Impressive, and so was the service.
This red one was at least $50 cheaper than the blue at the time of purchase. I can NOW attest that they are physically identical. I purchased this red one for my gf as a C-mas gift on Dec 5th. C-mas came and we took it out of the box, and it had a wheel that was pushed into its housing. I was able to pull it out, but it still was not as it should have been. There are two wheels on the back bottom, and the wheel on one side was fine. Even though the unit is supported by four rubber feet, the wheels do touch, and having one wheel not fully touching caused an imbalance, and it was harder to move around. Setup was very easy, just plug it in and turn it on. We turned it on and immediately heard a loud persistent buzzing noise. This noise was present no matter the input we chose. Loud enough to be heard about 20 feet away, around the corner, in another room. The buzz did not increase or decrease with any adjustments to volume. We also tried plugging it in to different outlets- though in hindsight it did not occur to me to make sure I was on a different circuit. (Duh.) Anyway, we got down to some music. The built in FM tuner worked well, so did the Bluetooth, and anything else we plugged into it. We didn't notice the buzz through the music playing, though at lower volumes we realized it was still there. Asking the Amazon community here rewarded me with two answers- 1 that the buzz should not be there at all, and another who stated he also had the buzz. The amount of inputs and modifications and TWO equalizers, plus your standard treble/bass controls.....WOW. I am not so handy at the EQ, but this thing gets LOUD!! We could not even turn it up halfway. My cats were running for cover at 1/8 of the knob. We were both really impressed with the unit, and I resolved to see if I could go about getting a replacement wheel and housing for the broken one, plus I wanted to see what the seller said about the buzzing. I emailed the seller, mentioned that it WAS a C-mas gift, and was surprised when Kate from Galactics returned my email a scant 5 mins later! She said they were not able to offer replacement parts, and that I had had a 14 day window to make a freight damage claim, as per Amazon and FedEx policies. It had been 21 days since delivery date, so I WAS overdue. Kate asked me to take photos of the damaged wheel/housing, AND the box it was shipped in, and email her those and she would see what she could do. Wow..that was nice, though I didn't have high hopes even though the damage was obvious. I thanked her and politely mentioned that it was a C-mas gift that I didn't wanna open before C-mas and that usually sellers have some sort of extended policy during the holiday season. I then took the photos and emailed them to her. A couple more emails back and forth, confirming pictures received, etc.... I felt as though Kate from Galactics was there the whole time. In less than an hour, she was telling me the damage claim was accepted and that I would be offered a full refund, and that FedEx would be there to pick up the damaged unit within the next two days! I was really expecting this to be a hassle, and I cannot thank Kate and Galactics enough for the way this was handled. Truly excellent service to that point- and it got better. We really did not wanna lose this unit, it really REALLY is awesome....I think gf wudda been unhappy if we did not get it replaced (I really just wanted a new wheel assembly) and I heard from Kate that other customers were really fond of theirs too. After more emails with Kate over the next week, we decided to try the Blue version instead. That one had more written reviews on Amazon, and I assured Kate that I would not have a problem paying any cost difference. In my dealings with Kate and Galactics, I never had the feeling that I was forgotten about, or pushed to the side. Kate informed me that a new batch of Blue(s) was being shipped in soon, and that mine would ship out soon after. Excellent! I received my blue speaker a few days ago, and it was intact. EXACTLY the same as the red (no fan in the back of either speaker- and it's not supposed to have one). There WAS however a buzzing noise, but nowhere near as loud as the damaged red one, and it was quickly forgotten about. Just as loud and awesome as the red one. Oh, the flashing LED lights can be turned off, but note that they do not flash much or brightly at low volume. The higher the volume, the bigger/brighter the light show. Also there is a switch on the back for 220 or 240 volts, though there is only one provided (removable) plug. Hmm...I always thought it was 210 or 220......? I saw another reviewer (for the blue model) had provided pictures of how he had linked two of these together- so it IS possible. I believe he used a mixer or some other dj equipment. Wow..I can only imagine... Funny thing is, this was purchased because gf wasn't completely happy with all the sub $100 little Bluetooth speakers/boomboxes we were trying. Neither was I. It was time to get real. I got it for her to put in the basement for her morning workout sessions. But I just don't know now. Might not leave the living room. Do I have to buy something not as good to justify putting it in the basement? Haha. Bottom line here: 5 Star review. We MIGHT have just kept it anyway with the broken wheel and persistent buzz. What does that tell you about the awesomeness of the speaker?? By the way, Kate said not to worry about any price difference- it was on them. Gotta love her. There was nothing done wrong by the seller, and they went out of their way to make things right for me, all the while making me feel special. Thanks again Kate. I will be looking to buy from Galactics again after this experience, even if the cost is a little higher. Highest recommendations and praise to Kate and Galactics. THANK YOU!! Read more
