Mko
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2008
- Posts
- 6
- Likes
- 0
I've had Shure e500's for about a year, and while they (still) sound great, they have given me nothing but headaches. I would never buy Shure earphones again, although (unbelievably) they sound great, despite my history with them (see below).
First the cables cracked, and were on the verge of snapping. Shure were no help; since the earphones were purchased (new) online on eBay from an unregistered dealer, they would not honor the warranty.
I finally decided to repair the cables: I bought various diameters of 3M heat-shrink tubing, and a separate earphone extension cable (unbelievably, the Shure extension cable that came with my earphones also died, requiring me to buy another one!).
I cut the cables on my earphones just where the "Y" merged to become one cable, and I simultaneously cut my extension cable. I exposed the wiring on both my earphones, and the extension cabling.
I then slid the heatshrink tubing over the earphone cables. I made sure that I bought a long enough length that would completely protect the cables, from the earpieces, right to the (now exposed) ends. I also slid heatshrink tubing over the extension cable. I then resoldered the earphones together with the extension cable, and checked to make sure that the sound worked (it did). I then used a cigarette lighter to shrink the heatshrink tubing, in effect repairing the cracked cables, and using electrical tape, I first covered the newly soldered "joint" together with tape, and then covered the taped region with heatshrink tubing as well, which I then "shrunk" using heat. The cables were now "repaired", and the earphones even looked cosmetically ok.
But get this: ONE WEEK LATER: the plastic tube assembly that projects from the Right earpiece snapped. I honestly couldn't believe it.
I came home, and had to perform more surgery on the earphones. I used cyanoacrylate superglue, and after applying a very thin layer of glue, I reattached the broken pieces. Before attaching the broken pieces, I could physically see the channels that music came from, and my worry was that I would accidentally cover the channels by gluing everything back together (thus obstructing the sound), but fortunately, this did not happen. Unbelievably, after gluing the snapped tube assembly back to the body of the earpiece, the earphones STILL SOUNDED GREAT! I was certain that there would be buzzing, but this was not the case. I used the earphones for a few days, and while there was no evidence of the tube becoming loosened, I was worried (and firmly believed that it was likely) that this would indeed eventually happen. Therefore, I decided to further reinforce the earpiece housing by covering a significant fraction of the earpiece assembly with epoxy. My thinking was: it is less likely that both the crazy glue and surrounding epoxy would fail (versus just the crazy glue).
Currently, the earphones still sound great, and actually don't look too bad. I will let you know if I experience failure.
But should anyone have to go through my ordeal with such an expensive set of earphones?
I will NEVER ever buy Shure products again, and even though they still sound great, I strongly advise everyone who reads this to never buy any Shure products. The build quality is inferior - I have an old pair of Etymotic er6's that I have had for ages, and there is no comparison between the build quality of these, versus the Shure's. A company should stand behind their products: Shure at first did (as you can see from early posts on this forum), but then they backed down. And as such, they lost my future business, and I hope you also shop elsewhere.
Best Regards,
Mko.
First the cables cracked, and were on the verge of snapping. Shure were no help; since the earphones were purchased (new) online on eBay from an unregistered dealer, they would not honor the warranty.
I finally decided to repair the cables: I bought various diameters of 3M heat-shrink tubing, and a separate earphone extension cable (unbelievably, the Shure extension cable that came with my earphones also died, requiring me to buy another one!).
I cut the cables on my earphones just where the "Y" merged to become one cable, and I simultaneously cut my extension cable. I exposed the wiring on both my earphones, and the extension cabling.
I then slid the heatshrink tubing over the earphone cables. I made sure that I bought a long enough length that would completely protect the cables, from the earpieces, right to the (now exposed) ends. I also slid heatshrink tubing over the extension cable. I then resoldered the earphones together with the extension cable, and checked to make sure that the sound worked (it did). I then used a cigarette lighter to shrink the heatshrink tubing, in effect repairing the cracked cables, and using electrical tape, I first covered the newly soldered "joint" together with tape, and then covered the taped region with heatshrink tubing as well, which I then "shrunk" using heat. The cables were now "repaired", and the earphones even looked cosmetically ok.
But get this: ONE WEEK LATER: the plastic tube assembly that projects from the Right earpiece snapped. I honestly couldn't believe it.
I came home, and had to perform more surgery on the earphones. I used cyanoacrylate superglue, and after applying a very thin layer of glue, I reattached the broken pieces. Before attaching the broken pieces, I could physically see the channels that music came from, and my worry was that I would accidentally cover the channels by gluing everything back together (thus obstructing the sound), but fortunately, this did not happen. Unbelievably, after gluing the snapped tube assembly back to the body of the earpiece, the earphones STILL SOUNDED GREAT! I was certain that there would be buzzing, but this was not the case. I used the earphones for a few days, and while there was no evidence of the tube becoming loosened, I was worried (and firmly believed that it was likely) that this would indeed eventually happen. Therefore, I decided to further reinforce the earpiece housing by covering a significant fraction of the earpiece assembly with epoxy. My thinking was: it is less likely that both the crazy glue and surrounding epoxy would fail (versus just the crazy glue).
Currently, the earphones still sound great, and actually don't look too bad. I will let you know if I experience failure.
But should anyone have to go through my ordeal with such an expensive set of earphones?
I will NEVER ever buy Shure products again, and even though they still sound great, I strongly advise everyone who reads this to never buy any Shure products. The build quality is inferior - I have an old pair of Etymotic er6's that I have had for ages, and there is no comparison between the build quality of these, versus the Shure's. A company should stand behind their products: Shure at first did (as you can see from early posts on this forum), but then they backed down. And as such, they lost my future business, and I hope you also shop elsewhere.
Best Regards,
Mko.
