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Customer Reviews - Click here to review for Outdoor Speaker Volume Controller RMS 100W - Gray. |
Average User Satisfaction Rate
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Rating: 
(2 out of 10) |
Reviewer: Design Engineer (Electrical) from West Hills, CA |
5/1/2013 8:40:42 PM
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2 out of 3 products failed
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Pros: 1 unit working perfectly
Cons: 2 units failing
wiring is too close in proximity
probably overrated not really spec'd for 100W
I hooked up my parents volume control to a receiver spec'd to put out 80W per channel. No problems there. I hooked up mine and a week later the + and - terminals shorted out and the Amp went into overload protection. I have a 100W per channel amp and not even close to running full volume. I received a replacement and the same thing happened but within an hour of listening. As another reviewer posted the left channel shorted out. I paid $40 originally and extra $ to ship back defective part. I will be asking for a refund. Total waste of time, effort and money.
 by Monoprice Administrator
Hello,
Thank you for your review and my apologies for the issues you have experienced with PID 8327. A shame these didn't work out for your needs.. Now if you'd like, I can help setup an RMA for a return. If you would like me to proceed with the RMA, all I would need is the order # these volume controllers are under. Sorry again for the trouble and thanks in advance!
Regards,
Jonathan Arteaga
Tech Support Associate
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| Rating:
(2 out of 10) |
Reviewer: Rehcsif from Plymouth, MN |
4/26/2013 9:32:49 PM
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Beware!
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Pros: Cheap
Did the job, while it worked
Cons: Lasted less than a year with very moderate use
Ruined my amplifier
OK for fairness sake I should say that I am reviewing product 6851 which now says it has been discontinued and refers me to this product, which is the "upgraded" replacement. However, since the old product cost nearly $40 and this one is selling for under $17, and noting that the quality of the old one also was sub-par, I'm very suspicious. So consider yourself warned:
I purchased this as we were adding outdoor speakers to our deck. We already had an "in-ceiling" system consisting of an amp in a closet, and a Niles (name-brand) wall-mounted volume control (indoor) on a wall. So what I wanted to do is place a second set of speakers in-parallel, controlled by the outdoor volume control. Both the Niles control and the new one support impedence matching, all I had to do was flip the switch on the old control to "2x" and make the same setting on the new control.
Things worked great, for awhile. I should note that this system got very moderate use. We don't crank the volume on it, it's set just slightly above the level we normally listen to it at, and we just use the volume controls to dial it down a few notches. The exception is the outdoor control, which spends most of its life in the "off" position, as we use the indoor speakers more frequently. This was especially true in the winter months, as we live in Minnesota and we don't exactly spend a lot of time on the deck listening to music in the winter. This control is rated at 100W/channel as was my amplifier.
A few weeks back we were listening to music (indoors) and the amp cut out. I went to the closet, and it said "overload" on the display. In retrospect, this should have set off warning bells, but I simply turned down the master control a bit, and power-cycled the amp. All seemed to be well. A few days later, this happened again, and I did the same thing, figuring someone must have futzed with the master volume again.
Then a few days later, I noticed that even though the outdoor control was totally off, I was getting just a bit of sound coming from the left-channel speaker outside while the system was on. This was definitely unusual, but I ran the control through all of its "clicks" and it appeared to be working, other than that, so I wrote it off as "maybe it got moisture inside or something".
A few days later, I lost the left channel inside altogether. Upon testing, the amp had blown the channel. I pulled the outdoor control, there was a sickly burning smell inside, and the transformers had both gotten hot enough to melt the "100W" stickers" on them One of them (probably the Left channel one) also had discolored the yellow plastic around the transformer wraps. There was absolutely no signs of moisture (past or present) in the box.
So even though I was using a 100W rated control with a 100W amp set to a volume where it was pushing nowhere near 100W to the speakers, the thing melted down in less than a year, taking my amp with it.
As a replacement, I bit the bullet and paid $100 for an outdoor-rated Niles control, which at is heart is the exact same Niles control I've been using indoors for over 5 years now, but in a weatherproof enclosure (which by the way is considerably better weatherproofed than the Monoprice one, much better build quality overall in fact). Unfortunately I also had to bite the bullet and purchase a new amp to drive the system too. So much for saving money with the Monoprice control!
So while I purchase a lot of things from Monoprice, I'd recommend passing on this one. I would give the old control one star. I'm giving this one 2 stars out of the sheer chance that they've fixed the problem in this design. I would have to ask, however, how they "fixed" it with a $17 product when they couldn't do it for $40? And Niles, while I'm sure you're paying for the brand a bit, I'm guessing you're not paying over 5x as much just for the name - there's got to be some quality difference there. And when you're dealing with dissipating 100W per channel in a small space, don't take any chances.
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Rating: 
(5 out of 10) |
Reviewer: Anonymous from Pembroke, ON |
4/18/2013 4:06:33 PM
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The connectors are very hard to access, and even harder to screw down, with the outer case in the way. 14 AWG wires barely fit in the connectors, and fit very poorly in the case. It took several attempts to get a tight enough fit in the connectors that the wire would hold and not pop out while jamming the cover closed on the case. You cannot use a regular screw bit to tighten the case as the hole is too small - you need to use an eyeglass screwdriver or something similar.
I did not have these problems with the indoor volume control.
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Rating: 
(10 out of 10) |
Reviewer: Mr Tom from Corpus Christi, TX |
6/7/2012 8:13:08 PM
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Volume control
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Great product, works well and arrived in good condition and on time.
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| Rating:
(10 out of 10) |
Reviewer: Anonymous from Fredericksburg , VA |
5/29/2012 5:05:42 AM
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Works Great! Easy to install. Watch video online firts
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Pros: Works as advertised, very easy to install. The online video has all the info you need.
Cons: One volume controller they sent me was defective, I called Monoprice and they shipped me out another one right away and that one works perfect.
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| Rating:
(10 out of 10) |
Reviewer: Mr Tom from Corpus Christi, TX |
5/16/2012 8:30:29 AM
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Volume control
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Pros: Arrived in short time. Works great.
Cons: Small wire connections, but that is needed for the size of the unit.
Great choice, easy to wire with good instructions.
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| Rating:
(5 out of 10) |
Reviewer: Tave from Simpsonville, SC |
5/1/2012 8:03:53 AM
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Really tight fit
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Pros: price, pluggable connectors, seems well built
Cons: Enclosure is too small and the connectors are inconveniently located. Wouldn't work unless you used really small wires which would require the amp to be very near - most likely outdoors and make this control unnecessary.
I still don't know how this control works because I haven't been able to get it closed. Because of the length of my wire run, I needed to use 12 awg wire and it doesn't fit. Even with 14 awg, it would be a challenge to get this thing closed. The connectors are pluggable (thank goodness) but inconveniently located and really crammed in there. The unit itself takes up so much room that there is no room for the wire, even if I'd used 14 or 16 awg. Any outdoor installation is likely to have long wire runs and require larger wire – the manufacturer should have known this. I'm trying to find another conduit box to put it all in.
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| Rating:
(10 out of 10) |
Reviewer: Justin from Mesquite, TX |
9/10/2011 2:53:17 PM
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Outstanding deal
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Pros: Well built, includes all the gaskets, speaker terminals come off for easy installation. Can't get over how inexpensive it is.
Cons: None
If your on the fence about the quality of this volume control don't be. Just buy it.
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(
(67.50%)
rated by 8 user(s) 
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