read more

Excellent and absolutely superb service! Got my vintage Sony linear tracking turntable fully serviced and fixed by R & B Electronics. Very professional and courteous crew! This is the one of the very few places left that can service Japanese electronics from the golden age. I do have a substantial collection of vintage HI-FI from that glorious era and this is and will be my place to go! Thank you John, Bob and the whole R & B team. read more

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I paid the exorbitant fee to put my amp in here to get fixed and knew that they would take a while because they always have a backlog. I finally called a few months later, but the phone was out of order. Drove by the shop, it was boarded up with a sign saying "we had a fire Monday, hope to have the phone working by Friday". This was the middle of June, and I find out they had a fire almost 6 weeks ago. So I email, no answer. I call the police department, they say they will contact the two people who run the business. Bingo, I get a call right away from the secretary saying the owner will call me so I can come pick up my amp. A week goes by and no call from the owner. No doubt he is too busy posting lengthy responses to negative reviews here. read more

These people are good. Over a period of years I have given them 4 pieces of McIntosh equipment for rebuild/repair or servicing (1 amp,1 tuner and 2 preamps) and they have always done the job. Some people on this site are complaining about the $150 fee for estimates and I can understand that is not what most businesses do these days but I am interested in getting my Macs into top shape and few people do this at a retail level (the fee is deducted from the charges if the work is gone ahead with). I was sorry to find that they had a fire and were closed for repairs because I have some more business for them and hope they are open again soon. Marcus J. read more

BUYER BEWARE!!! There's an upfront $150 fee just to diagnose the problem. Should you decide to get your electronics fixed, they will include that to the final price. What they don't tell you: if they cannot fix the problem, they won't refund your money. You ask me, that's a cheap way to scam people out of their money. read more

If you're reading this you are wiser than I was. The only HDMI out on my Marantz NR1605 broke (see pic) so I came to those guys to get it repaired. I was very clear that what I wanted was to change the port which is a soldering job and is doable as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui_6o5BLe7A They asked for $175 upfront, which raised some bells but they tell me they will try to find the part. I suggest that there are other HDMI ports on the board we could maybe move if they don't find the part and I went for it. Two weeks later, I receive a phone call saying that either the software needs to be uploaded for ~$350 (uh??) or the board needs to be changed for ~$650. I am a little baffled and asked what happened to changing the port, and get an answer that there's no point in doing that if the board is bad which there is no way to know if it is. Still confused I say I will come and pick it up. I get another phone call 5 minutes later, apparently after talking to the technician telling me that changing the port is not feasible because there are "Traces" on the board that are minuscule and that a soldering job is not doable. When I pick it up, I ask for my money back, answer is no way. The woman there has even the nerve to berate me because the brand on the receipt she wrote says NAND for the brand instead of Marantz. lol, I never said NAND, I even remember commenting on the fact that they have a certificate from Marantz in the shop saying they are certified to repair that brand. So, $175 to tell me something they could have told me upfront consulting with their technician for a couple of minutes. read more

R & B Electronics Service - HDMI out is broken - Electronics Near Me - Redwood City, California

Bad experience. Received a $900 quote for repair of an inexpensive vintage stereo, and r&b would not tell me what the repair would be/any details whatsoever. I picked up the unit and took it to another shop. R&B charged my card $225 deposit/diagnosis fee. The 2nd shop told me the unit had never been opened or inspected before. R&B didnt inspect? They just threw out a high number because they didnt want to do the job? Who knows, but I wanted others to hear this so they do not spend their time and mileage with this shop. read more

*. I visited R&B with 2 repairs so far: 1) a Rotel AV 5.1 surround processor pre-amp whose volume control was broken, and 2) a Sunfire subwoofer with a speaker problem. *. Both repairs were done in a reasonable amount of time. *. Both transactions were handled 100% efficiently and professionally from the initial call to explain the issue to the tech, to the drop off and pickup, to the work slips and return of replaced parts. *. Top marks for excellent service! read more

Zéro. Don't go there if you have McIntosh electronics My MT10 came back with: -tone arm lift too high so the arm wouldn't go down -tone arm tracking wrong -speed tuned too slow -platter light screw loose Dangerous place for high end material read more

Today was my first trip to R & B Electronics in Redwood City for an estimate on a TV that just decided to stop working. The Shop is run by a husband and wife. I spent some talking to the both. Very nice. The husband helped me with my situation and we had a nice conversation. If you need audio/video or TV maintenance this is the shop to go. read more

I brought in a stereo amp, preamp and turntable. The turntable was not producing sound. The amp/preamp only one channel worked. Months later and around $1000 I got them back. The turntable worked but the amp/preamp still had only one side working. They also told me that they were going to polish the turntable cover which, they didn't. I'll never use them again. I'm not even going to bring it back even though they gave me a 30 day warrantee. I messed around with it and found that the preamps phono 1 only had one side working but phono 2 both sides work so I'll just use phono 2. I own a business for 35 years now. I'm shocked at how bad most businesses are at customer service and/or their trade. We have always taken pride at what we do an always try to provide more than the client asks for. One thing that I have to give R&B credit for is that they were up front about how long it was going to take. They obviously didn't check their work or they would have noticed that only one channel worked. read more

Thank you R&B for resurrecting my McIntosh sub woofer. Since this place is backed up and it's difficult these days to find good technicians and repairs for stereo gear, my patience paid off in spades. My baby is back and kicking ass! Big time thumbs up if you realize that quality work isn't cheap, especially with high end gear that's no longer made. read more

R&B Electronics is awesome! I brought in a vintage Kenwood stereo cassette deck, turntable and speaker that weren't working (it had been in storage for several years and it took me a few more years to get it connected). They did a wonderful job, and I am so thankful that they had the expertise to repair my 1980s equipment. Thank you sooo much R&B! read more

I brought my turntable in for a cleaning, and some kind of serious grounding problem. It was very clearly explained to my before driving down from SF that there is an upfront service fee, (industry standard protocol)... I left my turntable for repair... The fee was supposed to be double what my deposit required... and I was ready and willing to pay it. I love my turntable. But the work turned out to be so minor that they kept the final fee to a very low figure. I'm sitting now at my desk, listening to Sonny Stitt... feeling lots of gratitude for great music, and for people that know how to repair the machinery we all use to listen to that great music. Thanks R & B! Much appreciated! Brad read more

We had two antique items. We found this repair establishment on line. Down the freeway from us. Open certain days. Easy to find. The owner very knowledgeable and very pleasant. Before anything he complemented what great shape our Bakelite turntable was in. Told me the cost would be quite expensive between labor and replacement of tubes etc. If he could even find the needle cartridge. Gave us a ballpark estimate with a senior discount. He suggested checking out eBay for an idea if a market for this turntable. read more

As a pretext, there's not many shops servicing McIntosh and the nature of the beast is the difficulty even for a professional to diagnose and service old or complex instruments. In that light, it's great to see a shop still servicing McIntosh where the alternative would be shipping to McIntosh on the east coast or another county. I had an old MX120 (10+ years old) that had a bad video output, had to go back a few times to troubleshoot but finally was able to get everything fixed up in the end. Tom fixed up my machine and I would like to say he spent more than fair amount of effort fixing it up. He was helpful and responsive when I still had issues, sometimes it could be hard if the problem can't be easily replicated at the shop. Repair is just a tough business especially for older instruments. Anyhow, I just thought Tom did a great job and hopefully this passes along to him. read more

This is my first time writing a review, so bare with me. Talked to them on Tuesday about my 1960 Zenith Stereo needing repair. Was told to bring it in for an estimate. I took it in on Friday and it was received by a nice woman in the office. I paid for the estimate and drove back home. About three hours later, I received a call by the owner to come and get it out of his shop now!. He had no room for it and would not even look at it. So I drove back to pick it up and he told me that he only needed to the amp out of it, but still would not take the time to even plug it in and listen to it. So, two wasted trips to R&B and my time, Just to be told get it out of here. Not Happy and would not recommend them. Mike from Hayward read more

I was reading all the responses written by a person named 'John' and must say that everything other customers wrote about him can be confirmed in his rants and other nonsense he wrote. If he spend just half of that energy (and time) being nice and actually working on repairs, his business would be thriving. It is beyond me why a reputable company like McIntosh would even have service like this listed on their website. Truly disgusting. read more

Brought McIntosh MR65B in for adjustment/repair. Unit working but exhibits instability until fully warmed up. Left unit for evaluation and repair estimate. John provided information from evaluation in a timely period. Recommendation was that labor to fully repair the cause of issue was prohibitive and that anticipated replacement parts were not available. John provided website recommendations where McIntosh units of similar vintage might be obtained at a price less than or similar to the projected cost of the MR65B repair. I appreciated the phone discussions with John and the honest advice he provided. R&B Electronics previously repaired other McIntosh tube gear for me. The onsite experience with the Saturday staff (I have to drive approximately 1 hour) has been pleasant and efficient. I recommend R&B for component electronic repair. read more

I own a pair of vintage JBL L100 T3s from the 1980s. As background...the T3s were the top of the line L100s from that era, and something of a family heirloom. These speakers had sat in the garage for about 20 years, and the woofer lining had rotted out. After having purchased a pair of the new L100 classics, I decided to repair my old speakers so I could do a side-by-side comparison between the new classics and old L100s, and then use the old ones downstairs. So I called R&B and they suggested I pop out the woofers (*these are 100 LBS speakers mind you) and bring them down for refurbishing. Got a call back after dropping off the woofers, with a reasonable cost estimate for the repair. I then picked up the repaired woofers a few weeks later after and installed them. The speakers now sound phenomenal and I now use them daily! And frankly, these old speakers come very close to the sound quality of the brand new $4k L100 classics, and maybe a little better on the high-end! The quality of the work R&B did with these speakers was exemplary, and I couldn't be happier. Fast forward to this week....I dropped off a Mcintosh MAC4100 receiver purchased from Craigslist over the weekend. The seller of this unit neglected to mention that the source inputs on this receiver are fried, and I can't get a clean signal on any of the sources I've tried to plug in (*the phono stage input was the best. it works 'OKAY', but I seriously doubt it's up to spec). Rather than go back and haggle with seller, my next move was to drop this new purchase off at R&B, given the excellent experience I had with them last time...and their status as a Mcintosh certified repair shop. I asked also to have the unit checked out to make sure that it's fully up to spec. And if necessary, find and replace any electrolytic capacitors that are failing due to age. I expect to have another wonderful experience with R&B and can't wait to hear back from them with an estimate and timeline for the repairs. So I'll update this review after I get my new MAC4100 back. R&B performs a very valuable service and it's important that people who love vintage stereo gear and are looking for local repair options, get accurate reviews from happy customers like me! read more

My MV136 blew up just as the Covid shutdown happened. They took in my unit and worked on it. They had to wait for parts from MacIntsh NY but once they parts were in the completed the job. They found multiple original issues with the unit that were poorly construction from the manufacturing plant. They fix these as well as a lot of work to repair the damage that a Google Dongle did to the software. Now it is working better than new. Highly recommended. read more

Great knowledge and skills. They guided me on my components and speakers. read more

Although some people have had positive results from this business, my experience was terrible. Here's the condensed version; I took my Bang & Olufsen stereo receiver in for repair because it had suddenly stopped working. They have a $200 diagnostic fee, which I paid. I received a call back stating they could fix it for an additional $650. That's a lot to fix an older unit, but I decided to do it because it's a beautiful receiver. When I got it back, only one channel worked, and I couldn't adjust the balance between left and right speakers. In addition the treble adjustment no longer worked. I took it back to them, and they couldn't fix it. They claimed it worked perfectly when it left, and will not credit me the $650 repair fee. Here's a few details for those interested in reading further. In full disclosure, my receiver has slots for mounting on a wall, and it had been hanging on my wall for the last year. In mounting it, I didn't want the screw heads to go too deep, so it took several attempts as I adjusted them, which left some scratches on the back. They claim that the screw heads caused the damage to the unit, which could possibly be true. But this was evident when I brought it in initially and paid for the $200 diagnosis, and nothing changed in the interim. When I brought my receiver home the first time after their repair, I did not mount it on the wall again, since it takes some time to do so. I bought new cables and plugs, thinking that might be the problem, but realized that only one channel had sound. Here's an important point; after I took my receiver back the second time, I received a call telling me that the problem might be the balance was set all the way to one side, but he could not adjust the balance without the remote. He did not know how to adjust the balance on this popular model without the remote! It's a touch screen, and requires touching a couple of buttons in sequence to access those controls, but he didn't know how to do this. I told him, and then also told him he could download a manual from the internet, like I had done. He asked me to bring in my old remote, even though I told him it didn't work, so I made my third trip down from SF to drop it off. When I spoke to him on the phone after picking up my non-working receiver for the last time, he told me that the treble and balance controls worked perfectly when it left his shop the first time. How could he know that, when he didn't even know how to access these controls before I told him? One last point. When I explained that I had returned my receiver within their 30 day warranty period, his answer was this: "We only warranty the parts we replace". So if you bring in equipment that doesn't work, and they replace a part they think will fix it, they won't honor their warranty if another part is actually the problem. This is an absolutely honest account of my experience. You be the judge if you want to do business with this company. UPDATE 10-31-18: The owner had called me back a couple of times, but after speaking with him before I had no interest in further discussion. He then called on a blocked number, which I picked up and talked again. I had originally offered to split the difference in the repair charges, accepting $325 instead of $650. On our first call he flatly refused, but when he called back he told me he was willing to do that. I told him it was too late, I had already contacted my credit card company and they had credited my account. Some of you might see this as a positive for him, so in all fairness that's what happened. read more

This is my first NEGATIVE Yelp review. How these people stay in business - I have no idea. We had an old 50 inch Mitsubishi projection TV that we trying to "save' before finally buying a new one. It was difficult to find anyone who still services projection TVs, so my husband decided to give this place a shot. Like another reviewer said, I wish we saw the Yelp reviews before we called. After spending $550 (this included the "$99.95 initial fee") to get it fixed, our TV broke down AGAIN in less than 24 hours. They refused to give us even a partial refund. Yes, we were "scammed" by this company. It would have been easier to just buy a new flat screen TV, which we ended up doing a couple days later. We have finally joined the 21st century and watching HD channels and Blueray DVDs. LOL. But we lost $550 to this place in the process. read more

I really wish I'd seen this Yelp page before going here. I paid them $550 to refurbish two turntables. That is a LOT, but the promise that the turntables would be "like new" after the job was enough to convince me to pay for it. The problem I described was straight-forward: When I play records on the turntables, the sound is a bit muddy, and sometimes one of the stereo channels cuts out. I tried the turntables on 3 different sound systems, using different cables and components every time, to ascertain that the problem is in fact with the turntables and not something else. I brought them in for repair, and was assured that my problem could be fixed. After a few days I received a call from the shop offering me two options: for $1100 new tone arms could be placed on the turntables, or for $550 the existing tone-arms could be cleaned. I expressed shock at the price, but the man on the phone insisted that was a fair rate. He also said that cleaning them would almost certainly fix the problem, and at the very least it would significantly improve things, so I agreed to it. After 39 days in the shop, and paying $550, I brought them home. The problem was not solved. The sound is STILL muddy, and the sound still cuts out in and out. There was absolutely no difference. I called the shop and was basically told "tough luck, we did our best." I wasted $550 and am extremely unhappy. I can't get my money back, but if I can at least warn one other potential customer to go elsewhere, then at least this review will be worth something. UPDATE-- I brought the turntables to a different shop, which I'll review after writing this update, where they were completely refurbished-- new ground cables, new RCA cables, new tonearms, the works-- for $361.10 ($180.55 per turntable) and they have been working as good as new for a year and a half and counting. Meanwhile, after posting my first review, I brought the turntables back to R&B, where they remembered who I was and found me in their system. They said if I could get them fixed cheaper elsewhere they'd "compensate me in some fashion," but then never did so. Be warned. read more

Facts are facts ... after posting my review based on "facts" taken over the phone as I had honestly hoped they might be a decent repair shop given that my local Sony repair outlet had folded. I simply do not like their prices for basic services ... nor their style and attitude. I then get multiple threatening emails from the owners of this company?!?!??!?! And their emails to me continue? YELP do your job and shut down email exchanges after perfunctory "he said, she said" ... you are enabling a dysfunctional business owner to harass consumers! I now give this company a MINUS FOUR STARS .... And thankfully I live out-of-state now so these dorks can not physically harass me!!! read more

In reply to John M (who is a representative of R&B) who called me out as a "Jerk" somewhere in this thread.... You make my point perfectly by calling me a jerk. I attempted to do business with R&B, but upon speaking with someone via the phone I was told to go elsewhere. The customer service rep was belittling, off-putting, and rude. For these reasons I gave the poor review. Customer service begins from the first contact, not after we have finished a transaction. Take a hint and look at all the other poor reviews. read more

High-end electronics repair shops are hard to find, R and B has repaired my Tandberg, McIntosh, etc. components and restored them to as good as new service. John was willing to take as much time as I needed to understand my options and he was able to find parts no longer available from McIntosh. I wish I could find an auto repair shop as competent, honest, and friendly as R and B. He has saved me many thousands of dollars in replacement costs over the past 12 years. read more

Always professional, always honest, always reliable. They just fixed a treasured piece of audio equipment, for which I'm appreciative and grateful! read more

Excellent experience!! John was extremely helpful and knowledgeable. I needed some basic electronic repair. John clearly listened to my concerns and proposed the best course of action. He did a great job in implementing the fixes! read more

I took my vintage Sansui amplifier in for repair and found R&B to be honest and fair. There is a $175 non-refundable fee for diagnosis, but that will apply toward any work that they do. I would return in the future. read more

I've done business with R&B in the past, and never been disappointed. I'm still a fan, in my experience they are fair and honest, and know what they are doing. My AVM mono was on the blink, retail the pair run close to seven grand. I could have sent them back to Germany, but shipping and possible further damage or loss was something I didn't want to deal with unless I had to. Enter R&B, they saved the day again! The price was very reasonable, I won't say cheap, but it was less than what I had expected to be charged. It took a bit of time for the repair, they get really busy but whenever I called to check I received a prompt, courteous response. Great Job Thanks! read more

20 years ago or so I bought a nice pair of infinity tower speakers and a techniques turntable. I really loved music and could hear it clearly through my system. Sadly over time they all broke. Speakers blew and the turntable stopped working. I am very thankful for this store because they were able to fix both speakers and turntable for an affordable price. Now I am back to listening to high level sound and I could not be happier. I recommend this store 100%. read more

Fixed my Rotel RSP-1098 Surround Sound Processor display and remote problems and its like new... better. Kept me informed of progress and called twice to follow up. The RSP-1098 is fine ($$$) but old unit and I'm pleased I don't have to replace. Tom in 95472. read more

I brought my vintage Yamaha amplifier here to have the right output stage looked at. I was contacted within a day that they were going to have to replace output transistors at an estimated cost of $350. A couple of hours later the owner calls me back and says it was just a dirty preamp disconnect switch on the rear of the unit. I was grateful for their hosesty and would not hesitate to send friends their direction for hifi repair. read more

Fantastic job, I had my Rotel 1572 pre-amp processor repaired by the this shop they did a great job and in a very timely fashion specially when you take into account their workload of over 4000 units per week and the fact that they are the only electronics service repair shop in the bay area this is just a fantastic business when you think about the scale of their work so I will be coming back in the future when I have more trouble with my equipment. So I say to you keep up the good work fantastic job. read more

Tried calling multiple times - just get a recording telling me when to call but nobody answers when I do.

I've used R&B a number of times over the last 10+ years, but always with simple problems such as re-coning my speakers and replacements of belts and wheels. My first contact with them was to have my BetaMax adjusted (maybe more than 10 years). I have been working on an old 1956 Hoffman TV and needed the A-2 tube replaced. I could not find one anywhere. The folks at R&B said no problem and 3 weeks later, my TV came to life for the first time in over 40 years! I do not understand some of the more negative reviews here, I personally have never had an issue with the customer service or the care they have shown my equipment. As for price, I guess you get what you pay for. Don't get me started with some of the "less than reputable" companies around here. lol read more