Shure E2C earphones no longer made?!?!? Good news.

[Fugu]

I love my E2Cs. Cheap, effective. Not the highest fidelity but durable and and if I bust them monkeying on the bike no big deal. Also they fit under my helmet more comfortably than other, superior earspeakers that I save for other uses.

 

Well the cords on mine are becoming brittle and cracking, and liquid electrical tape and other fixes have failed.

 

I resigned myself to ordering new, but could not find them. A thread somewhere said the SE110 had superseded the E2C, so I ordered a set and let me tell you- they SUCK. Lousy sound, too bass heavy, distort at low volumes for no reason, rubbery outside that pulls on helmet liner... I hate the SE110s.

 

I hate them so much I wrote Shure a note whining about them taking away my favorites....

 

GOOD NEWS! The E2C lives - but they changed the name. Now they're the SCL2 and in Shure's "pro" line as personal monitors, not in the personal line as "earphones".

 

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=208289988&listingid=24266879&dcaid=17902

 

[Fugu]

Specs- SE110

 

# Sensitivity (1mW): 113 dB SPL/mW

# Impedance (1kHz): 27

# Frequency Range: 22Hz – 17.5kHz

 

 

SCL2 / E2C

 

Frequency Range: 22Hz – 17.5kHz

Sensitivity: 105dB SPL/mW (@ 1kHz)

Impedance: 16 Ohms (@ 1kHz)

 

 

 

I know the specs look near identical - it's got to be something to do with the impedance and sensitivity of the respective designs- the SE is much more sensitive and has greater impedance. It's not an Autocom thing because I hate the SEs off of my ipod or my non apple MP3 dingus.

 

The SE110 is a balanced armature, like the Etymotic ER6i which I like quite a bit (just not under my helmet) but something's screwed up w/ the SE110 - the sound is not good. Not sure what the E2C is internally but if you like them you won't like the SE110.

 

 

 

[Shaman97]

Well the cords on mine are becoming brittle and cracking, and liquid electrical tape and other fixes have failed.

 

I had the same experience. Tried various earphones, but the problem always was that the cable would get damaged by the repeated taking the helmet off and on. Since I bought Sliks the abrasion to the cable has been eliminated. Keeps the stink out of the helmet, too.

[smiller]

 

The brittle insulation problem on various Shure IEM products has been identified for some time, and Shure has now updated the formulation. I recently returned a pair under warranty (due to cracked insulation) and was sent a brand new pair in exchange, and these do indeed seem to have different insulation properties. Hopefully this will fix the problem going forward. Just FWIW...