Official Epik Subwoofer Thread - Page 635

From the very first batch of XS30s that PSA sold about 4 customers including myself had some damage to the grills of our subs. PSA has a packaging company design the packaging for their subs, I guess they figured they could get away from having to strap the subs to pallets and just ship the via FedEx in a heavy duty box. Unfortunately the subs were just too big and heavy. Since those first few that were shipped out, PSA has now started strapping the XS30 to a pallet and has them shipped by a freight trucking company. And considering they didn't raise they price even though this shipping method would cost them quite a bit more is also great. As far as the damaged amp I had, from what we can gather it would appear that something impacted the side of the box and damaged the knobs and put a very small dent in the amp.

Tom was all over it though and came up with a solution right away. Once I ran the subs and tested them to make sure they were working fine he gave me a choice. I could keep the two subs, and they would ship me new grills and a new amp plus kick me back some cash for my troubles. Basically selling them as b-stock to me. Or I could of just returned them to PSA and they would have paid for the return shipping and sent me two new ones. But seeing how they worked fine, I opted for the new amp, grills and cash. Once again showing why everyone has nothing but great things to say about PSA's customer service.
Edited by jbrown15 - 1/23/13 at 8:04pm

Epik uses double boxes, strapped to pallets and mine was delivered by a standard freight forwarder (Schenker, but Epik since moved to Fedex Ground). The Empire weighs 120. Seems score one for Epik in being smarter. So what do you pay shipped for a PSA XS30 in Canada?

Not to get in the middle of your spat, but if you want to bring up shipping/defects...every manufacture is going to run into problems when shipping a 120 pound box.

From data-bass.com:

http://www.data-bass.com/data?page=system&id=50

"The Empire is a dual opposed sealed system featuring two 15" drivers. The build quality and weight of the unit is very good considering the system can be had for around $800 plus freight shipping. The first unit that was sent to us for testing had an issue with a glue joint in the cabinet somewhere that caused it to vibrate loudly near 80-90Hz, but we had that replaced under warranty."

I wouldn't count that as score one for Epik, PSA has since fixed the issue and all damaged subs were taken care of and there hasn't been any issues since. There has been no further reports of subs being damaged in shipping. And there was never any reports of their much larger VX30 being damaged in shipping. I live right by the border so I just had them shipped to a friend in Washington and ran down and got them myself.

Seeing how you feel that PSA is new and has an unproven track record, you could do a quick search from the past year because PSA has only been around for just over a year. Try to see how many complaints you find about them and the quality of their products. Then do a quick search on Epik and see how many complaints come up. I think you'd be very hard pressed to find anyone in the industry including customers that having bad to say about PSA. I know you can't make that statement about Epik.

Yah, but I'd be pretty pissed if I ordered a sub and it came half-assed packed and shipped through morons (most shipping is handled by morons, by the way, nature of the biz so smart packing is essential). I don't know, maybe Chad had his own beginning experience. You'd think Tom would know better. Still score one for Epik.

I've been in the Epik thread for quite a while, the complaints are relatively few and mostly about the bad run of amps in the Legend. And like most forums, you'll hear quicker about complaints than anything else.

Suum quique.

Haha I guess in your case perception is reality, you say score one for Epik even when walke108 showed you comment about the built quality of a sub a reviewer received. All I know is that I trust my 5 year warranty from PSA over your 3 year warranty. I have never said Epik was a terrible sub, I almost bought one. Just terrible customer service.

So one cabinet problem colors the whole brand? I believe Josh's complaint was rather unique, as I have not seen one other comment along those lines. Who said you said Epik was terrible? You speak and understand English or are you from Quebec and need the dual translation thing? You have no experience with Epik yet judge them. Good luck with your PSA warranty, hope they survive 5 years (really, for the sake of ID subs as a whole).

Fair enough, good to know!

I did read on their blog though that they don't know when their subs will be back in stock. But by the sounds of the blog post, they are popular. I've never read about having to be on a waitlist for a subwoofer they must be pretty darn good then

Now calling me a frenchmen is just uncalled for!..lol There has been more then one complaint, I believe at post #18995 one of your fellow Epik owners has said he can't get anyone to get back to him yet they have the time to delete his comment on the Epik facebook page. Hell if thats not great CS I don't know what is....lol
I WAS going to buy from Epik but I'm glad I didn't. Anyways we're going to have to agree to disagree, you think Epik is a great company. Myself and quite a few other members would say otherwise, but to each their own at the end of the day as long as you're happy with your sub that's all that matters.
Edited by jbrown15 - 1/23/13 at 10:17pm

I understand Epik makes great subs, but what I don't get is why in the hell loveinthehd continues to defend them and refuses to admit their history of abandoning their customer service obligations.

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
I guess it's like the old saying "ignorance is bliss".

Well, they MADE great subs in the past. Who knows what if anything they will produce going forward.

I too was going to an Epik sub (two Epik Empires BTW) but at this point I am glad I decided to go with Rythmik and my FV15HP.

I know folks said it was pretty normal for Epik to take a break every year. But based on the above email response it appears that we are looking at a 4 month or so break? Is that the normal break for Epik? They sold out in late Nov of 2012 and it has been almost two months, with the Epik rep saying it would be another two months to get parts? Maybe that is normal for Epik but, outside of maybe eD, I have not heard of an ID sub company not having product to ship for 4 months. That seems crazy long. I would guess most people that were wanting to buy an Epik sub in that timeframe would just go somewhere else?

Taking five minutes a month to type a few words about the company's status (availability of existing models, information about any new models, pricing changes, etc.) on Epik's own blog would help to allay some concerns, and would keep all existing and potential customers informed and up-to-date. That seems like the kind of minimal effort any business owner would want to make.

IMHO.
Edited by eljaycanuck - 1/24/13 at 11:03am

On a general note...how much more do you guys think these subs would cost if everything was sourced domestically? 10%? 20%?

Seems it would eliminate much of the "roller coaster ride" of foreign sourcing. I'm not picking on Epik here, seems to be competitive certain items just aren't going to be domestic. We as the consumers drive this. We want to save that last buck but are the first to whine when things aren't available or quality suffers.

When there are quality issues, it just makes matters worse as it takes forever get get replacements. Companies like Epik and ED likely have little leverage with their parts sources, the factory tools up and pops out XXXX quantity of amps or drivers in a short period of time and moves on to the next order, no looking back (I realize I'm generalizing here).

Look what happend with the Maelstroms a few years ago.

Even if the amp fails perhaps the cabinet/grills itself is worth the sale price of $399.00 for me. Not knowing the specs of Legend driver's I am wondering what replacement 12" drivers & amp would be a good fit in Legend cabinet? Curious as to what is the effective volume of the Legend cabinet?

If all you're interested in is the cabinet I'd look into something like this for $250-

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=302-835

probably other similar knockdown/DIY kits out there too

So it seems a lot of amps have been going out. How have they been about replacing them, and how would I make sure it isn't my amp and not a fuse? Had this thing for just over a year now, and I love it, but am sad that I can't use it :-(

Suppliers are also subject to the whims of the marketplace, and there's been a downturn outside the US as well. I seem to remember Mark Seaton mentioning that his US built amps are a significant expense for him, and for the much lower priced Epiks would imagine something like that alone would be much more than a 10-20% increase in cost to Chad let alone us as consumers. Hard to know without seeing the invoices from the suppliers...

I have tried my best to read through this thread and find my answers to no avail. I am asking these questions here as I haven't been able to get a hold of Epik via phone or email channels.

My subwoofer is the Epik Legend.

1. My amplifier blows the fuse as soon as I turn it on with nothing but the power cord attached. Is there a fix that anyone has found internally (resistor swap, capacitor, etc...) for this specific issue?

2. Has anyone had success bringing this amp with my issue to a local repair shop?

3. If I were to use another (external) amplifier, what would be the easiest way to get it working? Would I have issues with it not sounding as intended due to crossover points, limiters, etc...?

Thanks and sorry if these questions have been answered already.

1. I had exactly the same issue with my epik legend. My amp had a very high operating temp and would not go into standby while in auto setting, went a couple of times into protection where the led stayed red no matter what nor how long I waited for it to cool down which forced me to disconnect physically for a while and reconnect everything again. It ended up blowing both fuses(original and spare) and after I took the amp out it seems a cap was blown.

2. I considered trying to fix it locally but how long would it have lasted, I mean it was still going to be the same extremely hot amp with the funky auto mode and I already had that Bash 300 available.

3. I was never able to hear back from Epik after asking on how to proceed via email so I replaced it with a Bash 300 amp which meant I had to mod the sub's back panel and lose the boost I've heard the original amp's have around 25Hz(someone correct me if I'm way off here and got some solid info otherwise). To tell you the truth, it's been working flawlessly for about 2 months, auto off works perfectly, won't get scorching hot even when pushed compared to the original, sounds good to me and my family(haven't measured).

Thanks Krakhen for the information. I agree with you that it may just be a matter of time if I do get the amp repaired. I suppose an alternate amplifier seems the way to go if I want to get this thing working soon.

Jethro, maybe you should contact that guy whose been repairing those ED amps...David something or other. Some run of bad luck there.

Interesting. Perhaps one of those Dayton or Yung amps from Parts express with the built in boost around 20-30hz would be a suitable replacement for Epik Subs?

It's pretty crummy of chad not to answer no matter how busy he claims he is. I doubt anyone here can defend that. I guess he's more concerned about his "new" customers than his "old"? That's how it looks if one is to take his word on how busy they are.
The hardcore fans are in the wind and rightfully so based on the lack of CS posted here..

Awesome! Do you have any pictures by any chance? Also, are you using any form of eq?

krakhen: maybe you should send Epik the bill. This might bring some attention to him.

Ive been following this thread ever since I joined. I've owned the Epik Dragon and Legend. Both amps failed on me. The amp on the Dragon lasted well over the 2yr warranty until it stopped working. Chad was nice enough to send out a replacement with out any issues. Then I purchased the Legend. That amp lasted about 3 months. The replacement lasted another 3 months. "Auto" wasn't working and hot enough to fry chicken. Then he sent me a brand new legend all together. Then I sold the brand new legend because I didn't want to deal with it. Months later I decided to sell the Dragon with the band new amp because I didn't want to deal with Epik anymore. I have been really happy with their products up until they failed. Usually Chad or Karen will respond but that can take days if not weeks but now it's months. I'm not sure what's going on with them but this is the worst I've seen in a long time. Another thing I want to mention is, when I spoke with Chad over the phone regarding the amp replacements, he denies anyone else having these issue and that it was only my subs and it could even have been the electrical circuit in my house.

They really are destroying their reputation.

I hope everything is alright with Epik. I bought 2 Empires last year and want to make sure support is valid.