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Weird damage to RC-64


bonedoctor

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First post here. I have a Klipsch home theater system with maple RF-7s, Klipsch THX Ultra 2 in-ceiling speakers (7502s), smaller Klipsch 5650s in-ceiling speakers for the rear surrounds, Tru-Audio sub. I like the stealthy look and it sounds great. I've been using an old B&O speaker as a center channel. I'm using a Yamaha receiver and have a total of about 16 Klipsch speakers distributed throughout the house and decks.

I bought an RC-64 off eBay and it was a nightmare deal. Finally got the speaker and nothing looked odd about the Klipsch box. Opened the box and noticed something rattling around inside(!) the speaker cabinet. Whatever was loose had punched the right two speaker cones basically "inside out".

The return with these eBay idiots was a nightmare and I eventually reversed the charges. Ended up having to get a new credit card number because of these idiots. I left a well-deserved negative and they actually replied that I damaged the speaker. I'm sure they stuck FedEx with the damage claim even though I told them I didn't see how FedEx could have produced the damage. I wrote Klipsch about the speaker, had them trace the serial number and the speaker was shipped to some place in New Jersey (Musically Yours), was bought off eBay from some idiots (Hi-end-wholesale) located in Brooklyn, NY from eBay, and the FedEx account number belonged to "Electronics Thunder" in Carson City, NV. The deal stunk all around. They even gave me the number to "PayPal" to check on my refund and it was a phone sex number very similar to PayPal's. After a couple dozen harassing e-mails from these clowns, all set off by this damaged speaker, I finally had to reverse the charges and still really don't have my money back from February.

I wouldn't buy anything from these idiots again. Their eBay user name is "Hi-end-wholesale" and there's some fool there named Masoud Masoud (or Mason Mason in his e-mails). I complained to both eBay and PayPal (owned by eBay), but they probably won't do a thing since they (eBay) makes money off these scammers.

Klipsch said they had never heard of any such similar damage and couldn't explain what possibly could be loose inside.

That was back in February and I just now got my credit.

So, having learned my lesson, I recently bought another RC-64 from Vann's in MT. Have had a good experience with them before. Not the cheapest place (speaker was $999), but it was worth it for the peace of mind.

So, was all excited today when the speaker arrived. Got home, took it out of the box, nothing seemed too amiss. Took off the packaging and then took off the grill.

The piece of junk has the same damage to it, except it's just the outboard right side speaker! The eBay one had both right side speakers turned inside out. This latest one has only the far right speaker. It's turned inside out like somebody punched at it from the inside. When you move around the cabinet, there's also something loose inside and you can see it hit the back of the speaker cone.

I couldn't believe it. I've already called Vann's and I'm going to contact Klipsch. I'm just up the interstate from Hope, so maybe they might be interested in having a look at this junk speaker. It's an identical RC-64 in black, very different manufacture date (the first one was from late 2008, this one is from 11/07/2007.

Any ideas on what's going on with these speakers? Anybody had a similar experience? Either I'm the unluckiest guy or FedEx (who shipped both) is dropping these heavy boxed and shearing something off inside, or there's some problem with this speaker model.

Based on this prolonged painful experience, I've just about had it with Klipsch speakers. Vann's doesn't have anymore of this model and doesn't know when they'll get any. Frankly, I'm not willing to take another chance on this Klipsch speaker, so I told Vann's just to refund my money. You just don't expect a $999 speaker to arrive broken (twice!), with the same odd damage.

Now I get the fun of packing up yet another trashed RC-64, arranging for the shipping company to come get it, dragging the box out front, etc. It's been since February that I ordered the first one, now it's May and the second one is going back.

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I did a little search and found a recent post (Jan 2009) that described the exact same thing. Hmmmmm, sounds all too familiar. Guess $999 for a center channel speaker just doesn't buy what it used to and the plastic speaker baskets or magnets get sheared off, rattle around and proceed to trash your high-$$$ speaker.

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Sorry to hear about the damaged RC64

" Klipsch said they had never heard of any such similar damage and couldn't explain what possibly could be loose inside."

What happens is that the woofer baskets are made of plastic.They're plenty strong for normal use and shipping on pallets to the dealers. When the speaker takes a hard tumble or is dropped by the shipping gorillas the magnets can keep going and rip the baskets and cones apart. Another couple of things that can occur is the drivers can rip loose of the horns (less prominent with shorter Reference horns than with say the Legend series), or the crossovers snap loose of their mounts (they're attached to the jack cups on four plastic stand-offs).

This kind of damage is quite common for speakers shipped only in single cartons and dropped by the carriers. I can't believe that you discussed this with someone at Klipsch who was (a) unfamiliar with this type of damage, and (B) couldn't offer a remedy of which parts to replace to bring the speaker back into operation.

Michael

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The first one was shipped only in its Klipsch box. The second one (from Vann's) was shipped with an outer box and fairly good packing. The outer box took some damage, but the inner Klipsch box looked fine. My working theory was that if this heavy speaker was dropped, it could shear off something and I think you've supported that theory.

I contacted Klipsch technical support via e-mail and that's what they told me. I think I've just about had it with these speakers!

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Here's the copy of the e-mail:

"I have never heard of this happening to one of our
speakers. It sounds like there may have been some
sort of shipping damage. The only thing that I
can recommend is to contact your dealer so that
they can either exchange or replace the speaker
for you. What dealer did you purchase this from?"

Checked PayPal tonight and just got the refund for the first trashed RC-64. Hey, only three months later and nearly $800 tied up, still no center channel speaker. Could be worse, I suppose.

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Sorry to hear about your troubles but it is all too common with the RC-7 and RC-64 due to their weight and having plastic baskets. They just can't take a drop and not sustain internal damage. Mine fortunately was shipped on a pallet to my dealer so it was in perfect condition, including the box. There are plenty of guys that have had horror stories about shipping them. When I sold mine, I ended up driving 3 hours just to avoid having to ship it and run the risk of having it destroyed.

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Lesson's learned - buy from your local dealer (provided there is one in your area) pay the extra cash instead of trying to save a buck buying from online dealers. I did not realize that the reference series had cheap plastic/composite baskets probably the reason I use Heritage speakers.

My brother's in law had one of his Heresy's fall from a 10ft perch and only damaged a corner all the drivers were in perfect working order.

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bonedoctor,

Sorry to hear of your shipping nightmare. One bit of consolation is that Vann's are reputable folks and will make it right.

It would be interesting to hear Vann's take on this. As authorized dealer they ship alot of gear and would have direct feedback whenever a unit doesn't survive shipping.

You're up the road a bit from Hope? If it would be convenient, Custom Audio in Little Rock would probably be glad to source your center channel, intact!

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I dealt with the same thing when i purchased rf-3ii's off of ebay.i actually got new screws this morning to try to fix them with.My woofers pulled through the screw,didnt actually break the tabs off.

UPS said these were "improperly packaged"as well,then found that the guy i bought them from dropped them off at a ups store to have them packed!!The guy i bought from issued me a full refund and got his money from ups.So i ended up with free speakers[:$]

I think the problem is that these speakers arent designed to be shipped ups or fed ex.when a dealer orders them im sure the come truck freight.then you walk into dealer and put'em in your trunk.

Klipsch should issue a statement that buying these and shipping them rather than buying at local dealer will be "at your own risk"

i really dont see any fault on klipsch.

im wanted to upgrade to some rf-7's,but unless i can find them within driving distance,forget it,unfortunantly their is not much klipsch stuff in Alabama!!!

Thanks and sorry about your troubles,i agree that ill bet vanns will make it rright

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Here's the copy of the e-mail:

"I have never heard of this happening to one of our
speakers. It sounds like there may have been some
sort of shipping damage. The only thing that I
can recommend is to contact your dealer so that
they can either exchange or replace the speaker
for you. What dealer did you purchase this from?"

Checked PayPal tonight and just got the refund for the first trashed RC-64. Hey, only three months later and nearly $800 tied up, still no center channel speaker. Could be worse, I suppose.

you see, this is somewhat COMMON- what kills me is that someone at Klipsch had NO IDEA what was occurring. Did they sign their name to that 'cut-n-paste' email 'response'? Bet not!

Super Angryarrrgghh

M

They did actually sign it, but I'm baffled how they haven't heard of these problems before. I've now read at least a few stories of people getting damaged speakers on at least two(!) ocassions, including me. For $999, you just don't expect a speaker that seems to have a lot of difficulty being shipped. My first one was shipped lazily in its Klipsch box with no outward signs of damage. Vann's shipped the second one in the Klipsch box with the bag-o-air packing material around it, with an outer box. Geez, if it still got damaged, then there's a real problem with moving these things!
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bonedoctor,

Sorry to hear of your shipping nightmare. One bit of consolation is that Vann's are reputable folks and will make it right.

It would be interesting to hear Vann's take on this. As authorized dealer they ship alot of gear and would have direct feedback whenever a unit doesn't survive shipping.

You're up the road a bit from Hope? If it would be convenient, Custom Audio in Little Rock would probably be glad to source your center channel, intact!

Yep, not too far from Hope. Just up the interstate in Hot Springs. I did buy my RF-7s locally several months ago. There's an authorized dealer here in Hot Springs. I should probably just go buy the thing there, but it will be $999 + the sales tax.

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Lesson's learned - buy from your local dealer (provided there is one in your area) pay the extra cash instead of trying to save a buck buying from online dealers. I did not realize that the reference series had cheap plastic/composite baskets probably the reason I use Heritage speakers.

Sometimes its cheaper to buy from your local dealer ( I paid 1600 for my rf-83 and 650 for my rc-64 this was pre vann and everyone else selling out the cherries)

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Klipsch would probably only hear of the problem if was damaged from Klipsch to the Dealer(i.e.Vanns)

The complaint from that point would go to the dealer from where these originated.

Dean

Klipsch is gonna hear about this one! I called, but they were closed, so I sent a not-so-happy e-mail about the latest speaker attached to the previous e-mails about the first speaker (the one where they said they've never heard of this happening and can't imagine what could be broken loose and rattling around).

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Sorry to hear about your troubles but it is all too common with the RC-7 and RC-64 due to their weight and having plastic baskets. They just can't take a drop and not sustain internal damage. Mine fortunately was shipped on a pallet to my dealer so it was in perfect condition, including the box. There are plenty of guys that have had horror stories about shipping them. When I sold mine, I ended up driving 3 hours just to avoid having to ship it and run the risk of having it destroyed.

FedEx is 'two for two' trashing these speakers. I have a hard time accepting that a $999 speaker can't even survive shipping with a reasonable chance of arriving undamaged. The second one from Vann's was in its Klipsch box, surrounded by air packets, inside an outer box. FedEx managed to wreck this speaker, too.

I guess I should give them credit, however. This speaker had only one basket sheared off (the right side outboard speaker), whereas the eBay speaker (shipped only in its Klipsch box) had both right-side speakers trashed. Guess FedEx is getting better!

I wonder why these high $ speakers have plastic baskets for the woofers? Doesn't seem to make them any lighter and clearly there's a problem with them surviving even routine shipping to the customer.

The second one was made in Nov 2007 and the first one was Dec 2008. It's clearly a design flaw that hasn't been addressed. Surely they've (Klipsch) has heard about this problem long before now.

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The problem with shipping larger speakers from dealer to customer (applies even in the case of eBay sales) is that larger tower speakers, and today's humongous center speakers are BULKY. Of course they're going to be dropped or at least set down roughly from truck to pavement. IMHO the only way to transport these larger speakers is inside at least the factory cartons, strapped securely to a pallet and truck freighted.

Shipping from Klipsch to the dealers is generally via FedX freight where they are normally palleted. The boxes are not intended to survive the rigors of individual (mis)handling by the UPS gorillas. Back in the day, the normal course of trade was to go to your hifi retailer and pick up your speakers. Seems there is little money to be saved by purchasing from distant vendors if this is the result. And of course, the more folks go to the distant retailers, the more their local hifi shops suffer.

We're losing hifi retailers about as fast as WWII veterans. Support your local stereo shop!

Michael

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Bonedoctor,

I am sorry for your troubles. I have had issues with dishonest eBay buyers as well as damaged speakers when shipped. I shipped an RC-7 to my brother who received the speaker with similar damage. My guess is that the UPS dropped the cabinet onto its face which allowd the speaker frame to crack. So I can understand your frustration with getting money back and dealing with damaged goods.

We test our speakers for ASTM drop standards, unfortunately UPS expects goods to pass a 4 FOOT drop test. Which is ridiculous. The shippers are also good at denying claims for shipping damage. Pallet shipping to dealers is definitely safer.

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