Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 31 to 45 of 59

Thread: Edgewound / Upland Loudspeaker MIA?

  1. #31
    Senior Member edgewound's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    2,776
    Quote Originally Posted by BMWCCA View Post
    Thanks to all!
    Quick update: The monoclonal antibody (mAb) infusion has me symptom-free less than 24-hours after the therapy other than feeling a little tired. Now just hoping my wife's PCR test shows negative. She's not old enough to qualify for mAb.

    Enjoying my expanding collection of SACDs during the time off. I'm up to two now!
    So glad to hear you're better.

    Another dear friend and local musician icon just passed away this last Sunday morning in the hospital after being admitted to the ER and airlifted to UCLA Medical Center on Christmas Day. His family and community are devastated.

    I would love to meet you and convert your 2245H to "2246H" no-rot standards. I'm confident you'll love it...or put it back to stock with a resuspension.
    Edgewound...JBL Pro Authorized...since 1988
    Upland Loudspeaker Service, Upland, CA

  2. #32
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    7,742
    Quote Originally Posted by edgewound View Post
    So glad to hear you're better.

    Another dear friend and local musician icon just passed away this last Sunday morning in the hospital after being admitted to the ER and airlifted to UCLA Medical Center on Christmas Day. His family and community are devastated.

    I would love to meet you and convert your 2245H to "2246H" no-rot standards. I'm confident you'll love it...or put it back to stock with a resuspension.
    Thanks! My wife has tested negative three-times now and will head back to work tonight. I go back tomorrow—assuming the ice-covered driveway is navigable.

    One of my closest friends is a surgeon and has gotten Covid twice already after being fully vaccinated. The last time was a patient they had to intubate because he wasn't getting better from Covid. Described the patient as an unvaccinated overweight 44-year-old. He wasn't healthy enough for the antibody infusion. His role was to catheterize him and that's where he suspected he caught it, probably Delta, even after an abundance of caution. The patient is not expected to make it. Prospects for beating Covid after intubation are not very good, he says. I also read that 40% of those who don't survive it are diabetic.

    Be careful out there!
    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

  3. #33
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Poconos PA
    Posts
    5
    Everything is normal; everything is fine. Carry on carrying on.

    God Bless.

  4. #34
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    7,942
    What’s wrong with your Altec model 19’s.

    Putting it into perspective covid has been around for two years.

    I understand the frustration but what would you do if the driver turned up tomorrow? Starr at it for 6 months while you wait for your RAT tests to turn up? The whole scene (the planet) is crawling at a snail’s pace at the moment. People are sick or family members need support. Supply chains have slowed right down because there are no people to do their job. People are quitting their jobs because they have given up. There are possibly dozens of people waiting for their precious drivers. But they aren’t publicly throwing their toys out of the bassinet. Is you job more important than anyone else’s?

    I would unhook from bothering yourself and think about something else.

  5. #35
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    New York
    Posts
    14

    Glad to see you are communicating again!

    Quote Originally Posted by edgewound View Post
    The best I can do is apologize for my lack of expeditious turn arounds and lack of timely communications.

    The last several months have been fraught with obstacles...both personally, and operationally...that have made life a challenge. I'm confident I'm not alone with this scenario in these Covid pandemic times. I've lost several friends and family members from this scourge, as well as some supply chain issues that have caused delays. I feel out of sync with the world by working some strange, inconsistent hours.

    The individual that was providing my magnet recharge service was suddenly unable to provide the service any longer. On the bright side...from the severance of this arrangement...I was able to secure a magnetizing machine for my own in-shop capability.

    I'm slowly getting caught up with my backlog. My mission is to do the best quality repair work in the business, and some feedback I've received recently from personnel inside Harman/JBL confirms that I'm succeeding at that. My one-man operation is obviously limited by the capacity of what a one-man operation can achieve, especially when speaking with customers around the globe on a regular basis. I want you to enjoy the quality of work that I've learned to do over the last 33+ years without worrying if it's been done right. From what I can see of other's previous work that comes in, I'm doing a damn good job of maintaining the legacy of Lansing quality. I'm even working on techniques to make these products last longer by developing kits that do not rot. I've got a recone kit for the 136A and all of it's equivalents and successors that uses a cloth surround cone from a JBL model. I can do the same thing with a 2245H, also. I will be posting some measurements that a customer in the film industry is doing with lab a quality measurement system with my "2236H" recone kit installed in a 2225H frame. His early comments in preliminary measurements included the word "perfect". Nice feedback to hear. Several customer that have agreed to this improvement are thrilled with the results. No more rotten foam surrounds, nor debris screens over the pole piece vent hole...and they sound fabulous...if not better than the originals, all with "blueprinted" moving mass adjustments that adhere to the factory Engineering Standards.

    I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday season.

    Season's Greetings!
    Hey Ken,

    Now that you have spare time to post on here I'm guessing you are done with the 128H-1's we sent you almost a year ago? You had the paid invoice for some time now and the promises of repaired equipment have not come to fruition. Seems as you have either blacklisted my phone #, email addresses, and facebook IM's. That or you have some other agenda perhaps? Can we get the equipment returned repaired (which was paid in advance) as was promised or returned as-is w/ payment refunded?

    PM

  6. #36
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    297
    Seems to be an ongoing issue with Upland Speaker and their reliability. For whatever reason no one on this forum seems to be bothered by it and accept every excuse offered by Ken. This is not a one off complaint, I suspect this has happened to to dozens of people. There is no excuse for it, none. It shows a complete disregard for your customer base and a general flaw in Ken's personality. As a small business owner communication is of the utmost importance. If you have someones money or property you bloody well communicate with them. The myriad of excuses I have seen from Ken over the years is a joke. How is this not taken seriously? I don't care how dire your circumstance is, you get your affairs in order. There is no excuse for this, maybe once or twice you get a pass but this is on going and embarrassing.

    Numerous members on this site have publicly had posted their issues, members on Audiokarma even Yelp reviews. This is not an isolated incident. Everyone gets busy but just bloody answer your phone or reply to emails. It's not hard.

  7. #37
    Senior Member edgewound's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    2,776
    Quote Originally Posted by kelossus View Post
    Seems to be an ongoing issue with Upland Speaker and their reliability. For whatever reason no one on this forum seems to be bothered by it and accept every excuse offered by Ken. This is not a one off complaint, I suspect this has happened to to dozens of people. There is no excuse for it, none. It shows a complete disregard for your customer base and a general flaw in Ken's personality. As a small business owner communication is of the utmost importance. If you have someones money or property you bloody well communicate with them. The myriad of excuses I have seen from Ken over the years is a joke. How is this not taken seriously? I don't care how dire your circumstance is, you get your affairs in order. There is no excuse for this, maybe once or twice you get a pass but this is on going and embarrassing.

    Numerous members on this site have publicly had posted their issues, members on Audiokarma even Yelp reviews. This is not an isolated incident. Everyone gets busy but just bloody answer your phone or reply to emails. It's not hard.
    "The myriad of excuses over the years is a joke". Two more decades long friends have died in the last two weeks. This is a "joke" to you?. Paul M's speakers being completed fell in this time frame...that are just about ready to ship...that required more work than I anticipated to make them right. Adding actual Aquaplas...not "aquaplax"...to the cone. Upon some investigation, Paul M researched my personal cell phone number and sent me a cryptic message about not communicating with a customer...yet left no name as to who was communicating. Maybe I should publish Paul M's cell phone number. I'm sorry to be so f***ing embarrassing to the Lansing community. I should be ashamed of myself.

    Embarrasing? What's most emabarrassing is the crap I get shipped to me for repair that people have actually paid for previous repairs. What's emabarrassing? Factory recones from a company that sent manufacturing south of the border to manufacture parts that aren't even useable, nor within legacy factory spec...then calls to said factory go unanswered by either a consumer or pro division rep that have no clue how to answer a question about legacy products. I know of three individuals still at Harman/JBL that actually know something about legacy products...and they refer them to me. Emabarrassing? People that send their prized JBL drivers to me for repair by reputable referral from previously satisfied customers during a pandemic that hasn't happened for 100 years...then bitch that I'm taking too long, don't communicate to their beck and call...and assume that I'm never going to send their speakers back for whatever reason...maybe because it's less risky for me to collect referral drivers, repair them and sell them to other enthusiasts around the globe at an increased profit margin so I can retire to Belize. WT actual F?

    Maybe I'll institute a new policy that says don't contact me while I'm repairing your speakers, talking to new customers on the phone for half the day, while I spend the other 16 hours repairing stuff that is in way worse condition that I so naively thought would not not have been basically ruined by another "reconer"...or salvaged from underwater on the Gulf Coast that filled with rust...Yes...this has actually happened more than once.

    Has Maxellhouse chimed in that he received his finicky, elderly father's 136As back from a resuspension and Full Service Teardown/Cleaning/Recharge to his satisfaction? Not yet. He should report back on the quality of the repair...but I won't be holding my breath. He actually asked me if I keep accepting new business when I have a backlog. Every business that wants new business accepts new business. Ask Boeing how that works. How about Yelp? Yelp is a fraud in and of itself by creating fake reviews if you agree to buy advertising on their platform. They've actually been sued for this extortionist practice on multiple occassions.

    Other on-line sellers of "recone kits"...loose speaker parts for you to assemble, then recommend an adhesive package at extra charge...have actually been referring their prospective customers to me, because they no longer do actual hands-on repairs. Maybe it's more difficult to do it correctly than advertised. I've had numerous customers attempt these repair more than once before cutting their losses and sending it to me for an actual as-new restoration. And...NO ONE globally uses the identical material known as Aquaplas that JBL had used for decades to make specific drivers. I do. It has become more of a challenge to acquire in California as it has been banned to ship into the state due to Prop 68 restrictions, as of 2021.

    My continued apologies that a relative few disgruntled customers over 34 years in business feel the need to air their grievances here rather than privately resolve them. I doubt they will respond upon receiving their excellent repair work. I do not apologize for keeping the high bar of Lansing workmanship...and even longevity improvements...alive.

    I continue to give my thanks to those members that have supported my efforts over the last 20, or so, years. Where has the time gone? I constantly think of those members that have left this plane that I considered friends, and those that I've had the pleasure to interact with, personally, and continue such.

    Ken Haerr
    "edgewound"
    UplandLoudspeaker.com
    RepairSpeakers.com
    909-946-5944
    [email protected]
    Edgewound...JBL Pro Authorized...since 1988
    Upland Loudspeaker Service, Upland, CA

  8. #38
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    7,742
    I hope I live long enough to be able to send my prized JBLs to Ken for his expert repair.

    There are few true craftsmen left in this world. What Ken does will soon be referred to as a lost art.

    What's embarrassing to me as a member here is the way people with no skin in the game willingly besmirch the reputation of another member with whom they've never had any interaction.

    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

  9. #39
    Senior Member DerekTheGreat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    Warren, MI
    Posts
    590
    I too, have a lone 128H that's been with Ken for over a year now.

    Originally, both of my 128H's from my beloved L150A's went to Ken after recommendations here and horror stories from local reconers- JBL Judy. I began to hate my L150A's and was on the verge of selling them until they came back from Ken. He fully reconed both with factory JBL recone kits. I think turn around on those was 4 - 6 months, which was totally fine by me. They were never better and I had zero complaints with them and couldn't have been happier with Ken's workmanship and attention to detail. But, due to equipment failure I blew up one of those freshly done 128H's. I called Ken, told him what happened and told him I had a JBL 128H recone kit in my closet from 1999 or 2001. I mentioned that because I wanted the 128H's to match, and the recone kit I had was never opened before me and was mighty close. Ken said he'd want to first take a look at what happened, that he might be able to salvage the voice coil and keep the cone so we' have the same appearance as I desired. Ok, so I shipped the injured 128H out to Ken minus the recone kit. About a month or so went by and I hadn't heard from him so I sent an email. I was told that the voice coil was decimated and that he couldn't salvage the cone- the Aquaplas was flaking off. I didn't believe the story about the Aquaplas as that was a new factory recone kit- the cone and the coating was fine when I shipped it, but whatever, he's Ken the Man. If he said it was no good, it was no good... So we discussed options and came back to the recone kit I had on hand, which I then shipped out to him. His concern was the surround- that it might not be good any more. I told him that's valid and replace it if it's not. I think I waited six months before calling him again. I think I talked to him a total of two or three times before this email. Every time I got a hold of him, we ended up talking for over a half hour. Great guy to talk to, really knows his stuff. But, every time I talked to him, I was always told my lone woofer would be done soon. Now that it's been over a year with no woofer, which only seemed to need a recone with a kit I provided, I wonder if I'll ever see it again. Perhaps he sent my woofer off to someone else instead, and was waiting for another to send me? No idea. But I've seriously contemplated just selling the L150A's and cutting my loses. If Ken at least provided an update every month after the first three or four have gone by, I'd feel better about this experience.

    I understand personal loss, I do. However, as someone who has dealt with it myself, I was made absurdly aware that life doesn't seem to give a shiit. The bills keep coming, your employer doesn't expect any less of you (despite whatever they say) or unless you go on temporary medical leave and worst of all, life's problems don't stop coming either. So yeah, I can understand going dim for a little while, but complete darkness except for certain clients? I know Ken must be kicking out business here and there, the Facebook page or whatever continues to update. So of course people like me are going to see that and wonder why our trivial projects can't also get some time. So Ken, how about that 128H? I've got other stuff I'd like to send if you aren't too backlogged..

  10. #40
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    New York
    Posts
    14
    Quote Originally Posted by edgewound View Post
    "The myriad of excuses over the years is a joke". Two more decades long friends have died in the last two weeks. This is a "joke" to you?. Paul M's speakers being completed fell in this time frame...that are just about ready to ship...that required more work than I anticipated to make them right. Adding actual Aquaplas...not "aquaplax"...to the cone. Upon some investigation, Paul M researched my personal cell phone number and sent me a cryptic message about not communicating with a customer...yet left no name as to who was communicating. Maybe I should publish Paul M's cell phone number. I'm sorry to be so f***ing embarrassing to the Lansing community. I should be ashamed of myself.

    Embarrasing? What's most emabarrassing is the crap I get shipped to me for repair that people have actually paid for previous repairs. What's emabarrassing? Factory recones from a company that sent manufacturing south of the border to manufacture parts that aren't even useable, nor within legacy factory spec...then calls to said factory go unanswered by either a consumer or pro division rep that have no clue how to answer a question about legacy products. I know of three individuals still at Harman/JBL that actually know something about legacy products...and they refer them to me. Emabarrassing? People that send their prized JBL drivers to me for repair by reputable referral from previously satisfied customers during a pandemic that hasn't happened for 100 years...then bitch that I'm taking too long, don't communicate to their beck and call...and assume that I'm never going to send their speakers back for whatever reason...maybe because it's less risky for me to collect referral drivers, repair them and sell them to other enthusiasts around the globe at an increased profit margin so I can retire to Belize. WT actual F?

    Maybe I'll institute a new policy that says don't contact me while I'm repairing your speakers, talking to new customers on the phone for half the day, while I spend the other 16 hours repairing stuff that is in way worse condition that I so naively thought would not not have been basically ruined by another "reconer"...or salvaged from underwater on the Gulf Coast that filled with rust...Yes...this has actually happened more than once.

    Has Maxellhouse chimed in that he received his finicky, elderly father's 136As back from a resuspension and Full Service Teardown/Cleaning/Recharge to his satisfaction? Not yet. He should report back on the quality of the repair...but I won't be holding my breath. He actually asked me if I keep accepting new business when I have a backlog. Every business that wants new business accepts new business. Ask Boeing how that works. How about Yelp? Yelp is a fraud in and of itself by creating fake reviews if you agree to buy advertising on their platform. They've actually been sued for this extortionist practice on multiple occassions.

    Other on-line sellers of "recone kits"...loose speaker parts for you to assemble, then recommend an adhesive package at extra charge...have actually been referring their prospective customers to me, because they no longer do actual hands-on repairs. Maybe it's more difficult to do it correctly than advertised. I've had numerous customers attempt these repair more than once before cutting their losses and sending it to me for an actual as-new restoration. And...NO ONE globally uses the identical material known as Aquaplas that JBL had used for decades to make specific drivers. I do. It has become more of a challenge to acquire in California as it has been banned to ship into the state due to Prop 68 restrictions, as of 2021.

    My continued apologies that a relative few disgruntled customers over 34 years in business feel the need to air their grievances here rather than privately resolve them. I doubt they will respond upon receiving their excellent repair work. I do not apologize for keeping the high bar of Lansing workmanship...and even longevity improvements...alive.

    I continue to give my thanks to those members that have supported my efforts over the last 20, or so, years. Where has the time gone? I constantly think of those members that have left this plane that I considered friends, and those that I've had the pleasure to interact with, personally, and continue such.

    Ken Haerr
    "edgewound"
    UplandLoudspeaker.com
    RepairSpeakers.com
    909-946-5944
    [email protected]
    Glad to hear there's been apparent progress made but what, exactly, does "about ready to ship" mean? Anyway to obtain a slightly less nebulous actual commitment on a ship date? As a customer I don't think that's too much to ask. PM if needed.

  11. #41
    Senior Member mark214's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Low Earth Orbit Over The Midwest
    Posts
    110
    We are lucky that Ken is servicing JBL gear, If I didn't live 1500 miles from his location I would see if I could help out, sweep floors run for burgers.
    By the way, where is my stuff....

  12. #42
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    New York
    Posts
    14

    Update

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul_M View Post
    Glad to hear there's been apparent progress made but what, exactly, does "about ready to ship" mean? Anyway to obtain a slightly less nebulous actual commitment on a ship date? As a customer I don't think that's too much to ask. PM if needed.
    Update:

    Equipment on the way according to fedex folks.

  13. #43
    Senior Member BMWCCA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    7,742
    Quote Originally Posted by Paul_M View Post
    Update:

    Equipment on the way according to fedex folks.
    I hope this works out well for everyone involved.

    The behavior in this thread is depressing me. I always thought of everyone here as a friend.

    ". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

  14. #44
    Senior Member mark214's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Low Earth Orbit Over The Midwest
    Posts
    110
    Quote Originally Posted by BMWCCA View Post
    I hope this works out well for everyone involved.

    The behavior in this thread is depressing me. I always thought of everyone here as a friend.

    +1

    IMHO, One on one for business issues, not in public forums.

  15. #45
    Senior Member Ducatista47's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Peoria, Illinois
    Posts
    1,886

    Foam Free

    Ken, your quest to make qualified accordion replacements for foam surrounds sounds fantastic. As an amateur user of JBL professional gear, foam has been a pain in my audio ass since forever. I have always been curious why JBL never addressed this, unless it was a Gillette 'razor and blade' business model. I am sure their superb engineers could have developed other parts that met the same specs and did not self destruct just sitting there in a box. I have a pair of great sounding non JBL twelve inch speakers with accordion surrounds and sleep better knowing that they do. I seem to remember - an uncertain event at my age - that in recent years JBL has toyed with butyl rubber surrounds. Historically late to the party, IMO.

    Thank you for the fantastic work you do.
    Information is not Knowledge; Knowledge is not Wisdom
    Too many audiophiles listen with their eyes instead of their ears


Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Upland Loudspeaker Service
    By kawasakitech in forum Lansing Product General Information
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 05-11-2015, 03:57 PM
  2. Thanks Edgewound!
    By Regis in forum Lansing Product DIY Forum
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 07-11-2008, 08:13 PM
  3. Where are these used?? Ping Edgewound
    By Robh3606 in forum Lansing Product Technical Help
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 04-23-2007, 05:16 PM
  4. Edgewound or others, need opinion please!
    By Chas in forum Lansing Product Technical Help
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 07-19-2006, 11:39 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •