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AliExpress

stephenk9stephenk9
in DIY
Has anyone ordered drivers from AliExpress? If so, what kind of experience did you have?

Comments

  • BrannigansLawBrannigansLaw
    the experiences are going to be as varied as the vendors... many places selling the same things, or very close to the same things, sometimes clones or fakes. Personally I wonder; why take the risk? Plenty of other vendors, even for low cost drivers, all over the world. Given the time invested in any project, it seems like saving a few bucks is not worth it IMO. Unless of course there's something rare or unique at a reliable 'store' 
    Gowa
  • kenrhodeskenrhodes
      What are you looking for? I dont know of any drivers that inspire me that are on the china sights.
      And why send your money over there when there were so many good vendors here in the states. The good vendors often check the drivers before shipment. Even the bad ones are easy to deal with in comparison to the off shore vendors.
      After a long(ish) time in this hobby my biggest regret is buying cheap drivers thinking they might work for my build and watching them rot on the shelf. Do yourself a favor save up some money and buy some really nice drivers from vendors that support their patrons, start with a plan and finish it. The hobby is not as much fun when all you end up with are a bunch of half finished speakerboxes and a shelf full of crappy drivers.
      Im not posting this to try to shame anyone into/from doing anything, just speaking from my own regret.
    R-CarpenterPWRRYDjhollanderGowa
  • rjj45rjj45
    @kenrhodes
    Agree 100%.  I've had very few regrets buying high quality drivers.
    Seems like each new generation of drivers is better than the last.
    Gotta love competition / innovation.
    R-Carpenter
    But Chahly - Stahkist don't want speakers that look good, Stahkist wants speakers that sound good!
  • stephenk9stephenk9

    I am not shopping for anything at the moment. I do see some brand name drivers on their site, for instance HiVi drivers, and some AMT's sold under different names but sourced from China with known manufacturers.

    I have bought things like flashlights, batteries, memory cards from there and had no trouble, so I just wondered if anyone had experience with ordering drivers.

    There are good mail-order experiences to be had, and bad ones.

    My worst ever was when I ordered drivers from England. For more than a year I got nothing and couldn't get the vendor to answer me. I even found people traveling to England that made inquiries for me. Finally, I wrote and suggested that if they couldn't supply what I had ordered, I would look at alternatives, and that produced an answer and drivers, eventually.




  • BrannigansLawBrannigansLaw
    If something is available at comparable pricing (+/- 20%) from a reputable vendor (solen, madisound, meniscus, PE), I can't see a situation where I'd buy from aliexpress. If it were unique to an AE vendor, I might, but would need to see some sort of evidence of quality beyond the user reviews there.  My time and hassle dealing with testing, returning, repairing, etc a bad order are worth more than $50 here or $100 there saved to me.

    AMTs in particular seem to have huge variances in terms of quality so I'd probably only consider one of the more expensive ones, or one of the less expensive ones that tests well (Hyageia) but only after seeing independent measurements. 
  • stephenk9stephenk9
    What I have seen of these drivers are about half the price to be paid in the US. I believe I have seen Hygeia AMTs as well.
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