Official Epik Subwoofer Thread - Page 633

Seems about right for the expectations for some in this thread speaking of trying to be a dick...why doesn't some guy go spend a few hours of his time to satisfy the curiosity of some thread dweebs?

EPIK does owe its customers "product support" and "warranty support". They must answer emails or their phone to do this. Those of us that have purchased subwoofers from EPIK are justified in being concerned. If morrischestnut60:rolleyes: had an amp fail and then had no response from the company.....I would imagine he would be singing a different tune!

I haven't been tracking this thread, but popping in I see Epik is backordered and folks are understandably wondering about the health of the company. I don't have any particular insight about that, but I would like to offer one perspective on what Epik has accomplished. Earlier in this thread, or perhaps it was in the "shootout" thread, can't remember, it was pointed out the only significant drawback to the design is stamped instead of cast driver baskets. You may be wondering "what the heck this got to do with backorder?" Well I'll tell you.

Seems to me one of Chad's key design insights with the Empire (and follow-on Legend) is that the benefits of cast driver baskets are mitigated completely in a perfectly opposed driver design. Cast baskets are meant to resonate less, but in an opposed driver design there are essentially no resonances to begin with. The money saved on cast baskets could be applied toward the additional driver, with no sonic downside, and plenty of sonic upside.

This IMO is one of the key reasons Epik could raise the bar in performance bang for the buck, and Chad was smart enough to see this, design it, and deliver the product into the market. How long ago was the first Empire delivered? Three years? I still don't know of a better cost/performance ratio sub. It's pretty easy to spend more and get less. Sometimes way more and way less.

I'm only raising this point because I'm with the rest of you guys, I don't know what's going on at Epik, and even though I have my pair of Empires it would be great to see them remain available to others. I'm not a business person, but it seems to me Epik is running on pretty thin margins, and the problematic first amp design may have eaten too far into them. Fortunately the latter amp seems bullet proof.

My impression of Chad from a few phone conversations (and the design itself) is he is not the type of person to throw in the towel easily. His silence may be nothing more than using this externally imposed down time for a well earned break. Time will tell, but I will continue to wish him all the best whatever is going on in the background, and whatever becomes of Epik. I hope if profit margins are a problem that Chad will consider raising prices enough to give adequate margin for error going forward. IMO this design is still a screaming bargain even with a price increase, and if it comes to that, far preferable to closing doors.

I think it may be time for Epik to raise prices.

Well if he needed a break or something, some simple auto reply emails or a notice on website would help. Like I said, people are actually defending this poor business practice or making excuses for it. What if all those orders from Black Friday had issues? or the subs had amp failures or something? Where is the SUPPORT then? You can't go and sell out a HUGE inventory and then disappear after? people will be calling for support for some reason or another.

I recall my surprise when I found out right about the time the old model line had become well known to enthusiasts...it was abandoned and replaced with Empire and Legend...which on the surface seemed like maybe a step backwards but as it turned out were great units. So now we are wondering...when things "wake up" again will it be Empire and Legend or will it go a new direction again?

This is why I do not understand the hate thrown at the man and his private company with tons of other competitors available. I did state that I would find it unacceptable if folks had amps that they could not get replaced. That is not the case. I did say it would be unacceptable if he took money and failed to deliver a product. That is not the case. The forum is a treasure trove for setup information and members are always helpful. Actually, what is the case/beef with Epik?

So he didn't setup his auto reply email, some of us just don't think that way in any case. Internet can be a biatch; sometimes you need an appointment with your website guy to do anything (and I notice many don't do anything as a result in a variety of businesses). His business practice is just that....his. If it isn't yours, look elsewhere I guess is your option. Do these amps/subs have issues? Not that I can see from the thread....just whiners complaining about what couldashouldawoulda....

Actually someone recently in this thread stated they tried contacting Epik for over a month (phone/email) about a faulty amp and nada. No response. If you look through this thread it seems a number of people have often waited weeks for replies after repeated attempts to reach Epik.

Perhaps Chad should just offer a 30 day warranty and lower the price even more if he cannot respond to issues in a timely manner.

Can you highlight that and other posts with unresolved issues? Might help to keep them in the forefront if an issue.

Here is just a few of the recent complaints from a month or so back. If you go back 8 months or so you can find a bunch more:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/885079/official-epik-subwoofer-thread/18780#post_22644493
http://www.avsforum.com/t/885079/official-epik-subwoofer-thread/18780#post_22644645
http://www.avsforum.com/t/885079/official-epik-subwoofer-thread/18810#post_22652393
http://www.avsforum.com/t/885079/official-epik-subwoofer-thread/18810#post_22654076
http://www.avsforum.com/t/885079/official-epik-subwoofer-thread/18840#post_22706359

A year or so ago I tried contacting Epik to talk about a purchase and none of my emails (I sent a couple) were answered, but Chad did pick up on the second phone call and talked to me for a good 15 minutes about my room and concerns. I really liked him. But after I read through almost this entire thread, the amp failures and delays in returning calls and emails scared me away since I was an eD customer previous to this and had a horrible experience with them with customer service.

I hardly post here but some of you really need to take a break from this forum and go enjoy your life. Why
raise your blood pressure speculating the worse if you can just sit back, have a drink, and listen to your current system
or go out and play? Only time will tell and it's pointless sitting here bitching and giving yourself a heart attack.
It's funny how the lack of response only happen to a handful of people but due
to internet mob action, it seems like a huge avs population was screwed by Epik.! So for all new
potential subwoofer buyers, if you are worry, then go buy something else. If you do buy from Epik, know what you're expecting,
that is a low price high performing product with a possibility of a bad amplifier and a chance that you will not get a response from
Chad for a few days. That 1 month example is a rare example and we don't even know the actual events that took place. As far as I know,
I've contacted Chad at least five times in the past 2.5 years and he responded within a few days. And out of those times contacting him, only 1 was regarding
a purchase and the rest was either for support or nonsense. So base off the tone of some comments here, I wonder if the complainers were being rude and obnoxious.
If so, I don't blame Chad at all because the customer is always right motto can be quite frustrating and expensive. If it was me, I would cut those a-holes off and concentrate
on something else.

I talked to Chad about a month ago and he was talking about re-introducing an 18 inch.... as well as, folded horn design. If he opens up the doors again... I will be at the front of the line! We are frustrated because he is the best game in town at his current price point. I think he may be responding to customers with issues...but the lack of response from emails,"news" on the website and "twitter" blogs does not instill confidence.

Does anyone know if Chase Hometheater is still selling?

Last I read, the doors that were closing have remained open and they're still selling. There's information in threads in their "Product Announcements", "CHT Loudspeakers" and "CHT Subwoofers" sub-forums (sub-fora).

A lot of companies don't support older products; just because someone didn't get an answer doesn't make it an unresolved issue in terms of responsibility. The only one in your list that is a current product is some guy who apparently did his own damage to the Empires and just wanted something outside of warranty. No warranty issues, no undelivered product, so no real issues with promises/commitments of Epik. Maybe not your idea of customer service, but if he keeps making good product and supports warranty, I've got no issue with what he's doing and will continue to consider his products (but I will caution folk as to what is going on, as I've done recently when mentioning Epik).

LOVEINTHEHD= official spokesperson for Epik....

Our subs are eighteen years old and don't perform up to today's standards. Although still in business, the manufacture stopped making them in 1996. My lament, I'm ticked because after all this time with no problems, I'm finding the need to replace the still functioning but worn out drivers and this is very upsetting in the least. And just what am I too do if after replacing the drivers, the amplifiers decide to take a dump? Who's going make me whole? My opinion, for no other reason then just because, for my personal peace of mind, I deserve a lifetime replacement, no extra charge, upgrade of my choice, warranty.

(j/k)

New drivers should be here tomorrow. Woo-hoo!

-

I still can't believe people are defending Epik going completely dark with pretty much zero communication about these issues... Wow. Tipsy turvy land or what?

If I were then even maybe I could order a sub

Anyone selling an Epik Legend? I need a 2nd one.

If you find 2 let me know lol, looking for a second myself.

A forum member on the Klipsch site heard back from Epik. They said they are not going out of business. ??? They will restock in the next several months?

chad must have some well reserved stock of cash at his dispense.

Dd everyone who ordered during the fire sale get their delivery? Went on yesterday and 'added to cart' even though it showed out of stock and it allowed the start of checkout process...I was tempted since it was at the 399 price

Thats strange, its doesn't let me add it to my cart. But if anyone knows anyone who is selling an empire or legend let me know.

They may have talked to him in late Nov or early December (my guess)? Otherwise you are looking at a 4 month gap between shipments, which seems pretty crazy unless Chad is just doing this part time now or something.

Has anyone tried calling or emailing Epik in the last week or two to get an idea of when they will start shipping again?

i want some member who lives in the chicagoland area to pay a visit. is that asking to much...gish...i know if i did i would, and we can put all this speculation to rest.

I don't know this thread and Epik resolved around you, your own needs and b1tchy commentary.
If you don't like the way things are then go somewhere else as its not your business.

Quit being a troll.
If subs were available would you buy one? Not think about it but actually buy one?
If not then move on and try to find something happy in your life as EPIKS business shouldn't control your life so much!!

I got this email a few days ago from epik.

"Thanks for your email.

Firstly, we are not going anywhere. Our product has never been in higher demand and we are simply trying to generate enough parts and stock enough product to begin shipping again.

We do have hopes to release a new product or two in the future as well, but we are still working on R&D and not ready to release any new products just yet.

We are still a couple months out on getting Legends and Empires back in stock. We never could have anticipated the high volume of sales we had this past holiday season. With our Cyber Week Sale and some other companies recently going out of business, our sales picked up much faster than expected.

We are working to catch up as quickly as possible and get products restocked and figure out a time frame so that we may begin taking back orders at that time. However, all we know right now is that we are still a couple months out from having more product.

Thanks for your patience, your loyalty and concern. We are working to meet the higher demand as soon as we can.
We will update our News page on our website and our FaceBook page, as soon as we have some more information and firm dates on availability.


Thanks again for your email and your interest in Epik Subwoofers.

All the best,

Karen L.
Epik Subwoofers
sales@epiksubwoofers.com
www.epiksubwoofers.com"

Cool! No harm waiting a few months and buy me another Legend.

I disagree, I don't think he's acting like everything "revolves around him" - I think it's a reasonable request in light a few other ID companies that went out of business, especially considering Epik is showing signs that are similar. Seriously, what is the harm of requesting someone to go there that is ok wi doing it?