Dynaudio Confidence C1 broken & Cap question


Last night we sat down to listen to some music. I quickly noticed something was amiss. Sound was tilted toward one side and figured I had a cable or tube issue. After about 20 minutes of swapping cables and tubes and generally getting paranoid that my Pass Labs 350.5 amp was broken I swapped speaker placement and discovered that one of the midrange drivers was dead. That was somewhat of a relief.

Having purchased these used I took the offending speaker apart. After unsoldering the driver from the cross over board I checked the driver with a 9 volt battery and noted no cone movement. The wires are still secure but something is definitely wrong here. I called Dynaudio this morning and got the impression that because I don't have a receipt, other than AG, they are not going to help me. I'm waiting to hear from tech support. Anyone have any experience with used, broken, expensive equipment and refused support?

If in fact they do and I don't end up with a mono system, I was wondering about the Solen caps on the x-over and a possible upgrade to platinums. Any thoughts on this?
desalvo55

Showing 5 responses by hieule5

Dynaudio spells out that their warranty is transferable within the first 5 years of ownership with some of their more expensive line like your C1 I think, IF you can produce the original receipt.

If you can take the speaker apart, why did not you order the C1 woofer and replace the OEM woofer yourself? It is cheaper that way.

I am not surprised at the expensive quote since labor costs in America and Denmark are expensive.

Dynaudio drivers are known to be hand wound and assembled in Denmark and thus they are usually more expensive than their competitors who outsource their drivers to China.

Maybe they are thinking that since you can afford to buy nonbudget or entry level speakers like the C1, you should be able to afford their services. My silly analogy is this if you can afford a BMW 3XX series then you should be able to afford a $600 routine oil change. Ever wonder why so many folks lease their BMW and turn them back to the factory after the lease terms expired?

I don't know if this will make you feel better but a guy I know busted one of the tweeters of his China made PSB T45 floorstanders shortly after his warranty expired.

Everyone knows that PSB 's made their speakers & parts exclusively in China but they still charged my friend $75 just for the tweeter alone. I think PSB charged a little bit over $150 for labor.

Dynaudio NA charged you a bit high but not because they want to make $$$ from you I don't think. It is just the labor costs in America & Denmark are too damn expensive.

The only way to save some $$ is check with the original owner of the C1 and ask him if he has time to dig up the receipt for you.

Mr. Desalvo55 Sir...:-))

I hear you. $550...is still a lot of money, half of my monthly rent...but I am sure you know that 80% of that repair bill went into labor & not the parts.

Did you know NuForce outsourced the majority of their R & D & engineering to China?

I think NuForce gross margin is a lot higher than that of Dynaudio so they can afford a few freebies here & there once in a while...:-))

Not sure if you can still get the speakers from AV123 after the incidents with the founder of the company.

I meant to say that you can buy OEM drivers directly from Dynaudio.

When I purchased a cheap pair of Dynaudio DM standmount for my GF, I called Dynaudio NA and asked if I could purchase the OEM drivers from Dynaudio NA just in case my local dealers did not service my speakers and they said yes.

Could your wife listening habit be a contributing factor here? Dynaudio drivers are known for being tough & dynamic but that does not mean that you can expect them to work really hard day in day out without being burned out. After all the C1 woofers are fairly small and when they have to move much more air above and beyond their limit, accidents happen....

As you said, it does not make sense if the driver went dead over night.

The C1 sports fairly small drivers and the task of handling most of the lower frequencies should be handed to your JL subwoofers.

In this tough economic time the most reputable companies with the most generous customer service policies would have to cut back on freebies on repairs for customers to keep their doors open.

Hopefully you can get a reasonable bill from Dynaudio
That's the thing with standmount monitors. They disappear and they pass the WAF test easily but if they have to deal with bass heavy stuff, accidents can happen.

Buy her a fake LV handbag and you can persuade your wife to give you the OK for a brand new pair of LS6 sir....:-))
Ooh....I am sorry to hear that. Maybe the rep who talks to you forgot that it is you who keeps him busy....that type of employee is everywhere sir.

Shoot them an email and keep bugging....until they give in:-))