I just got a speaker from Eminence (12" guitar speaker, Legend GB128) shipped to my house two days ago. It was packed with "foam in place" packaging. This is where they place the plastic wrapped speaker in a box then pour in liquid that foams up to make a solid mass. The box was "crush proof" and the speaker was perfect.
Odd that they would not ship all their speakers using the same method.
I received my Hawthorne Silver Irises in the same box as you Akis. In case you don't know, these are Eminence drivers tweaked to Hawthorne's specs. They came from the US to here in Western Australia, possibly as far as it's possible to send something on Earth, and were perfect. I must've been lucky!
Stuey
Stuey
If they were as well packed as the 4 SIs were that arrived here, yes you are lucky (only 3 of the 4 survived)
dave
I did a close examination of the packaging. The very damaged speaker had "collapsed" through its cardboard insert that is meant to keep it in place, and this insert was slightly damaged. However there was no damage to the rest of the box. For the basket to have bent, I expected to see the pressure marks or cuts into the inside of the box, but there were none.
Therefore I believe the external boxes were replaced and the speakers were already damaged before they were placed inside.
Two possibilities come to mind.
1. Speakers were returns by another customer. Thomann did not notice the damage and simply sent them on to me.
2. Speakers were shipped like this to Thomman, which implies quality control failures at Eminence.
3. Speakers were shipped like this to Thomman from a 3rd party supplier, which implies monkey business...
I will relay all this info to Eminence.
Therefore I believe the external boxes were replaced and the speakers were already damaged before they were placed inside.
Two possibilities come to mind.
1. Speakers were returns by another customer. Thomann did not notice the damage and simply sent them on to me.
2. Speakers were shipped like this to Thomman, which implies quality control failures at Eminence.
3. Speakers were shipped like this to Thomman from a 3rd party supplier, which implies monkey business...
I will relay all this info to Eminence.
100% on target. This is the way Eminence has packaged speakers in the US for years (i.e. no they didn't just start doing it because of problems).
I still have a number of the boxes (and wish I'd saved a few more) as they are so robust and an excellent way to store spare drivers.
About 1/2 the eminence i've gotten have been packaged that way. It works well.
dave
Their standard retail boxed units are all shipped this way. OEM and bulk orders, OTOH, are simply individually wrapped in cardboard. The whole case lots are probably packed well, but once those are broken all bets are off. I ordered a dozen OEM 12" (the SoundTech buyouts) from PE last year, and all made it through with no torn cones or surrounds - just a couple of chipped magnets. But that was just luck. When UPS gets a package from PE I swear they use it as a tackling dummy in company football practice. I've had other non-Eminence units packed the same way that were not so lucky.
That makes sense. I just wanted to make point that generally all the units you buy (assuming you're not an OEM or otherwise doing wholesale orders) will be packed excellently. If the operation you buy from isn't selling 'retail packed' items then that might suggest re-consideration even if the price is cheap... I'm sure part of the cheapniz is from the lower packing cost of the basic brown cardboard packing...
Good news.
Replacements arrived yesterday (actually they were a brand new order, I am expecting my money back from the ones I returned to them).
First of all the outer box was 3 times the size of the orginal one. And it is a proper "Thomman" box with the company's logo etc. This larger box allows for much more air-bubble-wrap material inside and provides much better protection.
Inside this larger box, there were the speaker boxes. These were not white as the previous ones, but brown, cardboard colour and TWICE THE SIZE of the previous speaker boxes. The speakers were face down inside the boxes and there was a false bottom, providing 3 inches of buffer!
A completely different packaging method, different box.
Finally there is an elastic band about 1 inch wide covering/protecting the magnet. I do not know what that is for, I presume it is for making it easier to retrieve metal items that get pulled?
Anyway the speakers were perfect, no signs of any damage, subtle or not. The baskets appeared perfect as far as I could tell by inspection and the cones had no creases on them or other dents.
I mounted these speakers on the amp box and my God how loud they are! After my "tests" I left the room with pain in my right ear, I thought it was bleeding 🙂
I would wholeheartedly recomment Eminence The Tonker 12" for guitar amp speakers - just make sure you do not receive the dudds I got first time round.
And finally a word of warning. Whilst re-packaging the damaged ones to return them, I realised that the second speaker, the one that had some slight damage to its cone, which some might perhaps discount as anything too serious (4 vertical creases running from the rim to the centre), this also had a bent basket. You would have to turn it sideways and look at it carefully while rotating it, and there it was, 3 bends in different places, so easy to miss if you assume "brand new speaker in unopened box, therefore why check?". This explains the "stress" creases on the cone. Both those speakers must have got into some serious trouble, I cannot explain what. As their enclosing boxes had no signs of damage it means they were re-packaged cleverly and shipped on as new. Isn't this not fraud?
Please be warned. I will write to Thomman (cc Eminence) demanding an explanation.
Replacements arrived yesterday (actually they were a brand new order, I am expecting my money back from the ones I returned to them).
First of all the outer box was 3 times the size of the orginal one. And it is a proper "Thomman" box with the company's logo etc. This larger box allows for much more air-bubble-wrap material inside and provides much better protection.
Inside this larger box, there were the speaker boxes. These were not white as the previous ones, but brown, cardboard colour and TWICE THE SIZE of the previous speaker boxes. The speakers were face down inside the boxes and there was a false bottom, providing 3 inches of buffer!
A completely different packaging method, different box.
Finally there is an elastic band about 1 inch wide covering/protecting the magnet. I do not know what that is for, I presume it is for making it easier to retrieve metal items that get pulled?
Anyway the speakers were perfect, no signs of any damage, subtle or not. The baskets appeared perfect as far as I could tell by inspection and the cones had no creases on them or other dents.
I mounted these speakers on the amp box and my God how loud they are! After my "tests" I left the room with pain in my right ear, I thought it was bleeding 🙂
I would wholeheartedly recomment Eminence The Tonker 12" for guitar amp speakers - just make sure you do not receive the dudds I got first time round.
And finally a word of warning. Whilst re-packaging the damaged ones to return them, I realised that the second speaker, the one that had some slight damage to its cone, which some might perhaps discount as anything too serious (4 vertical creases running from the rim to the centre), this also had a bent basket. You would have to turn it sideways and look at it carefully while rotating it, and there it was, 3 bends in different places, so easy to miss if you assume "brand new speaker in unopened box, therefore why check?". This explains the "stress" creases on the cone. Both those speakers must have got into some serious trouble, I cannot explain what. As their enclosing boxes had no signs of damage it means they were re-packaged cleverly and shipped on as new. Isn't this not fraud?
Please be warned. I will write to Thomman (cc Eminence) demanding an explanation.
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