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TOPIC: Advice Regarding Return Situation...

Advice Regarding Return Situation... 1 month 3 days ago #75756

  • Dagr
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Hey guys... ok, could use some advice here, I'm torn. ;)

1) After several weeks of back and forth I exchanged my last saber for a crystal Ares (you'll notice my crystal chamber question several topics down).

2) After having the Ares now for a few days, I am absolutely loving the hilt itself... exactly what I was looking for... a stylish alternative to the katana that has a very cool crystal chamber (freaking love the rgba ability of the crystal led).

3) Now that I've gotten into evaluating the sound... and loading on a custom sound I bought... I've found that the speaker snap crackle and pops more than rice crispies. I had originally thought I could fix this just by turning down the volume levels on the spark 2, but it really doesn't help. At my request, they put in one of the high bass speakers that they use on their ASP PnP hero tiers, which is SUPPOSED to be better and louder. Well... it's louder, but not clear at all. :( The spark 2 is really weird on volume btw.. the slider is 1-16 for volHum and volEffect, but the notes say it only supports 14-16... that's only 3 sound step levels?! (And it feels like it's eitehr really low or really high).

Sigh... my point is, I have to decide if I should send it in for a fix or refund. I really do like this hilt (was going to do a full review soon)... but I just HATE the prospect of yet ANOTHER 2-3 week wait for something as small as a speaker.

That said, it SUCKS to drop this much money on a saber and not have a quality speaker. At this price point, it has to compete on par with the custom smiths out there that put in specialty electronics (at least for things like the speaker!).

/confused
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Advice Regarding Return Situation... 1 month 3 days ago #75758

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Dagr wrote:
Hey guys... ok, could use some advice here, I'm torn. ;)
Tough call to make.
1) After several weeks of back and forth
You might like to obtain confirmation if a Refund is on the table. Your circumstances may be different, when you write several weeks of exchanged emails, this would suggest that it has passed the 15 day window to be eligible for a Refund.
3) Now that I've gotten into evaluating the sound... and loading on a custom sound I bought... I've found that the speaker snap crackle and pops more than rice crispies.
It may also depend on the specific Font you have loaded as some are ill-matched and are not optimal to the speaker setup, regardless of premium or bass or with lowering the volume in the settings. Could also be how the speaker is mounted in the base and whether sufficient resonance is achieved.

Did you encounter the same symptoms running the default loaded fonts?
Sigh... my point is, I have to decide if I should send it in for a fix or refund.
If the opportunity is there, enable the Seller to make it right.
Specific to you, best to weigh up potential return shipping costs and repair times that it'll take and the absence of your saber in the interim.

Good luck with your decision.
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Advice Regarding Return Situation... 1 month 3 days ago #75760

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It's only been a week since I received this saber, so the 15 day window should still be on the table. This was an exchange for a previous saber that I had purchased which also had some problems. (Hence the several weeks of back and forth involved in that transaction).

The stock fonts are actually the worst. The one they put on there (Essense Episode 2, really crackles and breaks up.. sounds much worse than it did on a previous hero hilt that I had about a year ago).

How the speaker is mounted may, in fact, be an issue. The Ares has quite a bit of room inside, and the speaker is much looser fitting than I have seen in other hilts (I can actually push it down into the hilt itself and it keeps going). It's note quite as secure, which makes me question if some of the rumbling is coming from that.

Aside from an outright refund, I could always send it to someone to just replace the speaker with something of higher quality.

Anyway, tough decision. :)

I guess I was always curious if I'm just being overly picky or if others had run into similar issues with their speakers.
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Advice Regarding Return Situation... 1 month 3 days ago #75761

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Dagr wrote:
It's only been a week since I received this saber, so the 15 day window should still be on the table. This was an exchange for a previous saber that I had purchased which also had some problems. (Hence the several weeks of back and forth involved in that transaction).
Gotcha ;)
How the speaker is mounted may, in fact, be an issue. The Ares has quite a bit of room inside, and the speaker is much looser fitting than I have seen in other hilts (I can actually push it down into the hilt itself and it keeps going). It's note quite as secure, which makes me question if some of the rumbling is coming from that.
internal shifting isn't too uncommon with longer bodied hilts. The speaker itself should secured to a pvc ring to prevent it from going further into the hilt*. It actually remains seated on threads of the bodies ID.

Is there any visible damage to the surface of the speaker that you can see?
An easy attempt would be to try placing a rubber o-ring seated between the speaker and the pommel IF excessive movement may be the cause.

* For example..


Am unsure if assembly has changed or how much of the friction-fit battery and board is accessible to even attempt packing it.
Aside from an outright refund, I could always send it to someone to just replace the speaker with something of higher quality.
Also a possibility. Just note that this will most certainly void your warranty.
I guess I was always curious if I'm just being overly picky or if others had run into similar issues with their speakers.
It happens. I had sound distortion on one of the default fonts only (Meteor IIRC) but all became good when I subbed out the entirety of the fonts. Still undergoing some trial n error with a different spark color2 but that's irrelevant to this.
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Advice Regarding Return Situation... 1 month 3 days ago #75763

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When you subbed out all of the fonts, did you copy over the complete set of defaults from NEC or just update the fonts individually? (Just curious). My speaker doesn't have the PVC around it (likely since it's the high bass version)... I can take a picture later when I'm home.
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Advice Regarding Return Situation... 1 month 3 days ago #75794

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*After backing up the stock defaults*, I DL'd the newer defaults (SC2-R2) to replace the old. With the Fonts, specific to the folders, did them individually (YT the Shameem way) as the (YT Naigon way) which was blanket delete and copy n paste and let configeditor auto correct encountered some unexplained anomalies. I then went through and edited the parameters in the master file. Still WIP, but it's at a satisfactory level right now until I revisit another edit at another time.
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Advice Regarding Return Situation... 1 month 2 days ago #75803

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Interesting tidbit I just realized... I'm wondering if some of what I'm noticing is because of the actual speaker that SF is now using in their ASP Hero tier PnP setup (which is essentially what they put into my Ares).

According to their specs, they use a 4w 4ohm bass speaker.

According to Naigon's spec sheet for the spark color 2, it says to use a 1-3w 8ohm speaker. The TCSS Veco bass speakers are 2-3w 8ohm and seem like a more appropriate pairing.

This might explain why they are super loud (no doubt the 4w puts out loudness), but also rather distorted for me.

I'm pretty convinced now that I'm going to switch to a VECO... probably better quality long term.

Thanks for the info regarding your setup / method! Out of curiosity, what do you set your swing sensitivity settings to? I saw the SF defaults basically maxed out?! VS the naigons defaults which create crazy swings with every little movement.
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Advice Regarding Return Situation... 1 month 2 days ago #75805

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Meh, actually also read that SF is using a 4ohm resistor when they use the 4ohm speakers so that it will work correctly... so perhaps that isn't the issue.
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Advice Regarding Return Situation... 1 month 1 day ago #75828

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Dagr wrote:
Out of curiosity, what do you set your swing sensitivity settings to? I saw the SF defaults basically maxed out?! VS the naigons defaults which create crazy swings with every little movement.

These are the settings I last left it at. Haven't had any desire to change them yet. ;)
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