Advice on what to do regarding a problem w/ Profi Vanadium 265 Phase Plug set?

[Latina33 10+ year member]

I bought a set of these used a few week ago, got them installed shortly after I bought them, and then after I got them installed I realized that the crossovers were bad.

I inititally had them bridged at 200w a side (passive) with the gains adjusted down very low, and when I would try to crank them up to volume level 25-26 on my HU(Alpine 7998), the tweeters would immediately cut out until I lowered the volume. I tried swapping crossovers, same issue happened again, same volume level. I then un-bridged my amp and just ran two channels to the phase plugs(w/ crossovers), which would now be giving them about 110w a side. Still had the issue with the tweeters cutting off. I had my professional installer then test the output of each passive crossover, and it turns out that they were both bad upon conclusion of his tests.

After being frustrated with this issue for a few days, I decided to go active and not use the passive crossovers....now that I've gone this route, these mids and tweets sound amazing!

My question is, I've informed the Ebay seller that I bought these from of my issue, and I've asked him twice now if he has any of the original paperwork and/or warranty information for this set, and he hasn't responded with whether he does or not. August 27th was the first attempt by me, the second was September 2nd, still no response. Since I paid for these through Paypal, should I try to submit a claim against the seller claiming that the items received were not in the condition described?

He says they were working, and he had only had them for 5 weeks....I get them, and the crossovers are fried.

Any opinions? I just feel like I was mislead by the seller.

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[bk12321 10+ year member]

Paypal wont do anything if the item arrived, that seems to be all they care about.

You can always try though. Did u pay with a CC? Try to get your money back, if you can the seller will start talking.

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

Paypal wont do anything if the item arrived, that seems to be all they care about.
You can always try though. Did u pay with a CC? Try to get your money back, if you can the seller will start talking.

Man, that's a drag....I paid with a debit/check card acct.

I'm not sure if I even want to go through the trouble if that's how Paypal is with situations like that. Like I said, they sound awesome being run active, but I WOULD like to have a set of (working) passiver crossovers on hand in case I get an itch and want to try passive down the road.

Thanks for the advice....how you likin' those SLC Kicks, btw, bk? They what you'd hoped they'd be?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fro.gif.c695f1f814b01c4ad99fe7f8cccadd29.gif

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

Noo other oninions, on this situation, fellas? Come on now, you buys are bullshuttin'....give me your opinions. Im not some 18yuo hairless wonder trying to be like Marshall Mathers....I can take some constructive criticism.....give it to me.

What would ya'll do?

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

35 looks, and one response....don't be scared, fellas. If you got somethin' to say, SAY IT! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/suave.gif.858fc102f7646e678ee8af7e1fbc41d1.gif

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

I jsut got taken with some cal 26 tweets, at the end of the day, my opinion is that you should leave neg. feedback for him and thank the lord that you have some of the inest speakers that you can buy and you are able to use them. what you have just delt with is the down side to ebay. i guess I am saying **** it up and let it go. someone here may have some passives that they may let go pretty cheap if they went active also. by the way if it sound good active, why so you want the passives anyways?

 

[djdilliodon 10+ year member]

Seems to me your xovers are just fine. If the tweeters are playing fine and then shutting off only when you crank the volume that is just the protection circuit in the xover. Those passives just are not made for lots of power. Just stick active with the set //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Gary S 10+ year member]

Seems to me your xovers are just fine. If the tweeters are playing fine and then shutting off only when you crank the volume that is just the protection circuit in the xover. Those passives just are not made for lots of power. Just stick active with the set //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

- This makes sense to me.

Also, you could take the tweeter protection out and replace with a jumper wire, or replace protection bulbs with a bolt. If you were in Florida, I could whip out the soldering iron and do it in a jiffy.

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like you shoud have bought authorized instead of taking chances on ebay, no matter what you do you can never be 100% sure through ebay.

Lesson learned?

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

For the price you paid bud, chalk it up as buying a set of mids and tweets with no passives... even if the description said they were included and working. You got one helluva sweet comp set for the money. I'm just glad you had all the resources to go active from the get go. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

I jsut got taken with some cal 26 tweets, at the end of the day, my opinion is that you should leave neg. feedback for him and thank the lord that you have some of the inest speakers that you can buy and you are able to use them. what you have just delt with is the down side to ebay. i guess I am saying **** it up and let it go. someone here may have some passives that they may let go pretty cheap if they went active also. by the way if it sound good active, why so you want the passives anyways?

Thanks for the input, man. Yeah, I'm VERY happy with the way that the mids and tweets sound, I just wish the seller would've been more up front and honest about the condition of the crossovers. I probably would've still bought the set if he had told me that the crossovers were bad/going bad.

I'm not going to leave the guy any type of feedback, because I don't want to take the risk of having a retaliatory negative feedback left by him. I'd rather have no feedback at all than a negative that's unwarranted, and that makes my overall feedback percentage go down. This seller had 100% positive feedback when I won these from him, and like two days after I had won the auction, another buyer who bought a very expensive Morel comp set left a negative for this guy because he said the speakers were damaged when received, and also missing hardware.

I'm mildly interested in getting a good set of passives purely out of curiosity to see how they sound with a good set.

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

Seems to me your xovers are just fine. If the tweeters are playing fine and then shutting off only when you crank the volume that is just the protection circuit in the xover. Those passives just are not made for lots of power. Just stick active with the set //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Man, I could've swore that I've seen other people on the boards running this set passive with the matching crossovers, and giving them at LEAST 200w a side or more....if anyone has or is doing so right now and you're reading this, please chime in. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

- This makes sense to me.
Also, you could take the tweeter protection out and replace with a jumper wire, or replace protection bulbs with a bolt. If you were in Florida, I could whip out the soldering iron and do it in a jiffy.

You know, Gary, I was actually considering doing that when I was first trying to decide what route to go after I'd discovered the crossover issue, but my installed advised against doing that.

He said I'd be better off going active. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

Sounds like you shoud have bought authorized instead of taking chances on ebay, no matter what you do you can never be 100% sure through ebay.
Lesson learned?

LOL Nah, man, not really a lesson learned....at least on this deal.

I paid $470 shipped for this set. There's no WAY I'd be able to come up with the cheese to buy a brand new authorized set of Profi Vans, even with a courteous dealer discount from one of the Rainbow dealers on the forums.

Like I said, when I bought these, the seller had 100% positive feedback, and when I looked at his past seller history, he had sold quite a few higher end electronic items without any issues at all.

As much as I'd honestly rather give my money to a dealer on the forums for a brand new/authorized set of these, I just don't have the money for it. If I didn't take a chance on this set I got on Ebay, then I'd probably never know just how good they sound, 'cause I'd never be able to afford them new. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fro.gif.c695f1f814b01c4ad99fe7f8cccadd29.gif

 

[Latina33 10+ year member]

For the price you paid bud, chalk it up as buying a set of mids and tweets with no passives... even if the description said they were included and working. You got one helluva sweet comp set for the money. I'm just glad you had all the resources to go active from the get go. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Yeah man, I think I'll just leave it as is and leave it active, and not worry about trying to work out the passive crossover issue with the seller.

With the gains set the way they should be, it's cool to have the capability to tinker with the adjustments like I can now.

Having all the resources to get the active set started was a HUUGE help, for sure. Thanks again for that doc! It's much appreciated!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/peace.gif.2db28b618ed8d1964ebbe2f5021d2c39.gif