Phr3d Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I decided to augment my Forte`s with KLF-20's. I wanted 4x 20's originally, but found my pair of Forte`s nearby and stayed with them while awaiting a nice pair of 20's to show up. I was stupid enough to ship them, with the following caveat: They were packaged by UPS, so I thought I would be safer <sigh>. The speakers arrived in good box condition, well packed. I was a bit disturbed that the styrofoam surround had turned to atomic particles, but no readily apparent damage to the veneer anywhere that I checked, thought I was gold. Re-arranged room to allow placement of KLFs, placed one, picked up the other and clunk (loud). Meetheenks, oh no, the dreaded glue failure, motor board loose. uhmm, not so much. The magnets and drivers of the mid and high horns were broken completely off of the 'horn' section, loose in the bottom of the cab. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Again, there is a small crush to the lower rear corner of the cabinet, but it is more cosmetic than anything, the veneer is marred, not destroyed. fwiw, I've been saving for these babies for my kid's entire adolescence, so funds are not plentiful - so, what the heck do I do now? The other speaker 'seems' to function ok (seperate shipping boxes, of course) and the woofers on the destroyed one 'seem' to be functioning ok as well. Is there any hope of these sounding correctly, or do I write it off to experience and start saving again. hope the picture makes sense. hope an employee has a bit of good news, particularly the one that I tried and failed to buy LaScalas from, some years back when my basement had not yet flooded and I had a place to put them (but tha's another story). thanx for any guidance, hope this was the correct forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blvdre Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Sure, that's plausible. You can drop a box on the flat from six feet up, and the box won't show any damage. Your packed items may not fair so well though. The fact that the polystyrene was broken up is an indication that the box took some force. PS is not a very good packing material as it's rather hard and transmits a lot of energy to the packed item. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 I just want to cry when I see damage like that. Thanx, Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montigue231 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 bummer man, but repairable ...its not that bad. If all four of your woofers are still in good condtion and in tact and your crossover networks are ok. And if your cabinets are still sound.. Then your just looking at a mid range and tweeter replacement on one enclouser. Your klf's can be fixed for less than 60 bucks probably. On craigslist I have found single KLF 20's and parts..Ebay as well... Just keep your eyes peeled for replacements...The klfs are quite often found parted out push on the back panels from the inside and make sure they dont give way at any point..find one k-79 k1 tweeter and one k-52 midrange and your good to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phr3d Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 scary to look at, 2Bsure. Yeah, that is a lot of the question - can new ones be procurred from Klipsch? should I try to Crites both of them? Should I presume that since it took me this long to get them, I wasn't 'supposed' to have KLF's in the first place? lol (I have a Honda Civic story much like this one - make ya' weep - on That item, I hadda' give up, and oddly enuf, also shipped from Florida. hm.. ) Used parts sound kinda' scarier than used speakers, and my batting average just went down a bunch. kinda' hard to tell if the 'good' speaker really is when your attitude is busted. the rear panel is solid on both (though I have not opened the un-slammed one) and motorboard is still solid, though getting hit with 10 pounds of magnets assuredly did not improve its karma any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripedcat99 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Very similar to what happened to me in December. I purchased another set of Forte II's to augment my pair that I have had since new in 1993. Supposed to be in mint condition. Seller in CA did a terrible job packing, and, of course they incurred damage. Among other things, one of the midrange horns was broken in the middle- the back half with its driver rattling around in the cabinet. Fortunately, Noah was parting out a Forte II and fixed me up with a used horn- they are now singing just like they should. I will deal with the cabinet soon enough- will be re-veneered, and I got the seller to reimburse me for the damage. But I wouldn't want to go through that again..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vnzbd Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 I had purchased a mid for the 20 as I had plans to do a 20 center channel. I have passed on the project so it is available if you are interested. I also traded a set of the tweeters to a local speaker repair shop for other parts and give you their number. I would check with Klipsch parts first and see $ and availability. PM me if interested. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phr3d Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 thanx much all. hospital. will try again later date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phr3d Posted February 25, 2010 Author Share Posted February 25, 2010 Long time getting back, apologies. UPS is demanding that the speaker be delivered to the local depot (in its original packing), to be shipped to an undisclosed location for inspection, then payment if warranted, then disposal of the damaged item. The UPS Store that packaged it did so in a way that the packing material was impossible to re-use. UPS refuses to inspect on site, or help with repair until inspected - catch-22. TKO to UPS, I am stuffed. One last question - presuming that I am able to get the replacement horns, can someone tell me which wires go to which horn? I have green and yellow. I am loathe to open the other speaker if I can avoid it, I am already wondering if I can get the gaskets back in the right place when I repair the busted one. Thanx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 UPS is demanding that the speaker be delivered to the local depot (in its original packing), I didn't catch everything, is it not possible to take it to the depot? Thanx, Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phr3d Posted February 25, 2010 Author Share Posted February 25, 2010 They must transport the speaker to the local depot -packaged for shipment- so that they can ship it to some central depot for inspection. The UPS Store originally packaged the speaker by padding with styrofoam, wrapping in thick heavy cardboard, taped closed and then quad-strapped. The styrofoam was atomized, the rest recycled/gone. I am just unwilling to accept that an on-site inspection of something that cost so much to ship is unnacceptable to the UPS corp, i.e., that it is MY responsibility to properly RE-package the item for their inspection process. Call me narrow-minded. EDIT: the best-case end result of this will be that they agree that they destroyed the speaker and they will pay me what I paid for it. I do not believe that I can get the cost of shipping back. They then dispose of the speaker. so I am stuffed. It strikes me as rather stinky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 They will not refund the shipping charge. They will tell you that you received that service (the shipping). Shipping speakers is a big mistake, as you have learned the hard way. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironsave Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Spend the extra $60-$120 (or a bit more if upgrading) to fix these..... They can overcome and persevere...... My Heresies had suffered veneer damage from previous owner. Short of reveneering, I was able to restore the finish very nicely. (Wood epoxy and stain). Battle wounds; now scars; that add to the character...... The extra work of repairing these and getting them to work (or look more like they should ), and YOU did them justice..... Is nice. I appreciate mine a bit more than I would if they weren't abused....... My .02 Good luck to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phr3d Posted February 26, 2010 Author Share Posted February 26, 2010 I did not intend to 'go on' about UPS's response to my experience. Respectfully, as I presume you have a good deal more experience shipping speakers than I, shipping difficult-to-get speakers via the commercial carriers is at least a risky gamble and a mistake. I have shipped many tons of computer drek over the years, Laser Printers of corporate size are cranky items indeed. My overall experience is that shipping is perfectly possible, if also perfectly expensive. I have personally had a very high average using FedEx ground (less than 0.4% damage, FedEx response very acceptable in those cases), but I know at least 10 members would respond "avoid FedEx ground like the plaugue!", having horror stories that would easily match mine, lol. Freight -door2door with the same driver- is my best experience, but the seller was unable to commit to that. My point being, shipping is not automatically a high risk affair. Your point is well taken, T2K, and Ironsave, that is my plan, if possible. Thank you both. P S, green goes to which speaker? EDIT: Green goes to tweeter, thanx, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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