Repair (FSR-15) or buy new (VTF-3) (1 Viewer)

[EmoryS]

Home Theater Forum members, I need your advice...

Unfortunately, my Velodyne FSR-15 (purchased 6/6/98 - in a city I no longer live in) has an unstable accelerometer. Once the pride and joy of my home theater system, it has now been reduced to a really heavy paperweight! I spent months saving my money to purchase this back in '98 and can still remember firing up my DTS laserdisc of Jurassic Park and listening to the T-Rex two step for the first time.

Anyway, last November after 4 years of excellent service, during one of my many viewings of the lobby shooting scene of The Matrix, my accelerometer went buggy and I was treated to what I now know is called "motorboating". VERY unpleasant! I sent the driver off to be repaired and $175 later I had my subwoofer back.

Well, the problem has returned. So, I am now faced with the following repair bill:

$600 for a brand new driver and possibly either $150 to repair the amp or $350 to replace it (if the amp is causing/contributing to the problem).

So, I am either looking at $600 best case or $750 worst case or even $950 absolute worst case. And this doesn't even include shipping!

This means that my total cost of ownership stands at $1,825 (original cost of sub and first repair bill) plus this new repair for a grand total of potentially anywhere between $2,425 to $2,775. Velodyne will not even give me a discount or some type of rebate even though the first repair didn't take! I even followed all of their 'recommendations' - setting all of my NHT SuperOnes to 'large' vs 'small' and reducing the level of my sub to 50 db even though my other 5 channels are set to 75 db. I didn't buy an FSR-15 to have to walk on eggs shells; I bought it to rock the foundation of my house.

So now I am faced with a decision...

1) Suck up the repair costs, or
2) Walk away for something new.

This is really a hard decision. Even though I have had major problems with my FSR-15 and have encountered HORRIBLE customer service, this mated so well to my NHT's and it really does (when it worked) rock the house.

But, since I have been having problems, I have looked into various other subwoofers out there and have found one that I think will do the job nicely. The HSU Research VTF-3 for $849.

What to do?

Repair the FSR-15, buy the VTF-3 (or another make/model), or something else?

Any advice would be welcome.

Thank-you in advance.

 

[CurtisSC]

If it helps with the decision at all, Hsu is currently running a free shipping deal.

I have a VTF-3 and I'm extremely happy, music and HT.

 

[Chu Gai]

no doubt there was some sort of post-repair warranty. if you're not too far out, say a month or so, I'd consider pursuing it. many places will indeed repair an item if it's a bit past warranty provide you're asking very nicely. it's a very discretionary thing.

Not sure if this person is still there at Velodyne, but you might want to ask to speak to Michael Rodriguez about your problem. Tell him 'TV' sent you. Don't ask, it's something I heard

 

[Karl_Luph]

I think I'd try a different brand too EmoryS. The fact that the service dept. treated you like that speaks volumes,(all bad)the way I see it. I've seen other Velo sub owners having various problems too. Not what you'd expect on something you paid alot of your hard earned cash on,to have to pamper it. Makes me want to try a pro audio subwoofer unit with a pro audio power amp. That stuff is built like a tank.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

I'd advise you to email velodyne and paste this link in your email and wait for them to give you a reply so you can show the rest of us how velodyne rewards customer loyalty. Afterall I bet this site gets at least 10+ hits a minute and most of this (as well as other...) audio forums get parroted all over the internet. I'd even state to them if I were you that most of us wants to see how long it takes them to reply, what their answer is (both to why their last repair didn't work and what they will do about it), and why they won't give you a discount of any kind after setting your sub to less than theater level standards (speakers large and sub calibrated at 50 db while the rest at 75 db? seems they must lack faith in their product, please if you have it post that email here so others and I can read this for ourselves!).

I know this much, if they don't reply with any kind of answer shortly after you email them this would speak much louder to me about how they take care of their customers and definitely would remove their products from a lot of peoples list of contenders to fill their hometheater needs.

 

[EmoryS]

>> I'd advise you to email velodyne and paste this link in your email and wait for them to give you a reply so you can show the rest of us how velodyne rewards customer loyalty.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

How's the progress? It seems to have been a while.

 

[EmoryS]

Dear fellow Home Theater Forum members,

I have Outstanding News!

Sorry for not providing an update to the problem I encountered with my FSR-15 sooner, but as with all things - work has a funny way of getting in the way of me enjoying my home theater!

Anyway, due to the 'above-and-beyond' efforts of two individuals in the Customer Service Department at Velodyne this situation has now been resolved to my complete satisfaction. To make a long story short, after a few e-mails and phone calls changing hands, Velodyne was kind enough to allow me to trade in my FSR-15 toward the purchase of a brand new HGS-15 II and gave me a very gracious trade in allowance.

All-in-all I would have prefered that my FSR-15 not have any problems to begin with, but I am now very pleased and happy with how Velodyne handled the situation and will continue to recommend Velodyne products to my friends and associates and anyone who wants a subwoofer that will ROCK the house!

I guess the moral of this story is be patient, solicit recommendations, and stick to your guns while at the same time try to see things from the other side of the fence.

Thank you again for your assistance in this matter.

EmoryS

 

[Tom Grooms]

Enjoy it! It's one of the best on the planet

 

[Robert_Gaither]

Well Emory I'm glad for you, as I usually recommend Vels and Para subs for those not adventurous enough to either build their own or buy from an online only company. I think that they both represent a very good bang for the buck products though it seems the customer care might not be to what it used to be (seems that way for most companies sadly these days...).