Chipped ER-4P
May 7, 2005 at 6:04 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 21

LedFloyd

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I couldn't get a very good picture of it. It's so small and my camera isn't very good at focusing this close.

The crack is outlined in yellow. This is on the left (blue) driver.

chip.jpg


I noticed this quite some time ago. I believe it happened when I was trying to decide between the foamies and the silicone tips. The foamies won. But I might have been too careless when I was putting things on and taking things off.

What do you suggest I do about this? I got my Ety's last Christmas. I haven't noticed a defect in sound, but I do believe that the chip is getting slightly larger with time.
 
May 7, 2005 at 6:11 PM Post #2 of 21
if you got it new last christmas, they should still be under warranty. send them in i say!
 
May 7, 2005 at 7:43 PM Post #5 of 21
I used to have the ER-4P's - fantastic-sounding things but high maintenance and fragile. The plastic tubes break too easily and, once warranty is up, they cost a LOT of money to keep replacing.

Good luck.
 
May 7, 2005 at 8:50 PM Post #6 of 21
They replace my tubes quickly and with great service. Of course, mine were still under warranty so the money wasn't an issue. The explanation given to me was some sort of moisture contamination which led to weak tubes. Supposedly it was corrected but I continue to see episodes like yours. I'm convinced the problem is the design and thinness of the tubes combined with the use of the hard plastic tubes in the foamies. I'd used the triflanges almost exclusively for the first few months I had them. Upon switching to the foamies, I experienced cracking. I also ruled out the filter changing as I'd only had to replace the filters once(I have clean ears!). JMO and theory.
 
May 7, 2005 at 8:52 PM Post #7 of 21
The Ety's have hard plastic for their foamie tubing? Ouch... Shures have rubber in their foamies- maybe use Shure foamies with your Etys?
 
May 7, 2005 at 9:17 PM Post #8 of 21
Whatever - the Etys have a very poor design flaw, IMHO. Might be fine for 90% of its users who don't need to change the filters that often. I have a *serious-ass* earwax problem that required new filters every month, or less, and that put a lot of stress on those thin tubes walls.

Are the Shures more robust? They appear to be so in the pictures.
 
May 7, 2005 at 9:56 PM Post #9 of 21
I believe it happen in two step.

First Small crack occured when the metal filter expand.

From d_wilson of etymotic in This tread from 01-16-2003
Quote:

The plastic is Lexan which is a very good plastic used in many parts such as your car headlights.

The cracking we occasionly see has nothing to do with the eartip. The cracking is coming from the inside caused by pressure from the metal filter. Some runs of the plastic seem to be more brittle, most likely due to slight changes in the molding process. Changing the radius or the thickness of the plastic at this point won't improve the problem. THere are other plastics we might try, but we eould have problems with attaching the socket to the end. Metal wouldn't crack, but working with the metal canned filters is a problem.


Then the cracked tube is fragile and you need to be carefull changing foamy. Eventualy one day you'll be less carefull make a mistake and chip the tube.

Mine also crack then chips but are no longer under warrenty and it's the second time they crack the first time were replace under warrenty. So I made a DIY pseudo repair. work great with triflange too fat for foamy so I'm only with triflange now.
 
May 7, 2005 at 10:05 PM Post #10 of 21
Man, I'm glad I heard it from the horse's mouth - I wasn't aware of that post by Don Wilson. My thinking and fanaticism about design flaws with the 4P's is well-founded.

Again, may not ever be an issue if your earwax is "normal" and you don't change the tips.

Are the 6i's any better designed? I love the Ety sound.
etysmile.gif
 
May 7, 2005 at 10:32 PM Post #11 of 21
Quote:

Are the Shures more robust? They appear to be so in the pictures.


I've never actually felt Etys, but the Shures are definately robust. Very much so
biggrin.gif
.

/me LOVES his E3s so much...
 
May 7, 2005 at 10:43 PM Post #13 of 21
Can you elaborate? I may be interested in getting back into using IEMs and the Shures would be the choice, probably the E3C's.
 
May 7, 2005 at 10:50 PM Post #14 of 21
i've had 2 sets of E2c's that had bad soldering where the cable connects to the tranducers, and i've had two friends with E3c's that had to have warranty work. in one case the left channel went out due to a marginal join, and in the other the sound tube on the right hand tranducer (where you put the foamies, or triflanges, whatever) came off when he changed tips. none of us abused our phones. the Etys have plenty of problems, documented here in my long struggle with the ER6i's and the ER-4 tube problems in this and other threads, but the Shures aren't the paradigm of reliability either.
 
May 7, 2005 at 11:48 PM Post #15 of 21
Quote:

Originally Posted by Superbaldguy

Are the Shures more robust? They appear to be so in the pictures.



I got my E3's two weeks ago and the first day I dropped them on the sidewalk and stepped on them with my hiking boot. Not a scratch!
 

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