Price for B&W Nautilus Tweeter

[junior77blue]

Unfortunately I just had a 'spill' with my HTM2 Nautilus center channel speaker.

The tweeter housing is in many pieces, the dome is completely crushed in.

Funny enough, I can still play it and sounds 'good' enough.

But, of course I need to replace it. The tweeter, the housing...basically EVERYTHING that has to do with the tweeter.

Any idea how much it will cost to replace? I hate getting hosed by the dealer.

[Race Car Driver]

I dont know what the whole thing will cost, but the tweets alone are $100.
Used HTMs are going for the 600+ range on audiogon.

[junior77blue]

Sounds like it's gonna be $200 easily....what a rip!

Should get a phone call tomorow from the local dealer.

[audioqueso]

Just FYI, if it was an accident that caused you to slip and fall into the speaker, your renter's or home insurance might cover it. A few years back while I was moving things around, a friend was carrying my big Infinity speakers (RS-4s) and tripped over a step to my door, broke half the speaker. My friend suggested the same thing, I called them, and sure enough they paid without charging me anything but the $50 deductible I had (low coverage). So just check with your insurance. It doesn't hurt to ask.

[Race Car Driver]

Oh yea, i hate those type of accidents........

[RobP]

:later: Hey Junior!

Sorry to hear about your accident, I hope you didnt get hurt. That tweeter assm. is right around $220 complete, I priced one about a year ago from my dealer, not cheap.

[ZX10 Guy]

If you have homeowner's insurance, what ever you do....DO NOT claim this on your insurance. The days of being able to do this without consequences are over. The combination of depending on the stock market and under pricing policies and the series of recent natural disasters have caused insurance companies to be very draconian with how they underwrite policies now. People have been dropped for filing a couple of claims even though the sizes of the claims were relatively small. Only use homeowner's insurance for large issues with your house. I wouldn't bother filing a claim unless the damages to the house amount to more than a couple thousand dollars.

Here's also some other bad news. Inquiries with your insurance company about even a possible claim count against you. So don't inquire with your insurance company unless you are serious about going all the way with the claim.

And lastly, each house has a claims/inquiry history that insurance companies keep track of with a common database. There have been known cases where a sale of the house was held up because the buyers could not secure homeowner's insurance on the property due to past claims/inquiries with that property. Doesn't matter if there is nothing currently wrong with the house. If the buyers come in with a mortgage company to buy said property which most people do, no homeowner's insurance equals no loan.

If you are ever dropped from your homeowner's insurance company, good luck in finding reasonable insurance. This is just a warning to you all about homeowner's insurance.....becareful!

[junior77blue]

Yep, this was one of my dumb mistakes.

I had the speaker pulled out from the shelf to get it out of the cabinet a bit. So, the balance of the weight was definately not fully supported on the shelf. Of course, I was tinkering around back with some wires and the next thing you know....SNAP!! (The sound of cracking plastic). For a second I thought it was the bulb of my LCD that blew. The speaker only fell about 2ft, top-over-bottom, onto a carpeted floor. I reassembled the tweeter as best as I could, kinda like pieceing together humpty-dumpty....it still works!! The good thing...I didn't see any marks or dents or any other permanent damage other than the tweeter.

$220 for the assembly...hmm..I'm hoping my dealer can give me a break on that. (No pun intended)

[miner]

Junior,
I have seen tweeter assemblies for sale on Ebay before. Keep an eye out, yo may be surprised.

[Race Car Driver]

zx10, that was my thought last year when a branch fell off a tree and landed on the garage, chipped the edge of the roof and bent up the gutter.
Figured it wouldnt be worth it to even bother, took my loss and cut up some fire wood.

[miner]

Also keep in mind that most homeowners insurance deductibles are 1% of the value of the home; i.e. $200,000 property = $2000 deductible.

[Boone38]

I will agree partly on the homeowners policy. I speak from experience, and have been an Insurance Adjuster for over 18 years with a major carrier. I have handled both property and casualty losses. Been to the hurricanes and riots and well as earthquakes. You can make a claim if you like. But this will be a record aginst your policy. It will only be a record if they make a payment. They will not hold it against you if you call to inquire. Insurance practice laws prevent this.

If a claim is submitted, the carrier will review the policy. On the homeowners side most of your homes are covered on an " All risk" policy and your contents are covered on a "named peril". The fall may be covered by your carrier. Most policies are a standard ISO format and then each carrier will tweak to conform to the state requirements.

As for the sale of a home I will disagree, reason most are held up is that a claim was make for hail or water damage or whatever, and the home owner does not complete the repairs. The new owners are to be advised under disclosure laws. If a homeowner has several claims it must be disclosed. I have defended several of these lawsuits as a result. If the new owner can not get a binder of insurance on the property, it is usually something with the buyer and not the homeowner.

The main thing to keep in mind and a few have brought this up is that you will have a deductible and that can be from 250.00-2000.00. I agree that it is not worth the effort to turn in a claim for such a low amount.

As for the underwriting practices, each carrier is different. Some companies will allow for a loss and others will not.
My main thought, and sorry to ramble is that it would not be worth the claim. I would bite the bullet and replace the tweeter on your own.

[miner]

Agree 100%. Leave claims for catastrophic losses.

[RebelMan]

Bummer about your mishap junior. I wonder, in order to replace a whole tweeter assembly does the FST driver need to be removed? Would this be a job meant for the dealer only or is it simple enough to DIY? Can you supply a pic of your speaker?

[junior77blue]

This is the Nautilus HTM2, therefore no FST driver. Couldn't they come up with a 'better' naming covention then HTM2? Between the 800 series & Nautilus series...world of difference between the two.

The cost to replace the tweeter assembly is $155 USD (which inlcudes tax). Not bad...not great by any means. Should be here by Friday/Monday.

I'll take some pics just to show you guys what not to do to a tweeter! lol

It should be a do-it-yourself job by the looks of it. But could be harder to assemble when its fully in tact. Much easier when it's in pieces. Hard to imagine, but true. i.e., easier access to the terminals.

Looks like the tweeter just slides and then locks in place. There's quick disconnects for the speaker terminals. Regardless, I'm gonna take it in and have the 'pros' mess with it.

[RobP]

Thats a fair deal on the price, its fairly simple to put on but hey if the pros will do it for you why not?

[junior77blue]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking...don't wanna have it $150 x 2 cause I messed it up. I don't plan on becoming an expert on how to replace b&w tweeters!!

[ZX10 Guy]

I will agree partly on the homeowners policy. I speak from experience, and have been an Insurance Adjuster for over 18 years with a major carrier. I have handled both property and casualty losses. Been to the hurricanes and riots and well as earthquakes. You can make a claim if you like. But this will be a record aginst your policy. It will only be a record if they make a payment. They will not hold it against you if you call to inquire. Insurance practice laws prevent this.

If a claim is submitted, the carrier will review the policy. On the homeowners side most of your homes are covered on an " All risk" policy and your contents are covered on a "named peril". The fall may be covered by your carrier. Most policies are a standard ISO format and then each carrier will tweak to conform to the state requirements.

As for the sale of a home I will disagree, reason most are held up is that a claim was make for hail or water damage or whatever, and the home owner does not complete the repairs. The new owners are to be advised under disclosure laws. If a homeowner has several claims it must be disclosed. I have defended several of these lawsuits as a result. If the new owner can not get a binder of insurance on the property, it is usually something with the buyer and not the homeowner.

The main thing to keep in mind and a few have brought this up is that you will have a deductible and that can be from 250.00-2000.00. I agree that it is not worth the effort to turn in a claim for such a low amount.

As for the underwriting practices, each carrier is different. Some companies will allow for a loss and others will not.
My main thought, and sorry to ramble is that it would not be worth the claim. I would bite the bullet and replace the tweeter on your own.

Your personal insight on this is definitely helpful as you used to work in the industry. But there have been numerous articles written about the problems with filing claims with your home owner's insurance and even doing inquiries on your policy about coverage. The articles have been written due to the rise in claims causing people to be dropped and some hidden problems causing closing problems on loans when the housing boom took off. Those articles are contrary to what you have said regarding the inquiries and claim history of the home affecting policy underwriting.

My personal experience with auto insurance backs up much of what the various articles have said on how many insurance carriers operate. I have had just an inquiry about a claim affect the policy premium when I tried to get coverage through a new insurance carrier; despite no payout by my then insurance company.

So personally, I rather be on the ultra conservative side and not even talk to or invoke my home owner's insurance if I don't have a major catastrophic event or don't intend to fully follow through with filing a claim. But as always....YMMV

[junior77blue]

Photos of Damaged Tweeter

Photos...albeit a bit late....but as promised.