|
Need Advice: Klein & Hummel O 300 from auction with issue.. (see video)
|
View this Thread in Original format
| Osmodiar |
Hey guys.. could use some advice here.
I won these at auction for $1630 Australian, they were listed as NEW liquidation stock, unopened with warranty. Bare in mind my budget was zero, I saw the opportunity, reactivated my credit card that I don't use because I hate being in debt, and whacked the whole lot on it.
When I got them it was obvious they weren't new. The boxes had been opened and retaped more than once and there were minor scratches and wear in the paint on the speakers, but still.. for the price I was ok with that.
The left one is missing some plugs from the back which expose factory adjustment trimpots and let air escape the sealed enclosure system, discovered this because I heard a lot of noise from the air movement. Some of the screws also have some rust in them where it looks like a screwdriver has been used on them some time ago.
Reported this to the auction house, they offerred $300 back. I accepted, was a happy chappy.
Then I did some producing with them, and discovered a more serious issue with the right speaker. It makes a buzzing sound once the cone hits a certain range of excursion, see the linked video for what I mean. Video
I was spewing when I heard that, I emailed them back and said actually they're knackered I want a refund, so the guy helpfully set the process in motion.
Then, I got a week to produce with them while I was waiting for that to happen, and that's where i'm ed. I've become so attached to them I don't want to return them anymore. For the first time ever I took a tune I was working on 3/4 finished and played it on my hi-fi system with sub and it sounded good, balanced, no major surprises. In the past whenever i've had something sounding good on my Mackie MR8's and tried playing them on my hi-fi its sounded like , muddy as hell and way too much bass, especially from the sub, totally overpowering. I knew the mackies weren't perfect but I thought a lot of it was my hi-fi setup, some of my mixes sounded ok on other systems, but only after a lot of testing and re-tweaking.
So I emailed them back again hoping that instead of returning them I could get a bit more reimbursement for the replacement driver I figure is needed on the right speaker, given that they are supposed to be new and under warranty. Unfortunately i'm being told too late refund process is underway and we wouldn't have given you more than $300 back anyway.
There's no way i'm going back to the MR8's after this, I set them up in tandem and switched this project between them both and the flaws in the mackies were suddenly completely obvious. The bass has no definition or presence in comparison so no wonder i've been mixing songs bass heavy, and the high end is really hyped compared to the 300's, so no wonder my mixes have been coming out dull while sounding good in the studio. That's just the obvious flaws, obviously the high end monitors are going to have more depth and detail in the imaging but I just hadn't realised the mackies were as coloured as this experiment showed them to be.
So i've looked around at my alternatives, correct me if i'm wrong but Focal Twin 6 Be or Event Opals seem to be the main contenders that are going to give me a similar experience to the 300's without being hideously expensive, and they're both already double what i've spent on these as it is.
So forgive me for thinking out loud but i'm trying to work out what the best course of action is. I could try and get the original $300 reimbursement and keep them, then the quote for a new driver is $465 so essentially i've been taken for a couple of hundred in repairs by a fraudulently listed item, but compared to the actual new price i'm still a fair way ahead, assuming nothing else goes wrong with them, i'd say they've been well used they're not even close to new.
I've rambled but the point of this was to get someone to listen to the buzzing sound from the right speaker in the video and tell me whether it's worth trying to keep them and replace the driver, or let them go and aim for opals or something.
The best part about these for me is the bass, it's so clear and defined I would hate to spend $3000 on focals or opals and find my mix didn't translate as well as it has done on these.. |
|
|
| tehlord |
Aren't you covered on your credit card?
Sounds like the product was most definitely not as advertised and you should be due a full refund imo. |
|
|
| Osmodiar |
Yeah they are willing to refund them (subject to inspection before they release the funds).. I can only trust they won't screw me after i've sent them back.
but then i'm back to square one, not likely to find these at this price ever again. So i'm trying to work out if it might be better to try and keep them and fix them, if that buzzing noise just means swap the bass driver out and we're sweet then it might save me having to spend double to get anything near as good.
I so nearly had a perfect monitoring setup for not much more than I spent on the mackies, even with the faults I can still produce a better mix on these, the idea of sending them back just isn't sitting well with me right now :/ |
|
|
| tehlord |
Who knows what other issues could crop up over the next several months?
Another option may be to get them to agree a professional inspection and repair. Even if it costs several hundred dollars they may be better off and you'll have peace of mind.
I wouldn't trust them to release funds after inspection at this point, they've already lied once and you have no proof you didn't damage them yourself. |
|
|
| Osmodiar |
Actually that could be worth a try. I've been going about it the wrong way trying to get a bigger refund and sort out fixing them myself. Since they were listed as having a warranty I'll change approach, hopefully find a local repair centre and request that they honour the warranty by footing the bill. Then i'll just cop that they're refurbished instead of new because it's still a good price and i've got no better alternative, I would be happy with that I think.
They've got a bunch of policies on the website i'll go read them before I respond. He said no more negotiating because they've already paid the courier to pick them up but i'll ring the couriers on monday and see if they'll refund that since they haven't picked anything up yet, then I can close that argument off aswell.
I should be within my rights to change my mind about returning them a couple of days later and ask for warranty repair instead, this whole mess is their fault for listing them incorrectly in the first place.
Thanks for your input! |
|
|
| tehlord |
I wouldn't worry too much about what their policies are. I'd worry about what's actually legal.
Are they based in the same country as you are? |
|
|
| Osmodiar |
| Yeah just interstate. Anyone heard a speaker driver make that noise before though? I'm wondering if maybe it took a knock during shipping and might just need to be re-seated, sounds like it's vibrating against something. . |
|
|
| Osmodiar |
Being really tempted to keep these I had a look inside the cabinet for anything not secured properly. I noticed while I had the back off it does not make the buzzing sound AT ALL, even at twice the volume. So that lead me to thinking the driver must be ok.. but as soon as the back is secured onto the cabinet, it's buzzing again.
So that's got to be some kind of clue as to what's causing it? Anyone know this kind of speaker stuff in detail, what effect does un-sealing the box have on the cone movement? I just would have thought when the cone was free to move with no back pressure it would make more noise slapping around if it was stuffed, not be totally silent all of a sudden and sound fine. |
|
|
| Raphie |
The woofer doesn't sound to good and components sealing the unit are missing
Either return them, or send them to local Sennheiser subsidiary and let them do a repair estimate. |
|
|
| Osmodiar |
Taping up the trimpot holes seems to have solved the sealing issue, i've got no problem with the left speaker since then.
The nearest sennheiser centre which is interstate said new low freqency drivers are $360 each, plus shipping plus labour. However having had these things apart now there's not much to them, could easily change one myself.
Would you run one new bass driver against an old one in a pair though? Should they end up the same once the new one is burnt in or would you replace both bass drivers just to have them matched ?
Fact that the supposedly stuffed driver sounds absolutely perfect with the cabinet back off still has me confused as to what is actually causing the noise though. I emailed the video to klein and hummel hoping they can shed some light on it, these have been out for years they would have to have seen this problem before.
- Also wondering what these are actually worth as is if I keep them, break even / loss / maybe even still worth more than I paid possibly. Would definitely keep them in that case, use them until I can afford to either fix or sell as is and buy new. As it stands they're still completely amazing to mix on compared to what I had. |
|
|
|
|
