[bindibadgi]

I don't know how it happened, because I have been extremely careful with these ever since I got them.

The part that broke is on the right arm, the front bit that holds the cup. Unfortunately it happens to be the one which holds the wire, so it appears to be fairly thin.

Can I repair this easily, or will I need to try to obtain a replacement part? I don't know what type of plastic it is, but would cyanoacrylate (super glue) work or would it damage it further? I would obviously have to dismantle the cup in order to get the wire out of the part first. Then I could glue it without getting the wire glued onto it.

Help!

 

[EsthetiX]

pics...

 

[bindibadgi]

Well, to borrow warrior05's pic

See the wires coming out of the little lug on the lower right of the picture? That lug has snapped off. The wire is still in one piece though.

Note that the wires in the pic above are from a mod. I have not modded my phones, so it's a single wire (it has to have two inside it, but it's hella small).

 

[Toby M]

If you bought it from somewhere in Australia I'd definately return it for replacement. Otherwise I don't see why glue wouldn't work if it was strong enough. Superglue shouldn't damage it but it might not be strong enough, you might be better off with that two part epoxy glue stuff.

 

[bindibadgi]

Aha. I've got some of that too. I think you may be right.

Oh, and yes I bought it from overseas. Since I saved a lot more than the postage would cost me, I guess it's still a good deal even if I do return them. I sent an email to Equation so I'll see what they say first.

Trying to stay calm here...

 

[Toby M]

Most companies won't honour warranty in Australia if you bought it overseas. Meaning you'd have to send it back to the US supplier not the Australian supplier for warranty, in which case it'd probably be cheaper just to pay for the repairs and get it done in Australia and save on the postage. But yeah, email them first and see.

Its kinda hard to see how the lug is designed from the pics but it looks like it wouldn't be that hard to drill holes in it and replace the lugs with metal tubing if it came to it. But epoxy should work, it's pretty tough

 

[captian73]

were you trying to mod them?

 

[tbonner1]

You can superglue it carefully, but I would also get the replacement part are use Warrior's picture guide when you put it back together.

Please let us know how Equation Audio responds to your part request.

 

[ericj]

I recommend superglue rather than epoxy.

The only thing superglue is really good at is faces that mate perfectly, like a break in a piece of plastic.

epoxy is better when the bonding surfaces don't mate well, and where there is a lot of room available to be sloppy with it.

 

[Psiga]

Hey, my RP-15mc went bye-bye today! A 1.5 millimeter bit of plastic decided that it could no longer bear the weight of existence.

When attempting to send a message to their PHP support page, I got this little lovely:

D'oh. Let's see how this turns out.

Edit for gory detail shot:

Reinforce with metal, plz kthx.

I managed to submit my plea on the second try, by the way. In the end, I will probably be better served by superglue than by sending them in for a repair or replacement. Still... Ugh. 1.5mm of plastic. Come on.

 

[warrior05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psiga /img/forum/go_quote.gif Edit for gory detail shot: Reinforce with metal, plz kthx.

Can't see this happening with the 21s at least. The way the forks are attached to the headband is pretty hardy.

As for the piece that broke on the OP - I'm a bit surprised. Obviously the strength of that piece is a bit compromised due to the channel for the wire but it seemed to be pretty strong. I was putting a fair amount of pressure on it when I was doing my mod because they used glue to keep the wire in place. I had to cut, scrape and sandpaper it out of the channel to make room for my two wires.

There is also a small metal bar that presses against that piece to create a subtle spring action on the flattened side of the plastic. It prevents the earcup from swiveling too freely on the fork supports.

The engineers were really detailed when building the 21s. It's pretty impressive IMO.

 

[bindibadgi]

I thought so too. I'm actually not sure whether I broke it or it was already broken, since I only noticed on close inspection, and from a distance it all looks like normal. But that's really because the wire is keeping the two bits from drifting apart (eek!).

The only mod I've done is to replace the pads with Beyer leather (very nice by the way). I was so careful when I did this that I would be most surprised if this did the breaking.

My money is actually on a defective part, since they look like they should be able to take quite a beating, but I've really babied them.

I've got them sitting on a shelf at home (I'm very sad about that, because they sound so good) until I see what Equation say about the matter.

As far as postage/repair, it would likely be cheaper to send them back to the US than to get them serviced here (since I agree the Australian dealer can't be expected to do warranty work when I bought them from overseas). I suspect that super glue would work here but I'd rather have a solid part to begin with.

BTW the RP-15 looks more like a design flaw to me, since that is a tiny piece of plastic which presumably takes a fair bit of stress. The bit that failed on my RP-21 is not really undergoing that much stress that it should break, I wouldn't think.

 

[Psiga]

The hinge on the RP-15 does take stress. Unlike the RP-21, it does not have a swiveling fork; any non-uniform tension goes directly against the thin pieces that compose the hinge.

I heard back from their support staff earlier today: "All plastics are not the same, but given the polymer that we use, the 1.5 mm thickness has proven to provide quite adequate strength. However, regardless of how it broke we stand behind our products and will replace the headphones that you have."

They've offered to ship me a replacement, though they've also requested that I send back the broken one for 'inspection' when I can. Presumably at my own expense. Ah well. That's how it goes; I suppose it's better than the superglue option.

I hope your RP-21 issue works out, bindi. Your issue does seem like a failed bit.

 

[bindibadgi]

I'm yet to hear back. When did you contact them? Perhaps I contacted the wrong dude?

 

[Psiga]

Around 10:30am American PST, and I heard back in about two hours. Contacted them through http://www.equationaudio.com/Contact/support.htm and got an email response from "CP Pores".