Cornell has valuable knowledge on vintage equipment from his years of experience setting up and working for the independent audio equipment dealers in Phoenix. Likely the service manager at the store where I bought my equipment 30 years ago. I consulted him on a problem that was stumping me (and my mid-level DIY tech skills) to determine whether to take my receiver to him. Gave me enough guidance to fix the elementary problem on my own that would have been beneath his level of skill and expertise. I am not suggesting that everyone seek repair-by-phone because this was a special case. I am sending him a check for his time. read more

I have all McIntosh components. Cornell has worked on several of them MCD 7008 new belt, MVP 891 drawer issue, MHT 200 put in all LED's. Every time he did work for me it was done expertly and all worked perfectly-(no bringing it back with issues). Work was usually done faster than the time he quoted. He is very pleasant to work with. You don't find many like him around anymore. read more

it's been a while since i've used his services, but he did a great job repairing my cambridge audio azur 640c cd player. cornell is straightforward and no-nonsense... and if you have any mcintosh (not apple macintosh) stereo equipment, he's the ONLY guy to go to. read more

Cornell was very helpful in helping us narrow down the issue with our sound system and then get us back up and running. Prior to bringing anything in we assumed our issue was a busted speaker but after running some tests per his instructions we realized it was actually our Harman Kardon receiver channel. Cornell estimated about a week and a half for repairs but had it done in 2 days. Would highly recommend! read more

I am dealing with Audio Doctor (Cornell Smith) for over 8 years now and almost each component of my high end stereo set-up has been on his bench either for repair/adjustment or upgrade! He did an impeccable job on both, domestic (McIntosh, Furman) and import (Sony, Classe, Technics, Canton) brands, at very reasonable cost. In fact he provided me with valuable advice at no cost, saving me substantial expenditures, had I have listened to other "experts". Cornell has a remarkable expertise in both, tubes and solid state equipment, including valuable "antique" examples difficult to procure parts for. A professional of rare integrity, Cornell has also a pleasant and helpful manner, taking his time to explain the problem even if the client happens to be a neophyte. Most definitely the best address to go to for the whole range of audio equipment! Lucky to have someone like him in the Valley! read more

This business is the only McIntosh factory-authorized repair facility in the Phoenix area. I brought a McIntosh MX-112 to the shop. Because of it's age, I was ready to give up on this preamp/tuner and use it as a boat anchor. Cornell was not only able to diagnose the problem, he was able to do the repairs in a timely manner and for the same price as quoted. Needless to say, my 44 yr old Mac sounds fantastic. He not only works on McIntosh equipment. I brought my 40 yr old Phase Linear 700B to him. He was able to diagnose and repair some longstanding problems and perform some upgrades to the caps that had been recommended by serious audiophiles for a while. Again, he was able to perform the work for what he quoted. Audio Doctor does a lot of repairs for audio/visual businesses all over the valley. He's open by appointment only. He accepts credit cards. read more

Honest, fair, thorough, and helpful. I took my Mark Levinson 332.5 and McIntosh MX135 to Cornell to look though. The McIntosh had potentiometers that were not working well. A very common problem with McIntosh. He replaced all the potentiometers and some upstream components at the same time to ensure the unit was restored to factory specifications. Some of the OEM parts he put in failed his bench tests, so he replaced them again, at no extra charge to me. He was forthcoming about the Mark Levinson and told me he didn't have the protected schematics to fix it. read more

It's been 10 months since I wrote my review and over a year since I had my equipment repaired and I am happy to report in all that time my opinion about the Audio Doctor hasn't changed. He is the guy you need to see to have your vintage audio gear looked at. A year after repair, my Pioneer SA-9900 is still going strong! It works just as if it were new and simply sounds amazing despite pushing 40yrs. While I've taken other smaller items other places to have them looked at, the Audio Doctor is still my go to place for my higher end vintage gear. read more

i called the audio doctor about a repair for some speakers. nothing about this call made me think he wanted to work on them. I felt like i was putting him out by asking questions he could be great at what he does, but just not a friendly person. read more

I brought my beloved Mac 4100 Receiver to Cornell a few months ago. It was cutting out channels, the radio portion wasn't working well, and everything was intermittent. Cornell determined what was wrong, gave me a fair quote, and performed the work well within the time estimated. He is easy to work with, very competent, reliable, and gave honest value. No nonsense. Which is good, because this is my McIntosh after all! read more

Do not bother trying to get low to mid-range audio equipment fixed there. It will not be worth it. I took my Harman Kardon HK3485 receiver to Audio Doctors as it had no audio output. Cornell called me up a few days later saying it would be $300 to fix it, to replace the output transistors. Considering that I spent about the same to buy it new 5-10 year ago, and that I could buy a brand-new replacement for a little over $300 it was not worth the investment to fix it at Audio Doctors. Cornell charged me $75 for the diagnoses as he had already spent an hour working on it, which seemed fair. However, when I asked him to tell me which transistors needed to be replaced he refused to divulge that information and said that telling me that would cost me the full $300. That to me was unfair and unreasonable, considering that I had paid for his time. Having been in the audio business over 30 years Cornell probably knew upfront that his cost of repairing my unit would be more than it was worth but did not bother telling or warning me of that. Nor did he mention that he would charge for diagnoses. It is not his obligation to do so but it would be the decent and considerate thing to do. Was my mistake to take my unit to him; was just trying to avoid the throw-away culture we all live in. But I will still try to fix it myself even though he won't tell me the part numbers. He appears to be competent and able but has no concept of customer service, and may have a tendency to overcharge. But I guess he can do that when he has virtually no competition. read more

Excellent Service!!! The Audio Doctor repaired my Revox A77 R2R tape deck. Worth the trip from Tucson.

Cornell is as good as it gets. He has repaired and aligned numerous McIntosh tuners for me thus far and their performance is beyond reproach after leaving his shop. His turnaround time is excellent and his pricing incredibly fair. If you're in the Phoenix area you're fortunate to have his services at your disposal. Highly recommended. read more

Cornell knows his audio. Fixed my Sansui amp a couple of times. This is the place to go.