Stereomour Speakers

[Jamier]

Jameson is right, this thread has kind of been highjacked, sorry about that Ben. But it does fall into the topic of speakers for the SII, so with that in mind I would just add this: If I had a pair of Jaegers I would be in line for the active Xover upgrade. I mean, if you own a pair you’ve already made the initial investment. The cost of the Xover and another amp is nothing to sneeze at I know, but the improvement you’ll make to your system is absolutely predictable.

Jamie

[benzxc]

Hey guys, no worries at all. Great information here for me to know! Especially since I am waiting for a pair of Orcas to arrive!

Ben

[benzxc]

So the Orcas finally arrived, four months later! They look very nice and the sound is quite satisfying too. I got it with the sub and sub amp that Blumenstein offers and it pushes out enough bass for me in a near field bedroom environment.

I ended up also getting the Betsy baffles from Caintuck audio and am also very satisfied with them. Considering the price between the Orcas and the Betsy baffles, I think the Betsy's are a great deal. The soundstage is really wide and realistic. Even without considering the price I think the Betsy's are a very good pair of speakers. Woodwork is not as delicate as Blumenstein but I think they look nice to me. It is also significantly cheaper than Blumenstein Orcas.

I was, however, shocked by the unprofessional and poor customer service of Blumenstein. (Caintuck audio was a great pleasure to deal with on the other hand.) Failing to respond to emails, lack of any communication on the progress of the order, repeated missing deadlines without any notice to me, changing ordered products without asking me first, defective cables, forgetting to include products that I ordered etc. Needless to say I won't be ordering from Blumenstein again.  Considered sending the whole system back to Blumenstein for a refund but decided didn't want to spend the extra shipping costs and to deal with Blumenstein any more. Chalked it up as a bad investment. At least the speakers when they did finally arrive sounded decent. Genuinely surprised at the bad service because I read a lot of positive reviews of the company online.

[benzxc]

I should also add that Clark was always polite and pleasant to speak with and always took my calls. It was just the entire experience that left a bad taste in my mouth.

[ALL212]

Hey Ben!

I'm going to add to this as a buyer beware on Blumenstein.  I really enjoyed talking to Clark and I ordered my Orca "old style" specials last year on December 6th.  I got them on the 12th of December this year, just a bit over 12 months from the initial order date.  Clark did mention it would be after the holiday before I got them.  Maybe I should have asked which holiday?

I received numerous "shipping soon", "shipping this weekend", etc only to find nothing had happened.  I wasn't in a hurry for them so I tried as best I could to allow Clark to work through this.  As far as I know he had issues with his prior land lord and had to move the entire shop to a new location and then get settled in.  I never got a "pre-emptive" email from him.  All correspondence was initiated by me.  Replies were always polite but not always true.

Part way through this, after sending an email to him with all of the prior emails with his responses in them pointing out that there were many opportunities for communication and truth, he did send a loner pair to me and I certainly did not expect that and it was much appreciated.

I have no complaints on the product, beautifully made and they do sound wonderful.  But if anyone here has close contact with him he needs to work on customer relations.  I think he has great potential but I too have a bad taste for his customer service.

Aaron

[benzxc]

Hi Aaron,

12 months! I don't know what lead time Clark quoted you, but he gave me a lead time of 4 to 6 weeks when I placed the order. Like you, I ordered the old style version. When 12 weeks had passed and I received numerous "shipping next week" emails I had enough and sent Clark a lengthy email detailing our correspondence and the many instances of unfulfilled deadlines and lack of initiative on his part to keep me in the loop on any delays in production schedule. I, as client, shouldn't be put in a situation where I have to continuously follow up to see what's going on - Clark needs to proactively keep me in the loop on any issues with production.

In response to the email, Clark gave me a firm shipping date, which I had requested. It was only after the order was shipped that Clark told me that he shipped a super light orca and not the old style that I ordered because there was production difficulties with the old style. There is a 100 USD difference between the two. Clark said he informed me of the change but I am pretty sure we did not have that conversation.

Suffice it to say it was pretty frustrating to do business with him. Honestly I'm not surprised others may have had similar experiences now that I think about it.

Clark still hasn't refunded the 100 USD difference between the old style that I paid for and the super light that he shipped to me. I don't really understand what kind of book keeping he has to do on his end to issue a refund through PayPal but I can't imagine it to be too onerous. It has been nearly three weeks since the order was shipped and he has yet issues the refund. I'm going to open up a dispute on PayPal if he doesn't issue the refund soon.

I too echo Aaron's comment that I think Clark has great potential but really needs to work on his customer service. It really is a deal breaker for me in this case.

[oguinn]

That’s so disappointing to hear. I picked my Orcas up on eBay and Clark was really super pleasant to deal with when I asked him for advice on which subs to add. I really like the Orcas but I’m not sure. I want to deal with the frustration of what you both did.

[Doc B.]

We don't have any direct connection with Blumenstein Audio other than that Clark is an old friend. As an outsider reading about this transaction I do understand your frustration. And I also have a bit of sympathy for Clark, having run a small business for many years and having gotten behind on delivering products at times. It's too bad that this went the way it did. Posting simply that it took a long time to get the speakers is reasonable. But if you guys have complaints to air at length with another manufacturer it's probably more reasonable to take it to them rather than posting a grievance here and asking us to relay your thoughts.

[benzxc]

Hi Doc,

Thanks for your message. I didn't mean to post anything to air any grievances, just want to let others know about my experience with this particular manufacturer. Especially given the fact that I got interested with Blumenstein from the positive posts here on this forum. But I'm sorry if I gave the impression that I was trying to ask you to relay my thoughts. I just wanted an honest review from my experience about that company. I will refrain from posting further about this on this forum. Sorry about that, Doc!

Ben