Maybe it's time to get a new driver from Ben and stop futzin' with the local boys (or have it serviced through Ben - if that's something he does or would do)?
woofer went out on my ZXa5...
- Thread starter d2benz
- Start date
I would venture to say that if your speaker was under warranty and you took it to an UNAUTHORIZED Retailer, you would have voided said warranty.
yes, but Ben told him if he bought a new woofer, the warranty would come back into play.
I took it to an AUTHORIZED repair center. I was able to talk to EV yesterday and I was told that I have the option to send it in to EV and they will repair it to manufacturer's spec. They might RECONE it, and I was told that if it was done be an authorized center with proof of payment (which I have) they wouldn't charge me anything. I think I will send it to EV and see what they say/do, incase they decide to give me a new woofer...otherwise, I will just buy a new woofer for it....
That probably should have been your first move. Contacting EV that is... but, hindsight is 20/20 as they say. Live and learn.
Sell them and buy RCF or FBT.
Live long and prosper.
This is so true. I sold and bought about 3 different sets of speakers since 2007. My RCF's are the only ones I still have since 2006 and they look brand spanking new. I would never sell them.
I ran my FBT MaxX 4a's full range for the first few years, before I got into subs. I ran them pretty hard, 'just' back from tripping the limiter light and they didn't miss a beat. 
I have had to pair of them since 2006 and all have performed flawlessly. The FBT's are factory loaded with custom designed B&C drivers.
I have had to pair of them since 2006 and all have performed flawlessly. The FBT's are factory loaded with custom designed B&C drivers.A good reputable company such as EV will stand by their product......A lesson I have learned the hard way.
Update....
After terminal connector failure 3 times, I decided to mail the woofer to EV. They inspected the speaker and this is what the tech wrote in a email to me...[I]"What we found is that the coil was darkened entirely around the bottom and almost to the top. What this means is the woofer has been getting very hot"[/I]....we saw, your woofer is working really hard. Now as for the repair. We are covering your woofer under warranty as a one time courtesy for you, and we are going to send you a new woofer.
I'm happy that EV is replacing the woofer...but I'm concerned about the damage, I asked in an email to them if the darkened coil could have been from the initial failure, because I smelled an electrical burning smell and the speaker was extremely hot from touch at the time of initial failure....I haven't' heard from them yet....
can anyone chime in on this??
I'm also concerned about my other ZXa5, which has saved my a** each time the twin brother's workmanship fail during a gig....Is there a way for me to check the coil on the woofer??
Also, I will hate to be in this situation again....I have since STOP using my BBE processor... I'm hoping that these speakers will last me many years of perfomance as my previous non powered yorkville speakers had served me..(these are my 1st non Yorkville speakers)
BTW, as for the workmanship on the repair, EV said that the repair center did a good job reconing the speaker.
but they fail to mention that the speaker doesn't work because they messed up the red cable going from the basket to the terminal...that's where my last 3 failures came from.....
After terminal connector failure 3 times, I decided to mail the woofer to EV. They inspected the speaker and this is what the tech wrote in a email to me...[I]"What we found is that the coil was darkened entirely around the bottom and almost to the top. What this means is the woofer has been getting very hot"[/I]....we saw, your woofer is working really hard. Now as for the repair. We are covering your woofer under warranty as a one time courtesy for you, and we are going to send you a new woofer.
I'm happy that EV is replacing the woofer...but I'm concerned about the damage, I asked in an email to them if the darkened coil could have been from the initial failure, because I smelled an electrical burning smell and the speaker was extremely hot from touch at the time of initial failure....I haven't' heard from them yet....
can anyone chime in on this??
I'm also concerned about my other ZXa5, which has saved my a** each time the twin brother's workmanship fail during a gig....Is there a way for me to check the coil on the woofer??
Also, I will hate to be in this situation again....I have since STOP using my BBE processor... I'm hoping that these speakers will last me many years of perfomance as my previous non powered yorkville speakers had served me..(these are my 1st non Yorkville speakers)
BTW, as for the workmanship on the repair, EV said that the repair center did a good job reconing the speaker.
but they fail to mention that the speaker doesn't work because they messed up the red cable going from the basket to the terminal...that's where my last 3 failures came from.....
You will really enjoy my article on loudspeaker failure next month in Mobile Beat... well, maybe not enjoy it... but it will make a LOT of sense in light of your recent experiences. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to inspect the voicecoil on your other ZXa5 without disassembling it. You can bet that if one got hot, the other likely did too though... it may not fail anytime soon though. Yours is the first ZXa5 woofer failure that I know of, these things are pretty well built.
Ben
Ben
When you get that speaker back I would put both of them up for sale and go back to Yorkville or RCF.. A DJ friend of mine has a set of ZXa5's and served him well going on 3 years. He recently blew a woofer to threads and had it serviced and it's as good as new. A DJ on another board bought a set and had issues similar to your recent experience. Maybe it's just me but if I spent close to 3k on a set of speakers, I better not have any issues with them for at least the first five years. I'm not knocking EV, it just could be bad luck.
RCF and Yorkville, powered, all the way! I'm in agreement with DJ JohnThe1. However, I have only owned two other sets of speakers, one non powered set (Peavy S2 w/Black Widow), one powered (Mackie 1530 3-way).
What good will clip lights be if they are far away from you and you can't see them.
Oops! I forgot! You guys have them within arms reach on each end of a six foot table, eh!
matching your system and knowing its limits plays alot into the wear and tear with any system. Push any system to its limits even at its peak before clipping will wear the system out before its time in the most elite product. Applying the proper gear in a proper setting with plenty of room to vroom your gear will run easily and more efficiently without concerns of overdriving. Cant some of you tell when your system is clipping? There is more to this game than pushing the on button and cranking the volume. A car wasnt meant to rev 9 grand in first gear for extended amounts of time nor is any sound system supposed to crank at 11 with two small speakers to provide proper coverage in a room which holds 1000 people.
Remember one thing, I believe the BBE was a factor in this failure. Now I would be weary of the other one because it will probably let go sooner than later. It is imperative one knows their systems limitations and what's a no no in them. John, JTV, Steve LeBlanc, Steve Milani, Sarge, Art, Chuck, Hank, etc. have been using powered speakers successfully for many years. If you go from a passive system to an active one not everything applies to the powered system and vice versa so please read, ask questions and understand what you're ding before pushing the faders up and having catastrophic failures.
As Ben knows ( we bought them from him ) , i already own 4 of these and we're considering picking up another 4 in the near future.......there are a million uses for the ZXA5's and we LOVE them. I highly recommend them. and to the comments about RCF, we own those also and they are just as solid. It all depends on which price point you are shopping in but I would consider the ZXA5's almost second to none