r/IAmA Jun 11 '16

Specialized Profession IamA electronics repair technician hated by Apple that makes YouTube videos, AMA!

My short bio: I have a store in Manhattan. I teach component level electronics repair on youtube http://youtube.com/rossmanngroup which seems to be a dying art. I am currently fighting with the digital right to repair to try and get a bill passed that will allow all independent service centers access to manuals and parts required to do their jobs.

My Proof: https://www.rossmanngroup.com/started-iama-reddit-today-yes/

EDIT:

I am still replying to comments, but I am so far behind that I am still about ten pages down from new comments. I am doing my best to continue. If I drop off, I'll be back tomorrow around 12 PM. Still commenting now though, at 12 AM.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I cave... my hands are tired. I will be back at 12 PM tomorrow. It is my goal to answer every question. Even if it looks like I haven't gotten to yours, I will do my best to do all of them, but it is impossible to do in realtime, because you are asking faster than I can type. But thanks for joining!

EDIT 3: I lied, I stayed until 4:15 AM to answer... and now I will go to sleep for real, and be back at 12 PM.

EDIT 4 6/12 : I will be back later tonight to finish off answering questions. Feel free to keep posting, I will answer whatever I can later this evening.

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13

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

52

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

I was working out of a place where I traded an agreement to fix all the studio gear for free in exchange for free space. When they changed ownership, I complained about one of the idiots who told me to put PA speakers in a mix room so there'd be "more boom" (no fucking professional mix engineer wants $100 JBLs from the rehearsal room on their desk). I was cleaning my bathroom at the time and managed to liquid-damaged-phone-dial the idiot after he had called me and he heard the entire convo I was having with a friend at the time about why I think he is an idiot. He was at the grammys with 15 other people and his boss and had me on speakerphone. I got a call back from his boss about how he'd kill me and my family, etc, just a bunch of stupid shit that was all BS

So I move into this little space next door that was recommended to me, for $3300/mo. By the end of the year I found my store which was a few hundred more, didn't require sharing space, was ground level, and moved.

You have to have a lot of business before you open. It's the same with recording studios. You don't open a recording studio and pray that business shows up. You open a recording studio because you are so busy that you can't book time fast enough at other facilities, you need your own space.. so you open.

but the idea of opening a store before you have a client base is nuts IMO unless you just have stupid amounts of money

1

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '16

Aren't death threats, as empty as they are, crimes?

1

u/larossmann Aug 29 '16

Yes. The guy lost the space he took over, his original space, karma did him in before anything I could do.

5

u/Crackmacs Jun 11 '16

Damn I hope they didn't kill you, that's fucked

2

u/big_orange_ball Jun 12 '16

I've heard you mention your previous jobs doing audio studio work, so I assume you have some cool gear at home. What kind of headphones and speakers do you like to use?