# Parts Express - Speaker Wire has changed in Quality . Audtek 14 AWG OFC Speaker Wire 500 ft. Audtek Electronics SKRL-14-500 OFC wire 14 AWG



## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

My speaker wire purchase ( Quantity 2 ) was purchased on AMAZON through a third party called PARTS EXPRESS , my purchase was delivered in August 2020.
Please note I have been purchasing this specific Speaker wire part # *Audtek Electronics SKRL-14-500 14 AWG OFC Speaker Wire 500 ft *for many years from parts express directly, this mean I know the wire very well .
When my purchase was delivered , it was inspected and there was damages to both packages , I could see the speaker wire without opening the package because there was a gaping hole in one box , I also immediately noticed that the wire on the broken spool was totally different the wire that was described on Amazon website .
I was very disappointed because this “ new incorrect wire ” had the old part # which had misled me as a customer and I was not notified by the listing , by Amazon or Parts Express that the product had changed , this “ new wire “ was of a lower quality / subpar quality when compared with the original wire that I was purchasing for many years . I contacted amazon in Septebmer 2020 and notified them of the problem I got no response for months and now Parts Express / Amazon is refusing to resolve a customer issue because months have passed . Please note also I tried to contact amazon again about this problem but it was in the middle of the pandemic and Amazon support was not readily available on the phone like normal.

In Summary :

The item received was not as described or pictured . ( Product is different from what was purchased )
The item arrived damaged , Wire Spool Broken and with 500 feet of wire this can be a challenge to untangle if I had decided to keep this purchase.
PARTS EXPRESS need to make a better effort in packaging there products especially speaker wire that weighs quite a lot . One layer of bubble wrap and crumpled brown paper is inadequate, mediocre and unacceptable.
This seller - Parts Express is NOT RECOMMENDED , they drained my energy in a continuous loop and refuse to provide me with a refund or replacement of the correct product after all the headache they caused me.
This “ new incorrect product *Audtek Electronics SKRL-14-500 14 AWG OFC Speaker Wire 500 ft* is NOT RECOMMENDED .


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

Personally, I've never had an issue with returning something through Amazon. Especially if the package was damaged upon delivery...
Click on the: *RETURN OR REPLCE* icon, and boom, they send you a printable label to ship it back. No questions asked.

Many folks on this site deal directly with Parts-Express (not through Amazon). They are a well known vendor.
Have you tried contacting them directly?





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Audtek 14 AWG OFC Speaker Wire 500 ft.Audtek Electronics' SKRL speaker wire is designed to complement any high-end audio system. Oxygen free copper (OFC) is configured in a rope-lay configuration to minimize skin effect which causes high frequency roll-off. Clear, flexible PVC insulation...




www.parts-express.com


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

what specifically about the wire is inferior? Is it still 14ga OFC?


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## daloudin (Nov 2, 2020)

NEVER use Amazon for anything from Parts Express. You might save on shipping cause you have Prime but all Amazon is doing is being the warehouse for PE and they don't package things as well as PE does. Then when you have a problem you have to go through Amazon Fulfillment instead of direct with PE and it's a nightmare. I had the same experience with a soldering iron that was supposedly sold by PE but was a Chinese Copy of the Iron that Amazon Fulfillment was allowed to substitute by contract. Sent it back twice and they replaced it twice with the same cheap copy. Had to get a lawyer involved to do a straight return instead of replacement. 

If the listing says sold by Parts Express (or anyone else) by Amazon Fulfillment Services be careful.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


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## John-117 (Jan 20, 2019)

Strange! In my case I always choose Amazon for seller instead of a 3rd party seller OR handled/shipped by Amazon. If something go wrong or you dont like the item, Amazon dont ask any question as jimmydee say and the return is so easy. I never have done business with Part Express but cases like that is why I never buy from 3rd party seller on Amazon. Waiting for a email reply, then another email then a RMA number...yeah no thanks. I'm not saying all manufacturer are like that but too much headache when something go wrong and you need customer service.

Concerning the package, you are not the only one complaining about the poor packaging. See review from 2015 LOL









Home


Audtek 14 AWG OFC Speaker Wire 500 ft.Audtek Electronics' SKRL speaker wire is designed to complement any high-end audio system. Oxygen free copper (OFC) is configured in a rope-lay configuration to minimize skin effect which causes high frequency roll-off. Clear, flexible PVC insulation...




www.parts-express.com


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## cman (Aug 24, 2020)

Not gunna lie. Amazon has the BEST customer service I have ever experienced. I could put a pile of dog **** in the box and send it back and they would still probably give me my money back. I would never do that, people that abuse the easy Amazon returns will get banned if they abuse the system (I've read about it happening)

But I am a frequent Amazon customer, I have an Amazon Prime credit card giving me 5% cash back on all my Amazon purchases. And anytime i get a sub par product they take it back no questions asked. Just like @jimmydee mentioned, click return and print out a label.


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## cman (Aug 24, 2020)

miniSQ said:


> what specifically about the wire is inferior? Is it still 14ga OFC?


I am also curious what is wrong with the wire. There's only a few things it could be... 

- Jacket is less flexible

-Wire size is less (ie. higher gauge so less copper)

-Wire is copper coated aluminum instead of solid copper

Beyond that I have no idea what could be wrong with wire... its a very simple concept, its a piece of copper??


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

jimmydee said:


> Personally, I've never had an issue with returning something through Amazon. Especially if the package was damaged upon delivery...
> Click on the: *RETURN OR REPLCE* icon, and boom, they send you a printable label to ship it back. No questions asked.
> 
> Many folks on this site deal directly with Parts-Express (not through Amazon). They are a well known vendor.
> ...


Normally Amazon return is great but this return was in the midst of the pandemic when Amazon support was offline and you couldn't reach them via phone . At the time of purchase I didnt even realize that I was shopping with a " Third Party " I thought Amazon was selling this product directly . I have also dealt directly with Parts Express on countless occasions and parts express in my opinion is not as flexible with returns as Amazon , they had me jumping through hoop to return a similar wire purchase that had been damaged in shipping even though I do quite a bit of shopping with them quite frequently .


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## daloudin (Nov 2, 2020)

I've been an Amazon Prime member for 5 years. I could give you a hundred examples of them messing things up but it's probably less than 1% of the things we get from there...

Good example - ordered a Rear Windshield Wiper Motor for a Chrysler minivan from there. Received an Interior Air Filter for a Lexus... contacted Amazon, they cross shipped another motor (the right part this time) and I printed out a return label and returned the wrong part. They would not give me credit for the return since I returned an $8 filter for the $80 wiper motor. Had to file a grievance and get my lawyer to file paperwork in small claims court for them to give me credit. Now if I hadn't already had someone on retainer who's going to go through all that for $80?

I'm not saying don't use Amazon. I've used them for clothes, vitamins, and hundreds of small items that are always delivered within 2 days. They are more reliable than going to Walmart who's usually sold out of whatever you need. But heavy, expensive or fragile items or things that get pirated easily I try to go direct. 

I have used a bunch of heavy Dayton drivers and have had to return more than I've kept from Amazon. Never had to return one from PE.

None of which speaks to the OP about wire quality. What I was wondering was if Amazon Fulfillment substituted a similar product like they did with my soldering iron. 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

John-117 said:


> Strange! In my case I always choose Amazon for seller instead of a 3rd party seller OR handled/shipped by Amazon. If something go wrong or you dont like the item, Amazon dont ask any question as jimmydee say and the return is so easy. I never have done business with Part Express but cases like that is why I never buy from 3rd party seller on Amazon. Waiting for a email reply, then another email then a RMA number...yeah no thanks. I'm not saying all manufacturer are like that but too much headache when something go wrong and you need customer service.
> 
> Concerning the package, you are not the only one complaining about the poor packaging. See review from 2015 LOL
> 
> ...


 Wow , it seems like customers complaint and reviews fall on deaf ears . Parts express just dont care , this is not just with heavy wire purchases ,this has happened to me multiple times with speaker and tweeter purchases , Parts express just simply throw the products in a box with little to no packaging material , real cheap and with the least of care . Parts express also intentionally deletes honest feedbacks from their website so you cant even trust the reviews that you are seeing .


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

cman said:


> I am also curious what is wrong with the wire. There's only a few things it could be...
> 
> - Jacket is less flexible
> 
> ...



Here are a few of the issues :
(1) The wire size is just a hair slightly smaller. 
(2) For the application that I use it for the esthetics is very important , that red line / polarity indicator is a eye soar to me and my project
(3) If you feel both wires in your hand the quality is very much different 
(4) As a customer , I am expecting to get exactly what was pictured in the listing . ( Not a new product using the old part # ( In my opinion that is misleading )
(5) With broken wire spools , this purchase cannot fit on my wire rack and I have no patience untangling the spool when I need to use it .


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

miniSQ said:


> what specifically about the wire is inferior? Is it still 14ga OFC?


Here are a few of the issues :
(1) The wire size is just a hair slightly smaller. 
(2) For the application that I use it for the esthetics is very important , that red line / polarity indicator is a eye soar to me and my project
(3) If you feel both wires in your hand the quality is very much different 
(4) As a customer , I am expecting to get exactly what was pictured in the listing . ( Not a new product using the old part # ( In my opinion that is misleading )
(5) With broken wire spools , this purchase cannot fit on my wire rack and I have no patience untangling the spool when I need to use it .


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

jimmydee said:


> Personally, I've never had an issue with returning something through Amazon. Especially if the package was damaged upon delivery...
> Click on the: *RETURN OR REPLCE* icon, and boom, they send you a printable label to ship it back. No questions asked.
> 
> Many folks on this site deal directly with Parts-Express (not through Amazon). They are a well known vendor.
> ...


Thanks , I have already contacted parts express and they refuse to replace or provide a refund .


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

Seems like an ax to grind post to be honest. This happened 8 months ago and you join today just to trash PE. Overall PE has an impeccable reputation and this thread will do nothing to hurt their business. I am sorry you had a bad experience, but this should have been handled the day you received the box.

Seeems to me the red line on the jacket is your biggest pet peeve, and on the PE website the description states:


Red line on one conductor and ridge on the other for easy polarity identification


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

Power Music said:


> Normally Amazon return is great but this return was in the midst of the pandemic when Amazon support was offline and you couldn't reach them via phone.


I'm not arguing with you about the poor quality of the product received... but I'm failing to see the issue with returning it for a refund. 
Amazon gives you a 30 day window to return items. The cutoff date is always shown on your purchase.

The goods showed-up damaged. It was obvious, the day you received them.
At that point; go to your order on the Amazon website, and click on the: *RETURN OR REPLACE* icon.
Select the reason for return, which was: _'product and shipping box were damaged upon receipt'_.
Then Amazon creates a return label for you... and you ship the items back to them.
Again, I can clearly see there is an issue with the product itself... but there's got to be something here I'm missing.

You received the product in August. Why wait until September (after the return window had closed) to send Amazon a complaint about it?
Why would you even need to talk to Amazon on the phone? And why wait for months, hoping they call you back?
The items arrived damaged. Just ship it back to them, and get your refund.
... And why, 8 months after this happened, did you decide to create an account on this website, just to complain about it?


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

OP's life must be absolutely amazing for this to be an issue to complain about 8 months after the fact. A red stripe on speaker wire and a broken spool.


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## John-117 (Jan 20, 2019)

cman said:


> Not gunna lie. Amazon has the BEST customer service I have ever experienced. I could put a pile of dog **** in the box and send it back and they would still probably give me my money back. I would never do that, people that abuse the easy Amazon returns will get banned if they abuse the system (I've read about it happening)
> 
> But I am a frequent Amazon customer, I have an Amazon Prime credit card giving me 5% cash back on all my Amazon purchases. And anytime i get a sub par product they take it back no questions asked. Just like @jimmydee mentioned, click return and print out a label.


Yeah dont be that guy


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

miniSQ said:


> Seems like an ax to grind post to be honest. This happened 8 months ago and you join today just to trash PE. Overall PE has an impeccable reputation and this thread will do nothing to hurt their business. I am sorry you had a bad experience, but this should have been handled the day you received the box.
> 
> Seeems to me the red line on the jacket is your biggest pet peeve, and on the PE website the description states:
> 
> ...


You are been very judgemental based on your statement but thank you for your contribution. While you might not fully understand the importance of good quality speaker wires to the overall sounds system while maintaining uniformity and looking aesthetically pleasing at the same time. Don't worry I am here to teach. 
When you are ready to ask your " No Brainer Rookie Questions " about technical aspects of your system , I will be the one here to set you straight and keep by enlightened, at that time you will be glad I joined . 
Some people are fine with buying " X " and getting " Y " , I am not that person. This information is useful for future customers looking to purchase this same product , please dont be selfish smarty pants if you have nothing positive to contribute please move along to another forum discussion.


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

Niebur3 said:


> OP's life must be absolutely amazing for this to be an issue to complain about 8 months after the fact. A red stripe on speaker wire and a broken spool.


Yes life is good and yes it is worth mentioning especially when buying multiple spools of 500 feet . Hope that helps you to understand .


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

Power Music said:


> .... Don't worry I am here to teach....(and) when you are ready to ask your " No Brainer Rookie Questions " about technical aspects of your system , I will be the one here to set you straight and keep by (sic) enlightened, at that time you will be glad I joined .


Sorry...but LMAO...

If this is your first "teaching" thread, and it expresses your overall attitude to "teaching", then I hate to break it to you, but while you might be here to teach, very few members here are going to be glad that you joined !!!


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

BTW-- everyone who has been saying that you simply should have returned the broken spools and unaccepatble wire directly just after you saw that they were broken and differnt from what you were expecting IS correct... PE owes you NOTHING after 6 months.

In terms of actual wire size, as long as it meets AWG specs, then you ALSO have nothing to complain about.
Copper refiners have been getting more pure copper out of ore for a few decades now. Higher purity copper increases conductivity and allows manufacturers to use smaller diameters....that's just the way it is.

If for some reason, you don;t believe me, take the time to check out some 12-2 w/g romex going into a plug from a house built in 1981 versus the stuff you can buy today...its STILL labeled 12-2 w/g but is CLEARLY a smaller diameter...in fact 12-2 today looks like 14-2 from yesteryear but STILL meets the same important ampacity specs.

Just my .02 ... NOT trying to teach you anything !!!


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Power Music said:


> Yes life is good and yes it is worth mentioning especially when buying multiple spools of 500 feet . Hope that helps you to understand .


Nope, but thanks for the response. Maybe try techflex to pretty up things with the wire.


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

seafish said:


> Sorry...but LMAO...
> 
> If this is your first "teaching" thread, and it expresses your overall attitude to "teaching", then I hate to break it to you, but while you might be here to teach, very few members here are going to be glad that you joined !!!


Cool , thanks for getting the humor . I will still impart some knowledge as we all dont know every thing and can learn something from each other .


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

Niebur3 said:


> Nope, but thanks for the response. Maybe try techflex to pretty up things with the wire.





Niebur3 said:


> Nope, but thanks for the response. Maybe try techflex to pretty up things with the wire.


Techflex is quite expensive to be used only for the optics. I have better use for Techflex .


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## Power Music (Apr 11, 2021)

seafish said:


> BTW-- everyone who has been saying that you simply should have returned the broken spools and unaccepatble wire directly just after you saw that they were broken and differnt from what you were expecting IS correct... PE owes you NOTHING after 6 months.
> 
> In terms of actual wire size, as long as it meets AWG specs, then you ALSO have nothing to complain about.
> Copper refiners have been getting more pure copper out of ore for a few decades now. Higher purity copper increases conductivity and allows manufacturers to use smaller diameters....that's just the way it is.
> ...





seafish said:


> BTW-- everyone who has been saying that you simply should have returned the broken spools and unaccepatble wire directly just after you saw that they were broken and differnt from what you were expecting IS correct... PE owes you NOTHING after 6 months.
> 
> In terms of actual wire size, as long as it meets AWG specs, then you ALSO have nothing to complain about.
> Copper refiners have been getting more pure copper out of ore for a few decades now. Higher purity copper increases conductivity and allows manufacturers to use smaller diameters....that's just the way it is.
> ...


Thank you for your 2 cents , its funny the " Teach " comment rub some people the wrong way . In my opinion I welcome knowledge and would not be offended by this , " smarty pants " comment is gonna get a " smarty pants reply " .


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

BTW and IMO, despite your feelings about your transaction gone wrong, Parts Express still ROCKS!!! 

They offer ALOT of varied sound quality gear at affordable prices with solid tech support and customer service (well I guess as long as you contact them within a reasonable period of time!!!)

Also, FYI, if the order was in fact an FBA order (3rd party/"fulfilled by amazon") then the crappy packaging job is really only on Amazon and their pushing thier workers too hard to pack too fast. If you took photographic proof with a timestamp of the damage when it came in, I'll bet that you STILL might get a refund from Amazon as long as you are polite about trying to get it.


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

Power Music said:


> Cool , thanks for getting the humor . I will still impart some knowledge as we all dont know every thing and can learn something from each other .


FYI--

It's the "I will impart some knowledge" attitude that is going to cause some friction.

Maybe you can try a slightly less condescending approach ??

And maybe talk about how much you love car audio 
and talk about some of what is important to you 
and even post some pics of some of your best work

just sayin'


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

Power Music said:


> You are been very judgemental based on your statement but thank you for your contribution. While you might not fully understand the importance of good quality speaker wires to the overall sounds system while maintaining uniformity and looking aesthetically pleasing at the same time. Don't worry I am here to teach.
> When you are ready to ask your " No Brainer Rookie Questions " about technical aspects of your system , I will be the one here to set you straight and keep by enlightened, at that time you will be glad I joined .
> Some people are fine with buying " X " and getting " Y " , I am not that person. This information is useful for future customers looking to purchase this same product , please dont be selfish smarty pants if you have nothing positive to contribute please move along to another forum discussion.


LMAO. and like Seafish, i am laughing at the things you said, not at the humor. 
1. i was not being judgmental, i was stating that this should have been handled thru amazon, and i lived thru the pandemic too and amazon was there for me every single day and they extended all purchase returns made last summer thru 1/31/21. So between august and 1/31 you should have been able to resolve this $140 purchase.
2. i never said you should have to keep any purchase you were unhappy with, i just pointed out that the red line was in the description.
3. Thanks for being there for me when i ask my no brainer questions...this hobby is new to me, and i appreciate the help.
4. good luck in all you do, i'm guessing you will be gone by the end of the week, nice knowing you.


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

miniSQ said:


> LMAO. and like Seafish, i am laughing at the things you said, not at the humor.


Well at last we can agree on SOME things !!!  



miniSQ said:


> 3. Thanks for being there for me when i ask my no brainer questions...this hobby is new to me, and i appreciate the help.


See...there you go being sarcastic again...no wonder I cant figure you out !!! 😜


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

seafish said:


> Well at last we can agree on SOME things !!!
> 
> 
> 
> See...there you go being sarcastic again...no wonder I cant figure you out !!! 😜


haha...i'm an inigma. And yes that one was sarcasm.


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## blacklisthunter (Dec 3, 2008)

That's a lot of speaker wires for a car audio... Also.. if you're not getting silver wire, its not aesthetically pleasing.


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