Jason Garrett
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2002
- Messages
- 120
I would like to relay my correspondence concerning inquiry of warranty coverage of my Ascend CBM-170s. I’ve owned these speakers going on five years and thoroughly enjoyed their quality. I have never owned speakers that produced such an incredible listening experience.
Unfortunately, I have a tendency to more often than not find myself listening in ‘all channel stereo’ mode of my Onkyo TX-SR700.
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=...class=Receiver
I have my Ascends electronically crossed over at 80hz using the Onkyo crossover. I have an Adire Audio Rava taking the low frequency duties.
I say unfortunately because I have recently experienced two blown main drivers in my Ascends (a total of three blown drivers now) while listening in ‘all channel stereo’ at fairly high volume levels. I’m not an expert in home audio by any means, but I wouldn’t expect that these speakers would see enough of a load to blow out the main drivers when they don’t have low frequency duty.
The specs on these speakers show a maximum *continuous* capability of 200 watts:
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages...m170specs.html
Peak power of *400 watts* and a frequency response +/- 3db to 53hz. My Onkyo is rated at a maximum of 170 watts per channel and this was the infamous Onkyo that was dogged for not being able to produce even close to that with all channels driven.
Now, I am within warranty coverage, but I felt compelled to be honest about my listening habits when contacting Ascend. I have to say that I am somewhat astonished at the response. The claim is that listening in ‘all channel stereo’ at 85% volume is “not a good idea at all.” I may have even damaged my receiver in doing so. I would contend that 85% of my receiver’s volume in any mode is going to merely supply a portion of whatever power is available. Not necessarily 85% of some arbitrary performance statistic. I fail to see how this is relevant.
So, set me straight you guys. I realize that I may have contributed or been fully responsible for blowing out these speakers. I felt compelled to be honest. I could have just as easily stated that I was watching a movie above reference level when I believed the speakers blew out. Tell me if what the customer service man relays to me in these emails is correct and honest.
Here are a couple of bad photos of the damage. The speaker cones apparently tore? I’ve never seen that before. You can barely see the small tears in these fuzzy photos:
http://img526.imageshack.us/my.php?i...cbm1701dl1.jpg
http://img246.imageshack.us/my.php?i...cbm1702pt1.jpg
My response from Ascend:
Hi Jason,
You are definitely overdriving your receiver. Multi-channel stereo is
full power into every loudspeaker. You must remember, A/V receivers
like yours have only one power supply, so all the amplifier channels in
the receiver are pulling current from the one power supply. 85% of
"available" volume is not a good idea at all. In fact, it would not
surprise me, given the fact that so many woofers are damaged, if the
receiver itself has damage.
Regardless, you will need to send the defective units back to us for
inspection / warranty evaluation etc.
>I suppose that my concern is if sending these to you for inspection
will cost me in shipping more than it might be worth if they turn out to
be determined to be user fault?
Based on what you described, it is doubtful to be considered warranty
repair. Replacement woofers cost $57.60 each. If we do the repairs in
our factory, there will be a 1 hour labor charge of $55 + return
shipping.
>Please let me know if I would be able to return these for inspection of
warranty replacement and what I might need to do to get them to you.
Simply pack them up and ship them to:
Ascend Acoustics, Inc.
Attn: Service
1842 W 169th St. Ste B
Gardena, CA 90247
Please include a printout of this correspondence and your full contact
information.
Take care!
Good Sound To You!
ASCEND ACOUSTICS, INC.
David Fabrikant
www.ascendacoustics.com
t- 310/719-9786
f- 310/388-1500
Please visit our new community at http://forum.ascendacoustics.com
Unfortunately, I have a tendency to more often than not find myself listening in ‘all channel stereo’ mode of my Onkyo TX-SR700.
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=...class=Receiver
I have my Ascends electronically crossed over at 80hz using the Onkyo crossover. I have an Adire Audio Rava taking the low frequency duties.
I say unfortunately because I have recently experienced two blown main drivers in my Ascends (a total of three blown drivers now) while listening in ‘all channel stereo’ at fairly high volume levels. I’m not an expert in home audio by any means, but I wouldn’t expect that these speakers would see enough of a load to blow out the main drivers when they don’t have low frequency duty.
The specs on these speakers show a maximum *continuous* capability of 200 watts:
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages...m170specs.html
Peak power of *400 watts* and a frequency response +/- 3db to 53hz. My Onkyo is rated at a maximum of 170 watts per channel and this was the infamous Onkyo that was dogged for not being able to produce even close to that with all channels driven.
Now, I am within warranty coverage, but I felt compelled to be honest about my listening habits when contacting Ascend. I have to say that I am somewhat astonished at the response. The claim is that listening in ‘all channel stereo’ at 85% volume is “not a good idea at all.” I may have even damaged my receiver in doing so. I would contend that 85% of my receiver’s volume in any mode is going to merely supply a portion of whatever power is available. Not necessarily 85% of some arbitrary performance statistic. I fail to see how this is relevant.
So, set me straight you guys. I realize that I may have contributed or been fully responsible for blowing out these speakers. I felt compelled to be honest. I could have just as easily stated that I was watching a movie above reference level when I believed the speakers blew out. Tell me if what the customer service man relays to me in these emails is correct and honest.
Here are a couple of bad photos of the damage. The speaker cones apparently tore? I’ve never seen that before. You can barely see the small tears in these fuzzy photos:
http://img526.imageshack.us/my.php?i...cbm1701dl1.jpg
http://img246.imageshack.us/my.php?i...cbm1702pt1.jpg
My response from Ascend:
Hi Jason,
You are definitely overdriving your receiver. Multi-channel stereo is
full power into every loudspeaker. You must remember, A/V receivers
like yours have only one power supply, so all the amplifier channels in
the receiver are pulling current from the one power supply. 85% of
"available" volume is not a good idea at all. In fact, it would not
surprise me, given the fact that so many woofers are damaged, if the
receiver itself has damage.
Regardless, you will need to send the defective units back to us for
inspection / warranty evaluation etc.
>I suppose that my concern is if sending these to you for inspection
will cost me in shipping more than it might be worth if they turn out to
be determined to be user fault?
Based on what you described, it is doubtful to be considered warranty
repair. Replacement woofers cost $57.60 each. If we do the repairs in
our factory, there will be a 1 hour labor charge of $55 + return
shipping.
>Please let me know if I would be able to return these for inspection of
warranty replacement and what I might need to do to get them to you.
Simply pack them up and ship them to:
Ascend Acoustics, Inc.
Attn: Service
1842 W 169th St. Ste B
Gardena, CA 90247
Please include a printout of this correspondence and your full contact
information.
Take care!
Good Sound To You!
ASCEND ACOUSTICS, INC.
David Fabrikant
www.ascendacoustics.com
t- 310/719-9786
f- 310/388-1500
Please visit our new community at http://forum.ascendacoustics.com