What's the overall opinion of Elemental Designs?

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

When I first joined this forum, I had never heard of ED. Then I started to hear good things about the company, and added them to my list of solid car audio brands.

But recently I've heard some negative comments about some ED stuff, and I've heard the term "rebadged." I'm not exactly sure what that means, so could someone enlighten me?

From what I can gather, they make GREAT amps, but the subs are so-so and designed for SQ.

So what's the story? Are they on the level of RE, SoundSplinter, ID, Adire, etc., or are they just a mediocre internet brand that makes decent, but not great, stuff.

Click to read more...

 

[packerfan 10+ year member]

95% of the people that like to run their mouth about ED dont know a **** thing about them or their products, FYI.

 

[Acidburn 5,000+ posts]

the problem most people have with eD does not relate to their products, it's more like extreme dislike for the owner and his business practices

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

so tell us about ed then.. i wanna know too. why the hate foo?

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

i dunno whenever i have dealt with eD 3-4 times now, always good service, and their products are good, never crapped out on me (other than edead)

 

[Range Rover 10+ year member]

Yes the Edead was a lil crappy..

... but I never had a problem with the Nine.1 or Nine.4

That's all I have to say about that

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Savstyle 10+ year member]

my friend owned a 15A broke a couple times.They allways kept in touch wit him to make sure everything worked and shitpping was allways really fast, and they really tok care of him.

 

[skeptikal Premium Member]

I think all the bad comments started with the Flat 'A' series being kind of a poorly designed (well not poorly designed) t-yoke. It failed alot of times and I think that is when eD may have started getting a bad rep.

 

[JAZN 5,000+ posts]

http://forum.soundillusions.net/showthread.php?t=47918

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

silly goose, you have to login to read that

 

[JAZN 5,000+ posts]

thats too bad. it's a fun read.

 

[Johnny Drama 5,000+ posts]

thats too bad. it's a fun read.

Here is a few quotes from the link you posted...

I know there are several of you out there with goooooood stories..
if the man has done something to you that pissed you off, lets hear about it..

here's my lil story..

he:

sold me defective drivers, at a price that was **** at best

filled me full of shit about those drivers, with full knowledge they were flawed

acted like he gave a **** about me, when he truly didn't

used my online presence to help sell his defective bullshit

stopped associating with me after my dollar value decreased

lied about everything minus his name for nearly 2 years....

your turn..

Loyd L.

I just dont like the guy's business ethics. That, and the whole raw deal with the C90/210EQ for the Avionixx 1000M amplifier. I didn't handle it in the best of ways, and I understand the struggles of a small business on the rise, but if you write a check your *** can't cash, don't expect to not hold up your half of the trade for a while, then finally deliver a piece of used garbage and claim it's "new," then tell me how it's been modified to give me an edge in competition (clearly against the rules), and then start ignoring me when I bring up how crappy of a deal it is.
eD as company I dont have too many problems with. Avionixx was junk IMO, Ben hyped them up and took alot of money. The original NINe.1 fiasco, what a mess. v2 was horrible garbage that I cant believe he actually marketed. There was a problem with the 15A flat cones. Maybe they'll stick with the new stuff, but up until now there has been no stability in the product line. Not a good sign of a good business. I'm just not going to support that.

That and he screwed over a few people whom I consider friends, that never goes over really well with me.

Not mad or butt hurt about any of it, but that doesn't change the fact that Mr. Milne is a dick, and I'm not going to do business with someone I dont like.

Mommy and daddy didn't buy him a car, they got him a business instead...only they didn't tell him how to run it...

Bought a 15A from the pre-order...used it for a week...triple joint broke...sent it back in exchange for an aluminum backed...I insisted on it being sent USPS (no bullshit brokerage fees), but he said all paperwork for UPS would be in order so I wouldn't pay any customs fees and if any cropped up, he would take care of it...weeks later when the sub did arrive, it came with a nice 90-some odd dollar bill for brokerage...told Ben about this and asked to be reimbursed for it...he flat out refused my request and told me to take it up with UPS...I did this and they said they couldn't do anything with me, only the shipper...lo and behold nothing was done on Ben's part, so refused to run eD equipment and had Ben refund me the money for the sub and pay for shipping back to him.

Used to talk to the guy daily about many things...but after that, he was never to appear on my AIM list again...

Never did get personal with Ben. I was only interested in ED drivers when talking to him so I don't have personal beef with him. Just with ED in general due to their crap products and the way they market them.
1. two crap tsunami db1100s - sold one of my NIB to a friend. other friend purchased one with 12A flat. Both had multiple problems with them. Mostly sore on how great Ben and the ED reps made these amps look. Now they say "they were closeout amps at closeout prices what did you expect?" Made me look bad with my friends. I gave one a 10w3v2 to make up for it and promised a fiberglass enclosure to make up for the other one.

2. two bunk e15ks - subs i recommended to a friend...he had suspension problems with one that i corrected on more than one occasion and he sold the other before having problems(i dont think we had problems with that one...its been awhile) with it via my ebay account. No more than a month later did the buyer start emailing me saying it was making noise.

3. ED's fuzzy math. The specs on the drivers werent as listed. They inflated the flat As Xmax. Way too high of a power handling on the old eKs. Nice thick aluminum backing on the flat cones doesnt change TS Parameters. Any and all changes I remember seeing made to drivers were quoted as not changing much if anything on how the driver performs. Even going from the flatcone A to the conical replacement.

4. The very biased reps who pretend(maybe even to themselves) that they are offering unbiased reviews on ED products. They are also very good at ralleying the troops to defend ED. I respect a few of them outside of their ED dealings. They just fell into a bad crowd //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

I was happy with my SP though. I blew it due to my own error. My roomate was happy with his 12A too. Due to his crappy Tsunami though its been out of the care more than in the car though. I am hoping the sub doesnt just fall apart when we go to reinstall it this summer.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

the problem most people have with eD does not relate to their products, it's more like extreme dislike for the owner and his business practices

Well said.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

I think all the bad comments started with the Flat 'A' series being kind of a poorly designed (well not poorly designed) t-yoke. It failed alot of times and I think that is when eD may have started getting a bad rep.

Just the 15A...

None of the other A series had issues with the triple joint.

 

[Johnny Drama 5,000+ posts]

more? those were only from the first page. Its 89 pages long //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

I have to say one thing regarding the flat cone aluminum backing.
Most senior members, for now they shall remain anonymous, had actually tried twisting the truth as well regarding the T/S Parameters not changing and if so very slightly so it wouldn't make a difference. This was after Ben himself had posted up that due to problems the 2nd batch of 15A's would have an Aluminum backing and I, myself, said that it would change the parameters and was told no it wouldn't.

In a way I guess they were trying to help their "friend" Ben out, although I've yet to be ripped off by him in any way, the stuff he has done to other people have really put me off eD for good! I guess I'll just stick to my W7's and JL who have YET to dissapoint me when it comes to customer service.

Also Avionixx were rated to be up there with Xtant //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif The 15A DID move quite a bit and did get LOUD (loud enough for me) but as far as I know and have heard the drivers that followed were of subpar Sound Quality.

Just sold my 15A off too, hope the new owner is happy, although I'm sorry to see it go I am also glad to rid of it as it's a driver made by a company I wouldn't like to be associated with in anyway.

In my eyes, people who chose money over friends, gets left with neither.

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