Hello Audioholics.com Forum Members, I am posting this because, while we have tried to reach out to Carl Walker (a.k.a. TechHDS) to resolve this situation, it seems we’ve seemed a bit of an impasse. I explain more on this later. The purpose of this post is not to discredit Mr. Walker or to disparage him in any way; rather, I’d like to set the record straight. You all deserve to hear the other side of the story.
Thursday, November 8th, Carl had been texting with Andrew of Audio Pharmacist (the RBH dealer who sold the speakers to Carl). Carl mentioned to Andrew that, after having listened to them for a few weeks, the midrange and tweeter drivers on both of his R-55E towers were now distorting. He also mentioned that the R-515E he was using as a center channel was fine. Andrew emailed Brian at RBH this information, and Brian worked out a replacement cost for four mid-woofers and two tweeters for the towers and sent it back to Andrew.
Friday, November 9th, Andrew emailed Brian to let him know, “Carl Walker says he will save up to get those parts.” Later that morning, Carl called RBH to discuss the problem with his Impression Series R-55E tower speakers. I answered the phone and learned of the situation. Carl had been speaking with Andrew, but was apparently not getting the answers he needed from Andrew in the timeframe Carl had expected. Carl had removed some of the drivers from his R-55Es and expressed concern regarding quality control. Carl was concerned that larger spade quick disconnect terminals were used on the negative terminals of each woofer. Since the connections were, according to Carl, “extremely loose,” it was his concern they were causing the distortion he was hearing. I asked, and Carl confirmed he was familiar with electronics and electrical connections and that he was willing to remove the drivers to inspect connections for each. Carl was concerned about voiding the warranty, but I reassured him that because I knew of the situation, and he was helping us with a potential problem, it would not void his warranty.
Later that morning, Carl called me back and said upon removing the lower 5.25-inch mid-woofer from one of the tower speakers, he claimed he found the negative connection was disconnected. I was surprised, but I explained to Carl that with one woofer not working correctly, that could explain the distortion Carl was hearing. Further, I explained that with one driver removed from the crossover network, the resulting impedance would be different than what the crossover network was designed for, most likely causing a shift in the crossover point and possibly further contributing to the distortion Carl was hearing. I suggested to Carl that he could solder the quick disconnects to the smaller negative driver terminals to solidify the connections. Carl was not opposed to this idea initially, and said that it would take him a day to accomplish this; however, he and I agreed that having him slightly crimp the quick disconnects to the smaller negative driver terminals would be the best solution. Carl said he would take care of this and call me back when he had chance to listen to the speaker after he had done this.
Later Friday, Carl called to let me know that he had taken care of all of the negative connections on the tower speaker. He said that he had listened to it and all seemed to be well again. We were both pleased with the results.
Saturday, November 10th, Carl wrote Brian the following email:
“Brian everything is good! I did as Daren ask, I pulled the drivers out of the other right front Towers they where loose to. So I crimped them down. Center is ok Right size! I checked. Everything good Brian! Plus one of the most Important settings wrong on my AVR! It’s was set for 8 Ohms! Speakers are 6 Ohms! I changed AVR to 4 Ohms. Thanks Again!! There wasn’t a 6 Ohms set on that Yamaha 7790. Again all is good I do Not Want a Refund! All good please Fall just email to Daren. Let him know that he was right!! You guy Rock! and Forward this email to Andrew my audio dealer audio pharmacist, he is a awesome Dealer for you guys!! I stand by my post I sent in Miss Glenda, please let her know. I will be Highly Recommending you guys. That a Factory or Assembly thing with the connectors. It gave me something to do!”
Monday, November 12th, Brian and I received a series of emails from Andrew letting us know that Carl had texted Andrew, “Andrew please let RBH know that I want a refund. Let me know their Response.” In his emails, Andrew also wrote, “He called and said that a lot of the driver connectors were loose and he should not have had to do all this work. Could you offer him an exchange for the 2 towers?” I, having just boarded a plane bound to Canada, discussed the situation with Brian and asked him to take care of the situation as he saw fit and to make Carl and Andrew happy, even if that meant initiating a product return. Brian and Andrew worked to initialize a return authorization for Carl’s speakers. Later that day, Carl had been given a return authorization as well as return shipping labels for the speakers.
Today, November 19th, Carl emailed Andrew the following,
“Just a note I filed a Dispute with my bank.
Let Brian at RBHSOUND know that am willing to Except a partial refund on the two Towers or a Full refund on all of the speakers retuned with the RMA that they shipped to me. With the partial refund on the two R55E tower, I keep all the speakers as is. If anything should happen from here on out to the end of the 5 year warranty I will file a claim for repair with RBH. Let me know if this is Acceptable.”
Carl also emailed Glenda (RBH’s Graphic Designer) the following,
“Please let Brian in sales the was handling with Audio Pharmacist Andrew out of Mustang Oklahoma (Dealer). That I want to return the Impression Elite Speaker for refund. Also I have been speaking with Daren over the phone plus emails. Also with my Dealer Audio Pharmacist, (Andrew). About the Issues i have with the R55E Towers. All 10 of the drivers in both R55E’s Towers have the wrong size connectors on the, -/+ Negative side of each drivers. At Daren’s Request, I removed the drivers from one of the towers to do as he asked me to. Now knowing he is your Marketing sales manager, and maybe his Knowledge is limited He wanted me to Solder the oversized connectors to the drivers I told him I wouldn’t do that. That’s when he made to Suggested I crimp them down.
Please Forward My Request for a refund to the proper department.”
So, knowing that we had already provided Carl with return authorization as well as return shipping labels for the speakers, we were confused as to what Carl really wanted. So, I reached out to Carl today by phone to try to find out. Well, more accurately, I tried to speak with Carl; time and again, he kept talking over me or wouldn’t let me talk. At one point in the conversation, he said, “I’m gonna make this simple and painless for you. Send me a 5.25-inch driver. I’ll send you back the damaged one.” (he had slightly damaged the top 5.25-inch mid-woofer when he tried to remove it to crimp the negative connector.) I replied that we were more than willing to do that, if doing so would make him happy. We also discussed the situation with the connectors, wherein Carl repeatedly said that the negative connectors weren’t from the factory. I informed him that I had seen the pictures he took and verified they were, in fact, the same connectors. I’ve included un-retouched pictures (taken today) of the crossover networks to confirm this:
View attachment 26736
This is the R-515 & R-515E crossover
View attachment 26737
These are the terminals Carl is claiming are the factory terminals. Note the rubber insulators (not included on the R-55 & R-55E crossovers).
View attachment 26738
This is the R-55 & R-55E crossover.
View attachment 26739
Note the same-sized connectors (without rubber shields) for the blue and white mid-woofer connections.
Feel free to compare these pictures and connectors with the pictures that Carl uploaded at post #705. I would've loved to include a link, but I haven't posted 5 times yet.
Unfortunately, during our phone call, I was unable to get from Carl an exact answer as to what he wanted or needed to make this right.
So, while we have spent much time with Carl in efforts to try to make things right with him, we are still at a loss wondering what he really wants us to do. He has been provided with all of the resources he needs in order to send back the speakers for a refund. He has had these resources for a week, but he continues to stall, threatening Andrew with bank charge disputes, a simultaneous request for a partial refund on the tower speakers, and, as of today, a replacement driver. Unfortunately, we’re still at a loss, unsure of exactly what Carl needs to be happy. Anyone who knows me knows I am a champion for proper customer service. This situation, however, has been a challenge.
