well, i don't want to go moaning and groaning about it again, as i bitched plenty earlier this year...

but the summary is this...
i loved my e8A. it was a thrashing little sub. i encouraged a ton of people here to buy that sub, and i know of dozens who took my word and did. some of that i mildly regret, but you go based on what you know... and at the time, there were few options for William's box. he hadn't developed the 10" selection he had then... *shrug*

but the sub was designed (or should i say lack of designed) such that when i applied within the recommended power to it, in it's recommended sealed box, that the sub would not produce any audible distortion before the voice coil would strike the back plate or pole piece...
so, i set my gains as best i can (w/o an oscilliscope) by listening for distortion (cliping or audible), and little did i know that later during some very high peak moments, i was hammering the voice coil to death because when setting gains, i never heard audible distortion until i was at the amp's peak clean power.

Ben's response? well, this is user caused damage. but, he then admitted to the lack of distortion leading to mechanical tapping and that it wasn't the best design.
then he generously offered me a replacement $100 sub 9kv2 + moderate cost (which wasn't even out yet) for the $200 top of line sub i had bought. or an 11kv2 ($125)+ some moderate cost for the $200 e8A.
hardly a equivalent warranty replacement for a mis-designed and out of production sub.

eventually, we decided on an 11Ov2 (still in production, but due in 2 weeks - arrived in 4+ months) + $100 for the e8A. thankfully, William stepped up to the plate to help me and said he'll make the 11Ov2 work for me...

HOWEVER... i happen to know that the $100 i paid Ben just about covered his manuf. costs on the 11Ov2. so, his 'WARRANTY' was really just accepting a no-profit sale.
yay Ben.


i'm glad you've had good luck w/ the e12A. i honestly wish i had one for the wife's van, because as it was explained to me, it didn't suffer the same design issue. it was a beautiful sub.
in the end? i'm not so much pissed about my e8A doing down the crapper, but at the way they handled the solution...

 

No doubt I wouldnt be happy either. Still, didnt you have yours two years? I guess its the glass if half full part of me that seems to think that very few other manufacturers would have offered anything after two years.

I have heard really good things about the Ov2. The 6500s are reallly amazing though I must say. They are clear and forceful, even at 80MPH+ with the roof down. And no distortion (dunno bout the back plate though hehe). I have heard of some 15As having problems, but very few 8As and hardly any 12As...

also, the Kv2 and Ov2s... I have heard of very very few problems with them. I have heard personally the 9Kv2s and 11Kv2s and soon I should get a listen on a 13Ov2. I really like em, especially for the price.

I guess eD is a love em or hate em type place. Hopefully things will continue to look up and their products will stay solid and they will lose that image...

 

no flame intended man, and nothing against you but
i didn't buy a sub with a pro-rated warranty... the warranty was 3 years. just because i was 2 in doesn't give them the excuse to provide less than stellar service.
whether i had it 1 day or 2.9 years and whether another manufacturer has a 1 year warranty or not is irrelevant. ED (Ben) promised 3 years. period. imo, he did not live up to his side of that bargin...

and maybe other manufacturers would have offered only 1 year... that's fine, but i bet the big manufacturers would have at least engineered their speakers and not just hacked together what they could from a build shop's inventory and done some testing.

i remembered the e15A had problems w/ the T joint... their was just too much non-linearity at high excursion w/ the stiff flat cone. the T-joint would just break.
i was also informed that i was one of the few who had problems w/ the 8A. *shrug* that just makes me wonder more and more if my 'user damage' wasn't a production flaw... no way to prove anything, and 2 years is a long time for a 'production flaw' to go un-noticed...

all this being said? my 11Ov2 is doing very well, and i'm actually liking it quite a bit.

however, i do feel strongly that this will be my last eD product. and i no longer recommend eD to the masses here. do i hate them? naw.... do i love them? no. for me? in the end they've just blended away into the fabric of mediocrity.

 

Well, this is why I like my ED stuff:

it sounds as good as it looks, and so far seems to have been pretty solid... I do hope it stays that way.

 

I'm not going to get into the topic here you and Phil are talking about... but honestly... I find your comment pretty entertaining. The reason why is that your sub in and of itself looks like a black, mini round brick wall That enclosure may be nice and I like it and the color, but it has nothing to do with that sub.

 

Well of course its all opinion. But I think the enclosure is nice, but not nearly as nice without the sub. I have seen a similar (though orange) enclosure with an Infinity Perfect and IMO it didnt look nearly as nice.

But to each his own.

 

like i said... i liked my e8A. it sounded good, it looked fantastic, it wasn't outrageously expensive, it fit in the tiny space i had, it (supposedly) handled the power i had available, and people would freak their beans when they saw the excursion it was capable of.

but at the end of the day though, it wasn't designed (or at least rated) as it should have been, i killed it, and they didn't take care of me.

how good it looked, how well it played, how musical it sounded, etc. all of it is irrelevant if it's broken.

(btw, reading back on my previous post -- it sorta sounds like i'm flaming you. i'm not. really, i have no ill will towards you at all. i'm just ranting about ED in general. so any angst you read into it, it isn't directed at you zboy. this post is pretty much the same way... well aside from the comments below regarding sub asthetics.)

regarding your point above? subs have to do several things to fulfill their duty, and while looking good is on the list, imo it's at the bottom. i want my sub to be a sub. how it looks is only icing on the cake.

i'm a pretty hardcore function over form kind of guy - us engineers tend to be that way. (just look at my install and you'll see that...)

 

Its cool, I know you arent intentionally flaming, and I am certain I would be as upset at ED as you are if that happened to me. I almost got an IDMAX instead of the 12A, and if I ever got screwed over by ED I would probably go that way. But so far my experiences have been good.

And youre right about how a sub looks, its not as important as how it sounds. And your also right about how it sounds not being important as it actually working hehe. So no arguments here.

I guess my qualm is that a lot of people seem to think ED stuff all breaks, and thats not really true. I mean, it has and does happen, but I dont really think it happens more often than any other brand ... with the exception of the 15A incident... but thats just my take on it, I could be wrong.

All I know is I would be really really bumbed out if my 12A or 6500s went because they really do sound great. The 6500s dont look like much though, but they are behind the doors.

Where do you guys put your tweeters? I have mine in the stock (03) location, and while it gets loud there, imaging is awful... I saw someone put them behind the A pillars and drilled holes. I was thinking of trying that, and removing the stock pods and putting an S2000 badge there or something...

 

well, before the nomex cone generation, it's my understanding that one of the earlier generations were very prone to failure. still, they looked as if they had gotten a grip on their problems... and for the most part, i guess they had. honestly? i view the failure of my 8A as bad luck, a poor design, and me pushing it hard. *shrug*
i had enough faith in their newer design to pay for an 11Ov2. and it seems to be plugging away just fine.

either or... i have an '01, so there were no stock tweeter pods. i put my tweeters very near, but slightly in front of my mids. my image/soundstage is pretty low (like just above the HU), but it has a smooth overall sound.

regarding your doors? if you wanted to get rid of the tweeter pods, your best option would be to try and find some 00 or 01 door panels where there were no OEM pods.

 

Very true... and your right it is my opinion. I do like the enclosure though. Sweet color