Without investigating the cause of failure
Definitely looks like your speaker has the Tympany logo and they included the year 2015 in the PW code
Looking at the corrosion problem in your speaker it appears to me that they only covered the point where the flexible braid joins to the voice coil wire with the corrosive glue. The voice coil wire appears to be attached to the back of the cone with some sort of non-corrosive lacquer and this section appears undamaged. Your point of corrosion was right under the glue blob at the solder joint whereas on mine the corrosive glue covered the voice coil wire right back to the base of the voice coil itself and the whole wire section underneath just disappeared in a mist of white oxide. In your case the repair was a little easier than mine since there was plenty of voice coil wire left to join to.
So maybe they didn't really investigate the reason for the earlier speaker failures going back to the late 90's at all and what they told me was all BS.
I am very surprised that such a big company let a known problem festered for so many years!
Worst still, they do not own up to the mistake !
Offering replacement drivers at cost to affected customers is the least they could offer.
The shareholders should sit up and ask questions.
I will always advise myself and my friends to check the driver manufacturer before you put down the money.
Worst still, they do not own up to the mistake !
Offering replacement drivers at cost to affected customers is the least they could offer.
The shareholders should sit up and ask questions.
I will always advise myself and my friends to check the driver manufacturer before you put down the money.
I find it rather worrisome that a company which started out with such a good reputation for producing high quality drivers could shoot themselves in the foot by not thoroughly investigating the reliability of such important items as the adhesives they selected to hold things together. One would expect that they should have known right from the start that you NEVER use anything nut neutral cure adhesives in conjunction with copper wires. Heck, it seems that every other speaker manufacturer knew this going right back the 50's and 60's. These seemingly minor items can have a major effect on the reliability and long service of their products - and those aspects should be of prime importance if you want people to continue to buy and trust your products.
Scan Speak has 24 employees, the company is owned by Chinese entities since about 2004, all they do is assemble Chinese parts. The ultimate owner is a big speaker maker in China.
The issue has been due to the insistence of regulators to use lead free solder, and also the use of different glues, which are (usually) based on silicon or LDPE compounds.
Lead free solder needs higher temperatures, and corrosive fluxes at times, and the flux residue needs to be removed, if not done properly, it will lead to corrosion, which is going to happen on ordinary flux as well.
So it was not done properly, they say they have addressed the issue.
So all you can do is launch a class action suit, claiming they sold you a defective product, knowing at that time it was defective...proving that will be difficult.
Legal fights can be expensive and long running, bear that in mind.
Nobody gives 10 year guarantees, do not expect them to compensate you.
Find a speaker repair center at a convenient location, if you do not feel that you can do it yourself.
The issue has been due to the insistence of regulators to use lead free solder, and also the use of different glues, which are (usually) based on silicon or LDPE compounds.
Lead free solder needs higher temperatures, and corrosive fluxes at times, and the flux residue needs to be removed, if not done properly, it will lead to corrosion, which is going to happen on ordinary flux as well.
So it was not done properly, they say they have addressed the issue.
So all you can do is launch a class action suit, claiming they sold you a defective product, knowing at that time it was defective...proving that will be difficult.
Legal fights can be expensive and long running, bear that in mind.
Nobody gives 10 year guarantees, do not expect them to compensate you.
Find a speaker repair center at a convenient location, if you do not feel that you can do it yourself.
This was my thinking too, though it is a delicate repair and so there is a danger it could kill rather than cure the driver, if one gets it wrong. However, as in the above example, mine only have glue over the solder join, not all the way down to the coil. So that makes things easier.
It is often more economic, and so normal these days, for manufacturers to target a design life that isnt excessively longer than their warranty. The problem here IMO is that it is such a cheap little thing to have got wrong, and by a perceived premium brand, when most other (usually cheaper) manufacturers have not. It shouldn't have been a surprise to them (such corrosive effects have been known about for years). Nor does there seem to have been an urgent response to cure it. So I can't tell if they were asleep at the wheel, or just of the opinion that life expectancy was adequate.
Either way, our perception of the brand hasn't been justified. Perhaps that is partly our fault for placing too high expectations on it. I used to go for their drivers for things like smooth frequency response, but there are good alternative brands. Technology also moves on, and software dsp is arguably a viable alternative to mechanical means of achieving smoothness, especially if the latter is costly and involves physical compromises.
It is often more economic, and so normal these days, for manufacturers to target a design life that isnt excessively longer than their warranty. The problem here IMO is that it is such a cheap little thing to have got wrong, and by a perceived premium brand, when most other (usually cheaper) manufacturers have not. It shouldn't have been a surprise to them (such corrosive effects have been known about for years). Nor does there seem to have been an urgent response to cure it. So I can't tell if they were asleep at the wheel, or just of the opinion that life expectancy was adequate.
Either way, our perception of the brand hasn't been justified. Perhaps that is partly our fault for placing too high expectations on it. I used to go for their drivers for things like smooth frequency response, but there are good alternative brands. Technology also moves on, and software dsp is arguably a viable alternative to mechanical means of achieving smoothness, especially if the latter is costly and involves physical compromises.
Old thread, but hey. Absolutely abysmal response from scan-speak, lets me know they are a company not worth dealing with. I will pass on their brand for future purchases. Good thing the market has plenty of options and much fairer prices.
I might be biased since I live near them, but PE has a nice warranty on dayton stuff, 5 years I believe. They've replaced a few bad parts I got and even replaced one that wasn't even bad, I just thought it was (emm6). Didn't have to return anything, support was great.
I might be biased since I live near them, but PE has a nice warranty on dayton stuff, 5 years I believe. They've replaced a few bad parts I got and even replaced one that wasn't even bad, I just thought it was (emm6). Didn't have to return anything, support was great.
I do not subscribe to the theory of "planned obsolence" or designing for a pre-determined service life of just beyond the expiry of the warranty period. Any manufacturer who takes pride in their workmanship and wishes to preserve their good business name will only use products and techniques which ensure a long service life. I believe that Scan Speak did start out with that philosopy
I also do not think the size of the work force as described by Naresh has anything to do with the quality of the end product either. Having parts manufactured by outside organisations is a common practice with a multitude of end producers and does not mean they are cheap and nasty components - it depends on the specification given to the manufacturer of those parts.
Small manufacturers can't afford to sell faulty products because they would certainly go broke very quickly.
As for attempting a class action I think you have two chances - Buckleys and none.
See Buckleys chance idiom in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckley_&_Nunn
I also do not think the size of the work force as described by Naresh has anything to do with the quality of the end product either. Having parts manufactured by outside organisations is a common practice with a multitude of end producers and does not mean they are cheap and nasty components - it depends on the specification given to the manufacturer of those parts.
Small manufacturers can't afford to sell faulty products because they would certainly go broke very quickly.
As for attempting a class action I think you have two chances - Buckleys and none.
See Buckleys chance idiom in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckley_&_Nunn
This is company web page after googling just now .
https://www.scan-speak.dk/scan-speak/about-us/#:~:text=The Scan-Speak brand was,in our pursuit of perfection.
Quote
"All our products are developed, designed and hand-built by our 50 dedicated staff at our facility in Videbaek, Denmark."
"Scan-Speak operates as an independent company in the Eastech Group (www.eastech.com) under local Danish management continuing its tradition of Danish development and manufacturing."
Parent company
"https://www.eastech.com/about-us"
https://www.zoominfo.com/c/scan--speak-a-s/430252524
Turnover $8.3 million, same source says <25 employees.
It is not a very large operation.
May be out of date information.
Eastech:'Eastech has approximately 3,000 global employees, including over 200 engineers'
And: R & D facilities at 'Huiyang, China and Videbaek, Denmark'....
https://www.cfuttrup.com/history/scan-speak.html, from this, I learn that:
"1. April 2014, Scan-Speak is sold 100% to Eastech, Eastern Asia Technology (HK) Limited (KYET)."
Turnover $8.3 million, same source says <25 employees.
It is not a very large operation.
May be out of date information.
Eastech:'Eastech has approximately 3,000 global employees, including over 200 engineers'
And: R & D facilities at 'Huiyang, China and Videbaek, Denmark'....
https://www.cfuttrup.com/history/scan-speak.html, from this, I learn that:
"1. April 2014, Scan-Speak is sold 100% to Eastech, Eastern Asia Technology (HK) Limited (KYET)."
You need magnets, cages, paper cones, wire, coil forming machines, magnetizing machines, and little else to make speakers.
Please see some photos above, the speaker labels say 'Assembled in Denmark'.
It is possible but very unlikely that the actual parts are now being made in Denmark, there is a ten times or more wages difference to be thought of, compared to China.
Please see some photos above, the speaker labels say 'Assembled in Denmark'.
It is possible but very unlikely that the actual parts are now being made in Denmark, there is a ten times or more wages difference to be thought of, compared to China.
It’s hard to know what the true failure rate in the field is.
What happens with complaints/reviews is that is can be polarising. Probably thousands have been sold without a problem.
I have a quad of 8545 17 years old, and 8535 at least 20 years old, and still no problems.
On the other hand, when one of my tweeters died, turns out it was a failed solder joint in my crossover!
What is the typical lifetime for a transducer? It’s a electro-mechanical device…
What happens with complaints/reviews is that is can be polarising. Probably thousands have been sold without a problem.
I have a quad of 8545 17 years old, and 8535 at least 20 years old, and still no problems.
On the other hand, when one of my tweeters died, turns out it was a failed solder joint in my crossover!
What is the typical lifetime for a transducer? It’s a electro-mechanical device…
Though, these aren't wearing out in the normal sense; it is a corrosive effect that shortens their life, even when sat on the shelf. The main annoyance for me is that it is unnecessary, and yet they largely washed their hands of responsibility. Not so bad if you've been using them and so got some value out of them, but upsetting if you bought new drivers that have actually been on the retailers shelf for years.