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Avatar B410 Neo Problem

Saetia

Saetia

Supporting Member
Mar 27, 2003
3,243
3,717
Wisconsin
#1
So I just got another B410 neo today.

I have been waiting for it for over a week, which was alright because I know it's a good cab.

I have two already and I love them for what they are and I decided I wanted to add another one for the Doom project I have going.

Anywho, so it was supposed to be here yesterday but got here a little over an hour ago.

I get it out of the box, set it up and turn up about 3 on the gain and 1 on the master volume so I can break it in.

This is my first new neo b410, the other two were used.

To my suprise everything below A on the E string made this buzzing noise... almost like it fuzzed out, or like it was rubbing.

I haven't taken the grill off yet to check the speakers, but I'm quite suprised and a little worried because "IT'S BRAND NEW!"

Here I sit in central time waiting until it hits 9 over there in pacific time so I can call dave up and see what's going on.

Ohh boy.

I read the thread a bit back about the longer leads on to the voice coils and I'm wondering if that's what may be the culperate.

I haven't even turned this up yet and it sounds blown or something that's very wrong.

What do you think could be wrong?

I know I could wait a half an hour and get dave on the phone, but yeah, I just dropped $421 so I hope I didn't get a lemon.

Thanks

Peace

-Benny
 
#2
Not all that uncommon when shipping is involved. Entirely possible that a driver or two were damaged when being jostled during shipping, or that a driver found its way out of Eminence's factory with a poorly aligned voice coil.

It happened to me once with a brand-new Aguilar GS-410 shipped directly from Aguilar. Contact Avatar, they'll accept a return of the damaged driver(s) and ship you replacements.
 
#3
I believe that the "long lead problem" was fixed by Eminence, so that is probably not your problem. Just speculation, but what might have happened is, the box may have been dropped and one or more of the voice coils damaged. Were there any smashed corners on the box, or evidence of rough handling? I had a b210 that arrived w/ the same symptoms as yours. And is was as stated above. See if you can isolate which speaker/speakers it is that are buzzing. If it is just one or 2, then have them ship/exchange them for you. If all 4 are buzzing ,I would return the whole cab. Avatar claims to test all the cabs before shipment. I just wonder if neo speakers are a bit fragile, when it comes to shipping. Another post I read once, the user stated that there was some buzz until his neo's warmed up a bit. I dont know if that is real or not. Maybe Bill F. might comment on the fragility or need to warm up a Neo?
 
#4
I plan on doing that here once they open.

I'm happy with my other avatar cabs for sure. I just wish that I didn't have to go through the wait time to get the new parts back.

DHL isn't my favorite anyway, always takes longer then quoted and they never update the tracking info. My cab sat in ohio for 3 days.... the funny thing is, I'm in WI lol.

Thanks

Peace

-Benny
 
#5
I just got mine yesterday, and when I hit the same notes as you, it almost sounds like a decaying phaser noise. I've read that you need to plug up the unused 1/4" jack in the back to stop a weird "whistling" noise. I'm going to try it tonight....
 
#6
jtc_hunter said:
I believe that the "long lead problem" was fixed by Eminence, so that is probably not your problem. Just speculation, but what might have happened is, the box may have been dropped and one or more of the voice coils damaged. Were there any smashed corners on the box, or evidence of rough handling? I had a b210 that arrived w/ the same symptoms as yours. And is was as stated above. See if you can isolate which speaker/speakers it is that are buzzing. If it is just one or 2, then have them ship/exchange them for you. If all 4 are buzzing ,I would return the whole cab. Avatar claims to test all the cabs before shipment. I just wonder if neo speakers are a bit fragile, when it comes to shipping. Another post I read once, the user stated that there was some buzz until his neo's warmed up a bit. I dont know if that is real or not. Maybe Bill F. might comment on the fragility or need to warm up a Neo?
Click to expand...

I wasn't able to isolate which speaker or speakers they were yet, I'll have to prop it up on something, I'm too tall lol. If the neos just need to warm up, that's fine. I just don't want to run out my 10 day return waiting for them to warm up haha.

I just spent another hour futzing around with warming it up. It seems that it doesn't have the buzzing as pronounced. I'll put some more time into it before I start thinking the worst.

Thanks
-Benny
 
#7
Call dave Avatar, tell him that you have a driver that is buzzing. Happens during shipping or a faulty driver and they will send you a new on at no cost. I replaced three out my four neo-drivers and they even sent me a spare on and a free t-shirt for the hassle. DHL was a tad bit rough on my new cab..
 
#9
sebastian said:
Call dave Avatar, tell him that you have a driver that is buzzing. Happens during shipping or a faulty driver and they will send you a new on at no cost. I replaced three out my four neo-drivers and they even sent me a spare on and a free t-shirt for the hassle. DHL was a tad bit rough on my new cab..
Click to expand...

This is the second time I've delt with DHL and I can say I'm not to happy with them. The way the box looks when I get the products and what happens to them inside. Also the lack of updates and completely irrational routes are crazy. My cab went from Avatar to Washington state, then it came back east and went to Ohio, then it finally made it back west to me in Wisconsin. Arrived late and at times went 3 or more days without updating the tracking data.

Anywho, I'll call Dave and let him know what's going on.

Thanks a ton.

Peace

-Benny
 
#11
My 410 Neo was perfect from the first time I plugged it in.Still is. No problems at all.Call Dave,he will take care of you. I had a damaged driver with an earlier 410 cab several years ago,and Dave had me a new driver on the way that day.Great customer service.
 
#12
So I called Avatar and talked to Spencer and he said that I need to single out which drivers are the ones doing the buzzing and he'll send me out replacements asap free of charge.

So I've been sitting here for the past half an hour with my head up to the drivers and it seems like 3 of them are doing the buzzing and fuzz. But then I move to a different position and it seems like it's a different set of 3. So I don't know, maybe it's all 4?

I mentioned to Spencer how there was a large indentation in the box and and that indentation is in the cab on the top. Not very large but enough to feel with your hands and see if you look close enough.

So what do you guys think?

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

Peace

-Benny
 
#14
Bass_Pounder said:
If you can't pinpoint which driver(s) are doing the buzzing, I would say send the whole thing back.

If there is box damage, and damage (however slight) to the cab itself, your just going to keep having problems unless the whole unit is replaced.
Click to expand...

I was affraid of this, going to be out what ever it costs to ship back, which will be more then the $42 it cost to have it shipped here.

Well, I'll give them a call again and see what we can work out.

Thanks

Peace

-Benny
 
#15
Look for my post "Avatar 410NEO Spoke too soon" and you'll see that I have the same exact problem! It sounds like I have a distortion pedal hooked up (which I don't) and seems like it's coming from all 4 speakers.

Dave at Avatar is sending me a replacement crossover. I'm not happy about having to remove speakers to do this surgery but it's probably faster than shipping it back for a replacement cab.

DHL absolutely dropped the ball on my delivery......it took 4 days longer than they estimated. And now it's been three days for the crossover and it's still not here.

Another thought is that, if these cabs get easily damaged in the shipping environment, how well will they stand up to the rigors of loading in and out of clubs all the time?

Please keep us posted on your ordeal and I'll do the same from my end.

Tony Noriega,
Tampa
 
#16
Talked to Dave this time, he said he's sending me out a new cross over today. He said since I took the speakers out already and tested em and all that it has to be the cross over because the odds of all 4 speakers going during shipping is pretty out there.

So I'll do the 20 minute swap and see if that words. If not, then it will go back.

Daves sending me a shirt.

The crazy thing is, Spencer was going to send me 4 new drivers lol, and Dave said it was the cross over. That would have been an expensive mistake if I would have gotten 4 new speakers and it would have only been the cross over.

I would have probably been upset if I had to send the drivers back lol.

We'll see where it goes from here. Gotta wait for DHL again.

Peace

-Benny
 
#17
Saetia said:
Talked to Dave this time, he said he's sending me out a new cross over today. He said since I took the speakers out already and tested em and all that it has to be the cross over because the odds of all 4 speakers going during shipping is pretty out there.

So I'll do the 20 minute swap and see if that words. If not, then it will go back.

Daves sending me a shirt.

The crazy thing is, Spencer was going to send me 4 new drivers lol, and Dave said it was the cross over. That would have been an expensive mistake if I would have gotten 4 new speakers and it would have only been the cross over.

I would have probably been upset if I had to send the drivers back lol.

We'll see where it goes from here. Gotta wait for DHL again.

Peace

-Benny
Click to expand...

I definitely want to see if this is the fix. I've been contemplating a neo 210 or 410 from Avatar. Keep us posted.
 
#19
tonynoriega said:
Just have to add that if you needed to ship it back due to a problem, you shouldn't have to foot the bill. I would expect the seller to pay for shipping back and for shipping on the replacement.......is that reasonable?

Tony
Click to expand...

If it's a warranty issue, the manufacturer will usually pay shipping charges. That and the hassle and time is usually why they try to see if the issue can be rectified with some troubleshooting and replacement parts. Especially if the problem happened during shipping.
 
#20
Saetia said:
I was affraid of this, going to be out what ever it costs to ship back, which will be more then the $42 it cost to have it shipped here.

Well, I'll give them a call again and see what we can work out.

Thanks

Peace

-Benny
Click to expand...
If you go to a DHL Station,(Office Max in my area) you will be suprised that it will be less than $42 to send it back. Avatar charges $42 to ship, but that includes the price of the box and packaging materials. You already have the box and materials. (I hope). I bet it will be around $28-30.
 

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