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Jaycar Response Dissapointment - Ive lost $500!!!

Torquative

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Hey all, just thought I would tel you about my issues with Response stuff and why I would never touch them again.

A few years back I brought Response 6" speakers. I was told their a good bang for your buck speaker. All I was running was ther standard head deck in a VX.

About 4 months later, one of them played up and it used to spike the radio and shut it off. I replaced it with yet another new Response speaker, but then it happened to another speaker.

So I vowed then never to touch their stuff

But then 12 months ago I was told theve changed, the Kevlar speakers are completely redesigned. Yeh ok, I'll go for that.

whacked them in and no issues really.

So 2 months ago I decided bugger it, I want an all in one amp so I can bolt it up and run the speakers and sub from the one unit.

I forked out $500 for a new Response 5 channel "class D"

Jaycar Electronics

Got it home, installed it - spent absolutely hours. Yeh it works fine. Put the car back together.

Next day in traffic I flick off the ipod and go for the FM. First radio station, my fav, staticy. Ok then, next one, static. 3rd one, static ... 4th one was audible but still full of static.

I also found that when it got "hot" it would have a high pitched squeal. One lunch time the car had been sitting out in the sun on a 30 degree day for 4 hours, got in, started the car and SQUEEEAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

So I had 2 weeks off over Bathurst. disconnected the amp and took it into Jaycar, with the complaint static AM FM reception and squaly noise.

2 weeks later I went in. "oh your the guy who owns the amp. yeh ok technical tell me nothings wrong BUT it overheats. I refuse to hand it back to you until I have tested it because if it overheats I fear your boot might catch alight"

I questioned the term "overheats". "yes, it gets hotter then this amp should under that load. The tech said it was too hot for him too touch but I dont know if that was him being a bit of a wuss or being serious".

Okay I'll leave it for you to test in store.

3 hours later "yeh come and pick it up, we'll talk then"

So he tells me "okay i hooked it up to this sub and ran it for this at this and blah blah blah - no issues". As for the static? Install it into the car and bring it in for me to check.

Okay so i did and sure enough same issue - static and squeal. I took it in, the squeal wasnt present but the static was. He tells me "because you habe a new car (VZ) the sensors and modules play with this amp being class d digital". as for the squeal well if it overheats then you would expect it to sqeaul - so it'd be normal behaviour. Just try to keep it cool then.

I think thats crap but anyway who knows ...

So I put it on ebay listing it for $1 and listed the issue Ive had.

The buyer whose into competition audio buys it, sets it up and then tears me a new a-hole. "it overheats, it has 5 decibel difference left to right, it squeals, the audio isnt clear, and only 2 of the 5 channels work and it wont power on for longer then 20 minutes"

They had a professional audio tech pull it apart and apparantly 6 hours later all he could potentially fault was the power supply. BUT apparantly it got that damn hot it melted the glue inside the box.

So I decided to just pay them the 100 bucks they paid for it. I'd already lost $400 in 2 months, whats another $100. I want to write it off completely. Jaycar dont want it back, they wont exchange it - I'm over it, and I cannot say Response stuff is anything.

So I'm going all Alpine now, never had an issue with that.

To everyone beware of Response stuff. I'm of the belief its still cheap because its exactly that, cheap
 

hakhawk

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funny, i have 2 response amps(the previous silver ones), a monoblock and a 4x50w. theyve been nothing but great, dont even think about getting hot.

i even waited on ebay to score a second monoblock for my install.

seems theyve dropped again, like a yoyo, the first black series from memory was nothing flash.

why wont jaycar swap it for a new one? sounds like they were being slack, telling you to "keep it cool" and just put up with it.

you using the original headunit or an aftermarket job?
 
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you get what ya pay for and responce stuff is over priced for what it is
ya can get into a name brand for less than jaycar stuff
they have techs?
hehehe
they have kids with no idea what they doing
on the good side least the am is gone now and ya can go get good stuff
 

vlv8vic

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you should have made them replace or refund it. they admitted something wasn't right then you were well within your rights to have something done about it.

Do you have the amp back now? try consumer affairs.
 

Luke0011

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Problem with buying amplifiers and fitting them by yourself instantly voids the warranty. Regardless of the amp being genuinly faulty. And everybrand does produce faulty equipment from time to time. Ive had focal, alpine , pioneer amps faulty out of the box. I even had a soundstream amp output 24volts on the rca line from a 12volt supply !!!!!. Cooking a 1400 dollar unit. Ive also had an amp that had 12volts on the case and it still worked. But i do feel sorry for all the guys who fit stuff themselves and then have problems. If your forking out big coin on your gear, it makes sense to get it proffessionally fitted.
 

Phreddy

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Jaycar have gone way downhill in general lately. All they are now is a Toys-R-Us with flashing lights and electric shocks. And the people behind the counter know less than ever. But I've seen this happen to Tandy and Dick Smith as well over the years.

(I was in there to get some installation gear - cabling and so on - and most of what I wanted they didn't have in stock. The excuse given to me was "... our store manager and the area manager don't get along or talk to each other, so we're not getting stock in ...." - WHAT?????? Since when should personal problems between managers affect the running of the business? Maybe there's just more emphasis on getting the toys in stock, but not the real "electronic" stuff...)



I used to be quite pleased with Response stuff - Damn, I run it myself! But I also have done some installs with their gear, and whilst most of them are fine, there have been some silly failures - and getting something replaced - at either their retail outlet OR as a wholesale customer - is just so much pain as to most often not be worth it.

It's a real shame you've been kicked like that Matt - I know it doesn't help, but I've now had to replace 2 of the 4x50W amps out of my own pocket. I'm turning away from Jaycar myself now - and I've been a customer for over 20 years! They just ain't what they used to be....
 

danja

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To everyone beware of Response stuff. I'm of the belief its still cheap because its exactly that, cheap

I put them somewhere between "proper brands" like Pioneer, Alpine, JL, etc and ****house brands like American Boss. But I've said before, they aren't the be-all end-all of car audio some people make them out to be, they are just (generally) better value for money than most brands.

I have a Response 400W monoblock for my sub, the quality isn't the best, but it does the job and only cost $250 or so which is fair enough. Doesn't get hot at all. I seem to remember someone having similar issues with the digital 5ch amp recently?

Jaycar have gone way downhill in general lately. All they are now is a Toys-R-Us with flashing lights and electric shocks. And the people behind the counter know less than ever. But I've seen this happen to Tandy and Dick Smith as well over the years.

I was so sad when DS when consumer on us and rolled back their enthusiast line, now I think they've completely abandoned it :( If Jaycar do the same where will we go?!?
 

StoneX

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I used a couple for my first system and they worked great.... Got hot because I was new to car audio and ran everything too hard but never a problem. Because of that I've always recommended them to people for tightarse systems and no one has had a problem.

I have heard of several people on forums having problems though... So who knows... All products have a certain defective product percentage, maybe you keep scoring the bad ones.
 

Tasmaniak

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for components, I still use WES....just keep getting a blank expression at Jaycar.
 
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