Circle Arko speakers - Discussion Thread

Sei said:
Gave the speakers on Monday to the Pune service center (carrying them around in an Auto is no joke; they're like 2 big rocks). Got a call from the Mumbai service center (the guy said that he handled service for entire India) saying that they can repair it but will not replace it. I told him that I have had these for less than 2 months and out of that period, I was away for nearly a month. I had already spoken to the Pune service center chap in January but could not take out the time to go there. He said that he will increase my warranty by another 2 months but insisted that I should accept a repair rather than a replacement since it will be difficult for him to explain why he gave a replacement.

I was quite insistent myself and had a good 10-15 minute discussion. In the end, he said that he will have to talk this over with his boss (who was not available at that time) and will get back to me. Initially I thought he was coming on a bit strong but later the conversation was quite good. He said that Circle doesn't advertise and saves the costs which results in cheaper products (with good quality). I told him that I have been buying Circle stuff (cabinets, headphones etc.) for quite some time and I am satisfied with the quality provided for the price.

They really are awesome speakers and I haven't even gotten a chance to enjoy them till now. :|

I was pleasantly surprised that I got a call and thanked him for taking out the time to speak to me. Let's see. Fingers crossed.
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Update 2:

Got a call again today. He said that he had spoken with the Director and agreed to give me a replacement.

He told me then he couldn't find the 80W in stock in Pune so he spoke to the Landmark sales head and confirmed that they did not have stock for this anywhere in India. So, he offered to upgrade it to Arko 100W if I am ready to pay the difference. The difference was Rs 2500 along with a free gift such as a wireless mouse/USB hub etc.

I told him that I had no use for the free gift and Rs 2500 was too much for me to spend right now when I only spent Rs 3500 in the first place. He said that he will speak to his boss again and get back to me. This kept going back and forth for about an hour or 2 until I agreed on a price of Rs. 1200.

He said that the set (apparently coming from Chennai) is going to be delivered to my home and he will get back to me with the shipping details and bill copy. The money will have to deposited in their account via wire transfer.

I'm really impressed that he followed up so much with me. Though the speaker set (now Arko 100W) will end up costing me Rs 4700, but I am more happy with a brand new set rather than a repaired piece.

I'll update this again once it is in my hands. Instead of going to Intex, Enter etc., I'm going to buy all low priced stuff from this company.
 
@Sei - Dude while you are in conversation with company can you check if they have a retailer in Mumbai? I want to really listen to these before spending money.
 
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sagar.sdm said:
And, I got lucky. My friend had been to Skywalk Mall on Sunday evening and thankfully the 2 sets were still available. Informed him about one of them having faulty tweeter, and hence to pick the other one by checking them speakers. Finally a decent budget bookshelf speakers for me! Now, to persuade my friend to visit Bangalore soon so that I can lay hands on the speakers and put them to good use.
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My friend in Chennai seems to be busy, and might not be able to visit Bangalore this weekend too. I am too tempted to check the speakers that I cannot wait anymore.

So, plan B - what is the best courier service that I should opt to get these speakers shipped from Chennai to Bangalore safely? Does courier service take care of packing the speakers too, or should it be done by the customer itself? I guess, using bubble wraps a lot would help. Any suggestions?

Quoting @Gannu here as he got his Arko speakers shipped from Bangalore to Surat. Help, please.
 
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IIRC Kranthi (the member who shipped it) used Gati via road. Reached here in 3 or 4 days - do not remember exactly. But the shipment reached with absolutely no problems. Kranthi had wrapped the box in multiple layers of bubble wraps. And the speakers themselves are encased in styrofoam inside the box so there should be no issues with shipping, if they are handled properly.
 
bubble wrap for these speakers?? I'd add a few sheets of thermocol!
Sei, I feel sorry for the poor service dude. while YOU paid 3.5k for the speakers, they are still 7k speakers, so they would be justified in asking for the full MRP difference. But they you would have been justified in asking for the MRP value back too :D

I bet it costs the dude 1200 just to ship the damn thing from chennai to pune. But i suppose they owe you a working piece. And gotta hand it to actually honoring their warranties. A lot of people would have just shrugged and said no stock saar, and left you high and dry. Lets hope they have a new range of speakers planned :)
 
greenhorn said:
bubble wrap for these speakers?? I'd add a few sheets of thermocol!
Sei, I feel sorry for the poor service dude. while YOU paid 3.5k for the speakers, they are still 7k speakers, so they would be justified in asking for the full MRP difference. But they you would have been justified in asking for the MRP value back too :D

I bet it costs the dude 1200 just to ship the damn thing from chennai to pune. But i suppose they owe you a working piece. And gotta hand it to actually honoring their warranties. A lot of people would have just shrugged and said no stock saar, and left you high and dry. Lets hope they have a new range of speakers planned :)
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I was actually quite surprised by the good quality of service. He followed up with me so much. I'm sure any other service center, except maybe Apple (but then i would have paid like 30k for these speakers), would have entertained me so much.

Yeah, I know that they are 7k speakers and probably worth the price but paying close to retail price would have negated the fact that I got them for a solid 50% discount. :)

Moreover, I've barely used them for a few hours. That's why I insisted on a replacement.

PS : You forgot to include the octroi from Chennai to Mumbai and from Mumbai to Pune. Yup, twice. Welcome to Maharashtra!
 
greenhorn said:
bubble wrap for these speakers?? I'd add a few sheets of thermocol!
I bet it costs the dude 1200 just to ship the damn thing from chennai to pune
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6 to 7 layers of bubble wrap + baggage wrap was done. 1200 LOL, i shipped it from Bangalore to Surat for 350/- that too with no account with GATI. If one has a account its half of what i spent.
 
hmmm. That tape deck of mine cost 700 from mysore to chennai via gati. I know it cost that much because the courier dude collected it. and it was lighter than the speakers. hmmmmm
 
My friend was charged Rs. 1600 from Mumbai to my place in Andhra to ship the Arko 100w via DTDC. In the end got damaged speakers, which I fixed it after a month or so.
 
Update: I finally got my set to Bangalore. To my bad luck - tweeter on the speaker w/0 amplifier is not functioning, and remote sensor isn't working on the other. The remote is working just fine, checked with my phone camera if it is emitting IR signals. My friend in Chennai who picked the speakers for me must not have been able to check the speakers properly before buying, I had told him that one of the sets has a malfunctioning tweeter based on the inputs from @greenhorn here.

Anyway, I contacted Circle Bangalore service guy and was made to talk to Deepak from Circle head office based in Bombay. He was courteous, and has promised to get back to me by Tuesday. I asked him if I could get a replacement, to which he said that there are no stock of 80W speakers anywhere, but he would check further with his manager for the options. He even mentioned about @Sei and the replacement he got, although he referred to him as 'Pune guy'. He mentioned that Sei's defective speakers are in Pune Circle service center, and an option of using the working parts from his set to repair mine. This brings me to ask @Sei - which speaker tweeter was malfunctioning in your set?

I am loving these speakers so much, even with one of the tweeters not functioning & at stock bass-treble levels, that I would not mind getting the tweeter and remoter sensor repaired/replaced; if not the whole speaker set replacement. Fingers crossed, let me see what works out.

What would you guys suggest? Should I get it repaired, or should I opt for a new Arko 100W replacement as Sei did? Sei, please let us know how good is the 100W Arko compared to its sibling at 80W.

Here are a couple of snaps of the rig with the sweet speakers -

WP_002872.jpgWP_002892.jpgWP_002899.jpg
 
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sagar.sdm said:
Anyway, I contacted Circle Bangalore service guy and was made to talk to Deepak from Circle head office based in Bombay. He was courteous, and has promised to get back to me by Tuesday. I asked him if I could get a replacement, to which he said that there are no stock of 80W speakers anywhere, but he would check further with his manager for the options. He even mentioned about @Sei and the replacement he got, although he referred to him as 'Pune guy'. He mentioned that Sei's defective speakers are in Pune Circle service center, and an option of using the working parts from his set to repair mine. This brings me to ask @Sei - which speaker tweeter was malfunctioning in your set?

I am loving these speakers so much, even with one of the tweeters not functioning & at stock bass-treble levels, that I would not mind getting the tweeter and remoter sensor repaired/replaced; if not the whole speaker set replacement. Fingers crossed, let me see what works out.

What would you guys suggest? Should I get it repaired, or should I opt for a new Arko 100W replacement as Sei did? Sei, please let us know how good is the 100W Arko compared to its sibling at 80W.

Here are a couple of snaps of the rig with the sweet speakers -

View attachment 19288View attachment 19289View attachment 19290
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I'm not sure which part is not working properly. He just told me that some small component is not working and can be replaced.

I'm yet to get my Arko 100W from the service center. Might go there tomorrow.
 
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My woofer on the non amp speaker went kaput as well. Have handed it over to circle at their office on sp road. Will wait for a reply from them.
 
Looks like a lot of users are experiencing issues with the set. This is really worrying me now! :(

*touchwood* my set has been working fine until now.
 
Perhaps might be a fragile crossover assembly, in which case, it shouldn't be too hard as long as there is no damage to the inductors (if any)
 
Finally opened the Arko 80w box two weeks back, the remote wasn't working. So I contacted customer care and they shipped a new remote in two days flat. Service & response seems to be very good.



After using 100w Arko for two months now, I find 80w to be sounding better or maybe it's just the placebo effect.
 
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