And so it came to pass, on 09-30-96 23:21,
   that Rob Appleyard spake unto Matt Ion:
 RA>         Polk was very specific on that point, they will repair the
 RA> speaker, (they did repair the first) but only if it is under the
 RA> manufacturers warranty, which did expire all of 2 months ago. 
Ouch.  "All warranties expire upon payment of invoice." :-)
 RA> Quart has an excellent reputation, though one must realize that
 RA> they are one of the most expensive manufacturers in car audio -
 RA> oops, wrong conference. 
Well, Quart does make a couple bookshelf-model speakers as well (or used to 
anyway, several years ago), so I suppose they're not COMPLETELY off-topic.
In my case, I picked up a pair of "cheaper" ($250 for two-way separates, with 
6.5" woofer and 1" titanium-dome tweeter) Quarts on an insurance settlement, 
and went through an inordinate number of tweeters in the first few months.  
Theoretically, it was always as easy as just taking the dead driver back to 
the dealer and getting a replacement; problem was, they disconinued that 
speaker set, and with it that particular tweeter, a few months after I bought 
them, and the store didn't have replacement tweeters anymore.  They finally 
wound up ordering me one direct from Quart USA (in the Boston area).
I got fed up with the whole process at this point; after all, when you pay 
that much for speakers, you don't expect them to keep dying, regardless of 
how generous the replacement policy is.  So I wrote a letter to Quart... 
tactful yet making it clear that I was irritated... and being professionally 
involved in the industry, in a position to influence others' buying 
decisions.  And of course, I made a point of the fact that I chose Quart 
based on their reputation and my own experience with them in other people's 
cars.
One of their people phoned me back four days later, apologized for my 
troubles, admitted that they did have a lot of problems with that particular 
tweeter model, and since that system was discontinued, offered to ship me a 
new set of the model that replaced them.
A few days later, a box arrived, not just with the replacement model, but 
with the next model above it (checked with my dealer; they retail for around 
$350).
Needless to say, I'm extremely impressed.  A friend of mine that was with me 
when I picked up the new speakers was impressed as well, so much so that he 
decided right then and there that he'd be putting Quart speakers in his car 
when he got it back on the road.
And yes, I wrote back to them to thank them ... their reputation stands.
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Q: Why don't blind people skydive?
A: It scares the heck outta their dogs!
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