[alphaphoenix]

Fellow head-fiers. I read inputs from various Klipsch Custom 3 owners with some not having the stiff and kink prone wires. All three that I've owned, which were brand new, but were not purchased from "authorized" dealers have suffered the dreaded kink issue. For those who haven't experienced this unfortunate issue, did you purchase them directly from an authorized dealer?

The C3 were one of my favorite earphones despite the cable issues. I'm curious if those that bought from authorized dealers and don't or didn't have the issue, if the there is a correlation with quality and the batches sold from authorized and unauthorized dealers.

I appreciate your response. If there is indeed a correlation, I might just suck it up and pay $199 from Crutchfield. They confirmed that Klipsch will honor the 2 year warranty despite being a discontinued product.

Thanks all.

 

[lucozade]

My custom 3 came from amazon and is eight months old now and was used most days for 8hrs or so up untill jan and then 4hrs a day for a few months untill the mtps and ortos came out, have not had much use on them since then but they was my favorate iem befor the coppers came along.

The cable is still as good as it was out of the box ,no damage showing so far.

 

[Hentai11]

I can't recall whether the seller was authorized, but the cables are kinky. Creamy sound, though, and the biggest stock hard case I know for IEMs. I would bite the bullet.

 

[dharel]

I bought mine from J&R. Have a kink in the cable from day one. Just recently purchased Monster Turbine Pro Golds and have been using those over my Custom 3s.

 

[Rip N' Burn]

Had a few kinks with my C3 cable. Got them remolded by Unique Melody and they sound better than before. I use a Westone ES cable which is miles ahead of the stock C3 cable.

 

[Azathoth]

I got mine back then from an authorized retailer in my country, at a great price of about $175. The cables didn't fray, but had a slight (bent) kink near the plug. The left earpiece started to die after about 4 months, and the place where I bought them honored the warranty and gave me a brand new unit.

 

[rawrster]

u may have a one of a kind custom3 lucozade

to the OP: any interest in buying them cheap and then if the cable craps out you can either recable it (assuming its the jack) or just get them remolded?

 

[lucozade]

@rawrster, my c3 cable is the same stiff woven cloth covered type as on the orts, just half the thickness.

 

[mark2410]

mine came directly from klipsch, my custom 1 and 2 have a nice flexible cable though

 

[Kunlun]

I got the custom 2 from amazon--every single time I take them out (and after use), I let them untwist totally (only takes a moment). At least on mine, the kinking comes as a result of a twist in the cable. No twist, no kinks. I used them every day for 5 months before moving up to the mtpc.

 

[alphaphoenix]

Thanks all for your responses. I think I'll purchase directly from Amazon (not marketplace) for $136 and wait for them. Rip N' Burn did you or Unique Melody recabled the C3?

 

[mvw2]

I think the cable will last a while without issue. The main complaint is how easy it holds a kink and twists and knots up. It's terrible. However, the wire itself is fine, light weight, not great on microphonics but ok enough not to whine about it.

I prefer a couple other earphones over the Custom 3 at the price point, but what the Custom 3 offers really well is a thicker note that emphasizes things like bass guitars, drums, etc. and it has a very open and spacious sound stage that is typically hard to come by. I feel the thick note does get in the way of some micro detail though, and some information simply gets lost in the thick notes unavoidably.

At the low to mid hundreds, it's certainly a good option.

 

[alphaphoenix]

I repurchased the C3 for the fourth time!

 

[jjeremycai]

Congratulations on your purchase alphaphoenix--I now know why you PM'd me ;D

 

[lucozade]

Congratulations on your purchase alphaphoenix

x2