New Member

JasonCrotty

As a new member to the forum, I just wanted to tell the group that the technical information presented and discussed here is excellent, and also wanted to share a very pleasant customer service experience. While listening to the Who (a little loud, admittedly), last weekend, my system suddenly shut down. The "Check Speaker Wiring" error message appeared on my A/V receiver. After checking all the wiring, I restarted the receiver. It produced sound, but not from all speakers, and it sounded terrible.

I suspected that I had damaged the receiver. My gut reaction was to look for a replacement receiver, but I decided to follow a logical path.

I checked the Yamaha website, and contacted a local technical service affiliate at Electronics Service Labs in nearby Wethersfield, CT. The technician there, after hearing me describe the problem, stated that it sounded like I had blown my speakers. I was horrified, as the Polk Surround speakers were, I felt, the best part of my HT setup, and worried about the cost of replacing all of my speakers. The technician (Jeff, I think his name was), walked me through checking the speakers individually by removing the protective grills and lightly depressing the Bass Driver cones to see if they moved freely. I found that the Bass Drivers on the RTi4 front speakers were "crunchy". I removed the drivers, taped off the spade connectors, restarted the A/V Receiver, and the system played normally. The tech instructed me to call Polk and order new drivers, and gave me the customer service number, and instructed me to speak to Helen.

I called the Polk Customer Service number, and after giving the system information to Helen, she asked me when I had purchased the speakers, and if I still had the receipt. I did. I emailed a scanned copy of the receipt, and since I had purchased the speakers in May of 2005, they were still under warranty, and Polk will be sending me replacement components at no charge (with an admonition from Helen to try to keep the volume down from now on).

As someone in sales and customer service, I set high expectations for myself, and I am usually disappointed when I contact customer service as a consumer.

In this rare instance, I felt compelled to tell the story of a positive experience. After experiencing Polk Audio Customer Service through my interaction with Helen(with an additional kudos for Jeff at Electronics Service Labs in Wethersfield, CT), I continue to be a loyal Polk Audio customer.

Fireman32

Polk customer service is the best! Welcome to the club!

jimmydep

NIce story, but we have come to expect nothing less from Polk CS.
Welcome to Club Polk.

superjunior

welcome!

steveinaz

Welcome Jason!

woodhead 2

outstanding.:p

Grimster74

Welcome to the best audio forum on the net!

Pauly

Wouldnt expect anything else from Polk CS

Welcome

Pauly

NJPOLKER

Welcome

wutadumsn23

Welcome Jason, Polk's CS is second to none. This story is another example of that.

-Jeff

Knucklehead

Welcome to CP.

HB27

Your experience is just one of the reasons I am loyal to Polk. They're loyal to their following. As good as it gets in service.
Welcome,
Harry

JasonCrotty

JasonCrotty wrote: »

As a new member to the forum, I just wanted to tell the group that the technical information presented and discussed here is excellent, and also wanted to share a very pleasant customer service experience. While listening to the Who (a little loud, admittedly), last weekend, my system suddenly shut down. The "Check Speaker Wiring" error message appeared on my A/V receiver. After checking all the wiring, I restarted the receiver. It produced sound, but not from all speakers, and it sounded terrible.

I suspected that I had damaged the receiver. My gut reaction was to look for a replacement receiver, but I decided to follow a logical path.

I checked the Yamaha website, and contacted a local technical service affiliate at Electronics Service Labs in nearby Wethersfield, CT. The technician there, after hearing me describe the problem, stated that it sounded like I had blown my speakers. I was horrified, as the Polk Surround speakers were, I felt, the best part of my HT setup, and worried about the cost of replacing all of my speakers. The technician (Jeff, I think his name was), walked me through checking the speakers individually by removing the protective grills and lightly depressing the Bass Driver cones to see if they moved freely. I found that the Bass Drivers on the RTi4 front speakers were "crunchy". I removed the drivers, taped off the spade connectors, restarted the A/V Receiver, and the system played normally. The tech instructed me to call Polk and order new drivers, and gave me the customer service number, and instructed me to speak to Helen.

I called the Polk Customer Service number, and after giving the system information to Helen, she asked me when I had purchased the speakers, and if I still had the receipt. I did. I emailed a scanned copy of the receipt, and since I had purchased the speakers in May of 2005, they were still under warranty, and Polk will be sending me replacement components at no charge (with an admonition from Helen to try to keep the volume down from now on).

As someone in sales and customer service, I set high expectations for myself, and I am usually disappointed when I contact customer service as a consumer.

In this rare instance, I felt compelled to tell the story of a positive experience. After experiencing Polk Audio Customer Service through my interaction with Helen(with an additional kudos for Jeff at Electronics Service Labs in Wethersfield, CT), I continue to be a loyal Polk Audio customer.

Update: First, I wanted to thank the Club Polk members for the welcome, and I agree that Polk Audio Customer Service is outstanding. The new drivers arrived and I installed them today. I had to reset the A/V receiver to get the front speakers to produce sound again. Once I did that and ran the automated setup on the Yamaha using the optimizer mic, I had my sound back. A happy ending to a very satisfactory customer service experience.

I have a question that I wanted to ask the group: The RX-V1400 receiver is capable of running 7.1, but I am not using all of the channels. My living room is about 12x14, media center on the shorter wall, with front channel RTi4's on the entertainment center on either side of the plasma at just below waist level, CSI3 center channel beneath the display (same plane as the front speakers), PSW303 to the right of the entertainment center on the floor, and surround channel F/XI3's about 5' high, wall-mounted on either side of the couch in the corners of the opposite wall from the display.

Any observations or suggestions on my current speaker positioning?

What would the members recommend for expanding the system, and optimizing/improving it? Would I get better results by adding another set of parallel speakers to the front channel, perhaps floor-standing R300's? Or would adding a set of surround back speakers deliver better results? What about using the presence channel? If so, any recommendations on a PolkAudio speaker model number? (keeping in mind the current family of PolkAudio speakers to keep the system balanced)

The bottom line is I want to enhance the system, but I don't want to spend $$ on the wrong upgrade if I won't see very noticeable results. The system sounds good now, but I'm interested in learning if adding more speakers and using more channels will be worth it.

Yes, I know I am asking for free HT design advice, but if the some of the audiophiles in the group are anything like me, I'm sure helping a somewhat beginner is something that can be an enjoyable intellectual exercise. (If anyone has any plastic injection molding manufacturing issues, I can offer my expertise and opinion in trade...haha). I know more about manufacturing solutions than I do about Home Theatre design, and would appreciate any suggestions the more learned members here might want to share based on the current HT system I've described here...

ben62670

Welcome to Club Polk. Sorry no help for you I am a 2 channel kinda guy.
Ben