TC Sounds recone - what to do?

[Ruthless Pastor 10+ year member]

I have a TC Sounds TC-1000 12" that blew and needs to be reconed. I called the customer service # from the TC Sounds website twice, left messages both times on an answering machine and didn't get a call back. So I went to the Audiopulse website and sent them an email. Thilo got back to me the same day and gave me the price to have the "Epic" reconed.

There are a couple of things that make me leary. I can't tell what's going on with this company and am afraid if I do this, suddenly they'll be out of business and have both my sub and $. Also, $135 + seems excessive; he wouldn't budge on it but did say he could sell me a new one for $200. Yeah, huh. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wow.gif.23d729408e9177caa2a0ed6a2ba6588e.gif The research I've done lately tells me that could buy a lot of sub for the 400w I have going to it, such as Fi, DC, SSA, Incriminator, etc. The only problem is the box I have is custom for the TC-1000, but would the recone keep it at the same specs or change them? Prob a question for Thilo.

So, do I trust TC to do the recone or just buy a new sub from a different company? I need a 12" 2 ohm DVC or single 4 ohm.

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[T3mpest 10+ year member]

unless something is wrong with the basket or motor a recone is the same as a new sub, any part that can be damaged for all intents and purposes (unless you drop it lol) will be replaced. For 135, you'd be hard pressed to find a better sub. Even entry level TC sounds gear is better than most of the subs on the market, at least from a SQ standpoint, lots of things will take more abuse and not break, if that's what your into. Did you like the sub or are you wanting an upgrade?

 

[*SlappinAzz*]

I doubt tc sounds is going out of business.....

 

[Ruthless Pastor 10+ year member]

I did like the sub and there's no reason to upgrade unless I have more power to put to it. I know TC did make good stuff at the time I bought it but am not sure how it compares now to other companies, like the ones mentioned above.

 

[modskwod 10+ year member]

I've heard people say that the new parts aren't as good as the old parts, but I am not a TC aficionado so I don't know for sure. As for the price, you could go here, fill out the form and David (the owner) will get back to you. Then you can compare his price to the 135 TC quoted you and decide which you want.

 

[tc3k101 5,000+ posts]

Thilo will do a great job and not many people have 2" coil parts to make drivers. Another thing to think about.

 

[brirat 10+ year member]

If your sub had polished aluminum cone you might not get the same thing when they fix it. Might be painted black cone. Make sure you ask. I have dealt with Thilo quite a bit and never had any issue.

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

I doubt tc sounds is going out of business.....

Seriously..?

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

I did like the sub and there's no reason to upgrade unless I have more power to put to it. I know TC did make good stuff at the time I bought it but am not sure how it compares now to other companies, like the ones mentioned above.

lol speaker tech hasn't changed much and frankly most car audio companies dont' use any new tech that does exist anyway. Faraday rings while not new are becoming more commonplace, but not on hardly an car audio drivers, (tc sounds does use them). XBL^2 opened the door for Bl linearity, again, not too many companies doing that either, TC sounds uses LMS which is similar. No offense to IA, DC, or SSA, but the only one doing anything different is SSA, which their top of the line sub does use both faraday rings and XBL^2, but it cost a prettty penny too. For 280 you can get a Tempest X, which is a similarly engineered driver for cheaper (i trust the owner of that company, he does know what he's doing). Other than that your still dealing with a very basic speaker design and if your lucky, it's maybe been fea optimized, abeit not with something good like a klippel. Other than that it's all pretty standard stuff, coils get bigger and suspensions get stiffer as you go up, making drivers harder to break. For 130 I'd just repair the sub if you liked it. If you want a full on upgrade, yeah, there are other subs to mention, but it'll be more than 130. The T/S should be very similar, obviously each speaker off any assembly line has a 5% variance, assuming build quality is good, so you should be fine.

Edit: Someone liked PSI, dave can probably do a good recone for that price or cheaper, wouldn't hurt to ask. Tell him your box specs and he can make sure the finished product will work well in your box.

 

[Ruthless Pastor 10+ year member]

I did end up sending the sub to TC Sounds today to get reconed. Thilo's communication has been very good and they will pay for the return shipping. It will be the polished aluminum cone that's original spec for the TC-1000. So far, so good...

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

130 seems like a fair price for factory recone. I've been really delighted with all the TC stuff I've had the pleasure to play with.