Ah, joys of joys. My Tempest sub is DOA. (1 Viewer)

[Javier_Huerta]

You read that right. I didn't even have a chance to play with it.

I had a 200L cabinet made for it, and during the weekend decided to install it. The minute I fired it up, I just knew something was wrong - at anything louder than "barely audible", the sub sounds as if its heart was being ripped out: noise was coming from the tinsel leads, from the vented pole, everywhere! It was as if the coils were slapping the driver cone, and it sounded loud. REALLY loud.

I rotated the driver, and indeed, the noise was gone on certain positions. When downfiring and upfiring, it was noisy. When firing sideways, there was one position where it was dead silent - but it was in a very odd position, and inclined in a diagonal, to boot!

A friend of mine told me it was probably the voice coils out of alignment with the magnet piece (I really don't know whether he is right or not).

Aw, well. I can't return the damn thing because I live in Mexico, and S/H would cost far more than what the subwoofer price was. And I can't replace it, because I'd be risking getting another defective sub. I'll have to build something else with different drivers.

So long, Adire Audio. Hello, Cerwin-Vega! :frowning:

 

[Andrew S]

That's too bad to hear.. I had the same problem, except mine worked perfectly for about 9 months and it sounded fine up-firing and down-firing, which seem to be the opposite of your problem. Lucky for me, shipping was only 17 bucks for me. I still wouldn't hesitate to buy another Tempest though, especially since I had a replacement in less than two weeks after emailing tech support and my dealer.
Again, that's too bad and I hope you're impression of Adire isn't too sour because of this... I still think they're awesome despite my driver problems.
Andrew

 

[Javier_Huerta]

Andrew, I would definitely buy a Tempest again... *if* I lived in the States, and could return defective merchandise. As it is, it was quite something, buying a Tempest, having my sister keep it with her until I could meet her, bringing the sub back home, customs, inspections (that thing can REALLY set off metal detectors!!!), and the like.

I'd really have loved to hear a properly built Tempest in my room. Thing is, I cannot risk buying another one. So I'll have to buy what is available to me locally (sucks! sucks! sucks!).

Last time I checked, UPS to the US for a Tempest was more than the cost of the driver itself. And I'd still have to pay for return s/h. Not worth it.

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

If you travel to the states, see if you can ship it when you get here and try to get a refund. you will only have to deal with the "inspectors" once.

 

[Kyle Richardson]

Dang, thats too bad to hear. If you are ever back in the states please feel free to send it back to me and I'll get another coming. We'll see if we can work something out for you.

 

[ThomasW]

Note that 'lead slap' and VC former scraping are two completely different things.

Take the driver out of the cabinet. Using even pressure gently cycle the cone up and down (in and out). If the VC former is out of alignment you will hear a mechanical scraping noise.

Frequently people don't torque the mounting screws evenly, that twists the frame of the driver = out of alignment VC former.

Lead slap can usually be fixed by using some hot glue to reposition how the leads are shaped.

 

[Todd Shore]

Does Adire have a written notice that you must pay for return shipping on a DOA? Anytime I have an item DOA I always ask for a replacement and call tag and tell them they must pick up shipping. After all, the transaction was my money in exchange for a working item. If they have not delivered a working item then they have not fulfilled their end of the transaction.

With VISA/MC you can often get the charge reversed.

The uniform commercial code also comes into play in the seller's home state and once the seller is notified of their responsibilities they are usually more willing to meet their obligations.

That might not work for international orders, though.

 

[Javier_Huerta]

Dang, thats too bad to hear. If you are ever back in the states please feel free to send it back to me and I'll get another coming. We'll see if we can work something out for you.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the reason I sometimes LOVE to buy stuff over the Internet. Every once in a while, some company / individual goes way above his duty to be sure you are satisfied. RA!

Thanks a lot, Kyle. I really appreciate & mean it. I am not planning to travel to the States anytime soon (and my sister just went back to Newark, so I guess I won't see her for a while), but I'll try to bring the driver back to the States if I go there in a couple of months.

Meanwhile, I'll try Thomas' suggestions, to see if it's a lead slap or a misaligned VC, and will get back to you.

There might be hope after all in me hearing a Tempest in its full glory

 

[GeorgeS]

No offense but admitting defeat out of the gate isn't a very good negotiating strategy.

I'm with Todd - why should you be stuck with a defective product? That's just wrong.

I don't see why it wouldn't be reasonable to ship a replacement and return the defective unit as soon as reasonably possible.

I have an 'all Adire' setup - Kit281's, 81's, LCC, and Tempest - very happy with all. The crossover for one 281 and a crossover component for the LCC didn't survive shipping (they could have been packed better but these things happen). I told Adire all I really needed was the two damaged capacitors but they sent a complete 281 crossover just the same.

Every situation is obviously unique and this may not be strictly required here, but good customer service isn't about what's strictly required.

We're off the grid and had a Trace inverter fail shortly after the warranty expired. I shipped it back to Trace for service and they replaced the FET board ($$$$ component). There had been an upgrade to this component recently (to which we were not otherwise entitled) so Trace replaced it free of charge. Any time anyone asks about Trace, I always tell them that story.

I've dealt with other companies that apparently have a different philosophy, and that buys them a different kind of testimonial, but extra effort and service 'above and beyond' buys testimonials and new customers.

I'm not saying to get nasty or anything like that, but if I were you, I'd certainly ask nicely for a replacement and return terms that would allow you to be a satisfied (or better) customer.

[edit: looks like we were typing at the same time.
anyway, for what its worth...]

 

[Ronnie Ferrell]

Andrew, I would definitely buy a Tempest again... *if* I lived in the States, and could return defective merchandise. As it is, it was quite something, buying a Tempest, having my sister keep it with her until I could meet her, bringing the sub back home, customs, inspections (that thing can REALLY set off metal detectors!!!), and the like.

I take it from this quote that he had the original sub shipped to a location in the States. If he could get it back to the original shipping location, I am sure a resolution could be worked out. Hes not giving up like people are saying. I also would not try to have a company eat the international charges when I originally had something shipping inside the US and I personally took it across the boarder.


rf

 

[Kyle Richardson]

I take it from this quote that he had the original sub shipped to a location in the States. If he could get it back to the original shipping location, I am sure a resolution could be worked out. Hes not giving up like people are saying. I also would not try to have a company eat the international charges when I originally had something shipping inside the US and I personally took it across the boarder.

Yes, it was originally shipped within the US and normally replacement Shivas and Tempests are just sent to the shipping address of the customer with a return tag for the defective unit. This case is a bit unique since it was shipped in the US but carried to Mexico City by a relative. Nobody is trying to "take" Javier and he will be taken care of and made happy.

 

[Todd Shore]

Kyle, I didn't mean to imply that. I've only heard good or great things about your service. Also, I didn't know the particulars of the shipping route.

I buy 90% of my goods online and have seen many people get used to taking what the seller wants to give, especially over the last couple of years where larger companies have outsourced their customer service.

I bought two Xerox copiers a couple of years ago. Xerox made a bid that was very attractive only to later tell me that they were contractually restrained from selling at that price and that the bid was only good for 30 days anyway (it had been 45). My boss was ready to take their second offer to sell. Instead I put out a nice letter informing Xerox that their other obligations had nothing to do with us and that Missouri law states that ALL bids are good for 90 days regardless of any restrictions the seller tries to place on the bid. We got the two copiers at $25K instead of their 2nd offer of $30K -- a significant savings.

Lately, I have noticed a marked improvement in many company's customer service. A memory manufacturer that sent out more expensive memory to replace cheaper memory that didn't perform as advertised. Even had a DSL provider that understood that even though SBC was at fault for a lapse in my service, that SBC was THEIR vendor and therefore their problem. That was unheard of a couple of years ago.

Companies such as your's and Adire's who have always provided good service should be congradulated. In a way, you have been. Although I have never purchased from you, I would never hestitate to -- assuming of course that you would still want to sell to me after my earlier message.

 

[Javier_Huerta]

Nobody is trying to "take" Javier and he will be taken care of and made happy.

Indeed, and as I said before, I'd buy Adire again in a heartbeat if I lived in the States. I usually buy all my stuff in Mexico because if I don't, I'm all out of luck when time comes for warranty service. I knew what I was getting into by buying a Tempest in the States (my sister lives in the US) and bringing it back to Mexico (legally, I might add... it's under the $300 USD limit I can carry from the States), and I'm very, very happy about Kyle's attitude towards me. I really wasn't expecting it, and it's a very nice touch.

As I said before, I'll try and see whether it's the VC's hitting the magnet or the voice coils. If it's indeed the VC, then I can try bringing the sub back to New Jersey and have it sent to you, Kyle. It might be a bit difficult, but I've done it before

Thanks!

 

[Jeff Rosz]

i wouldnt sweat it one bit. i just got off the phone with adire about one of my tumults that was damaged on arrival. a nice fellow there took my call and info...AND he was on top of a scaffold. he must have been writing the info on his hand or something. thats customer service.
so is this...

he will be taken care of and made happy

 

[Andrew S]

Not to take over the post, but how hard is it for your driver to become out of alignment? I ask because as mentioned above, I had the same problem and if I DID do something, although I can't think of anything I did, I would like to prevent it.
Andrew

 

[Kyle Richardson]

Todd, no offense taken at all

Its actually not too hard to get a VC out of alignment. One good hit from a delivery guy can do it even if it is packaged well and no external damage is seen. I'm not saying that is what happened but that can definitely do it.