I'm going to get shot down for this, but who cares? After reading on these forums and other places the streams of invective launched at the above manufacturer(?) and other similar purveyors, I thought it might be interesting to shed a different light on these dark topics. 
A bit of background: I was trained as pianist, played hither and yon for years, but finally ended up owning a store supplying telescopes, binoculars, and the like. My stereo addiction has been a constant, including a long love affair with products from Naim, Acoustat, and Vandersteen (and waaay too many others!) I think of myself as a relatively balanced person, critical, but fair.
Enough of me!
I was just on that auction website (you know the one), and stopped with astonishment at a speaker listing. For around $150 you can buy WHAT??!! Almost four feet tall, a pair of midranges, silk tweeter, and side mounted woofer, weighing 50lbs. Can't be possible, right? Something's profoundly wrong with the picture; I mean, the cost of shipping them to me is almost more than the speakers! There's many an opinion about these transducers, including of course all the gushes on the host website, but for all these there are equal amounts of invective elsewhere.
This reminds me of something.......
In the telescope business there are about three major streams of suppliers/manufacturers. 'Scopes come from the States, Japan, and (wait for it) China. Also, to maybe a lesser extent, Russia, Taiwan, and some manufacturers In Europe. I have looked through, and sold, thousands of optical instruments. If you want the best, say, 5" refractor, from the States or Japan or Germany, figure on spending up to $10K. It'll be good! Very good indeed. Now go to China, and something that might be considered to be extremely similar will be no more than a fifth of the price, and maybe considerably less. This is not a falsehood, sad thought though it may be to some readers. It's simple economics. In my business, what the Chinese are beginning to be able to do is downright scary (especially if you're in competition with them). In Japan the old saying was always "If the Chinese start to compete with you, quit!" I have seen, over the years, Chinese products (and Chinese QC) steadily improve to the point that what used to cost $100 ten years ago now costs in current dollars $20! Crazy world.
Might not the same thing happen with stereo equipment? Is it conceivable that what we paid $1000 a decade ago might now bear a price of $150? I don't know, but my suspicions are high.. In the optical arena, the designs from the East tend to be clones of clones; not too much in the way of original thinking (but this is changing): I would guess that the same is true in the stereo world - there seem to be many similarities between "brands". But these are early days. What is true, and this is fundamental, is that if you want the very best widget it will cost you, say $1. Let's say that that dollar spent represents 100% quality. Well, like it or not, in the optical world, as a direct result of the Far East, if you can put up with 90% quality, you can save 80 cents! It really is that simple.
But, just as I saw in the 'scope world a few years ago, there is a contingent out there that seem pre-disposed to judge before the evidence is all in. Just like the "Gentleman" in the mid 19th Century who wrote in a letter to The Times, that since no horse could have a neck fifteen feet long, the so-called Giraffe was nothing more than a circus trick to dupe the ignorant. Is this a similar story? I would love to read a legitimate review of one of these speakers/receivers: I would more love to read a review in which the tests were blind. It may be a long wait. After all, there may be no little embarrassment ...
What the heck; I think I'll buy a pair. (it's only the cost of a few CDs after all) I'll post my opinions on this forum if anyone's interested.
Now, load your guns and aim 
I'm going to get shot down for this, but who cares? After reading on these forums and other places the streams of invective launched at the above manufacturer(?) and other similar purveyors, I thought it might be interesting to shed a different light on these dark topics.
A bit of background: I was trained as pianist, played hither and yon for years, but finally ended up owning a store supplying telescopes, binoculars, and the like. My stereo addiction has been a constant, including a long love affair with products from Naim, Acoustat, and Vandersteen (and waaay too many others!) I think of myself as a relatively balanced person, critical, but fair.
Enough of me!
I was just on that auction website (you know the one), and stopped with astonishment at a speaker listing. For around $150 you can buy WHAT??!! Almost four feet tall, a pair of midranges, silk tweeter, and side mounted woofer, weighing 50lbs. Can't be possible, right? Something's profoundly wrong with the picture; I mean, the cost of shipping them to me is almost more than the speakers! There's many an opinion about these transducers, including of course all the gushes on the host website, but for all these there are equal amounts of invective elsewhere.
This reminds me of something.......
In the telescope business there are about three major streams of suppliers/manufacturers. 'Scopes come from the States, Japan, and (wait for it) China. Also, to maybe a lesser extent, Russia, Taiwan, and some manufacturers In Europe. I have looked through, and sold, thousands of optical instruments. If you want the best, say, 5" refractor, from the States or Japan or Germany, figure on spending up to $10K. It'll be good! Very good indeed. Now go to China, and something that might be considered to be extremely similar will be no more than a fifth of the price, and maybe considerably less. This is not a falsehood, sad thought though it may be to some readers. It's simple economics. In my business, what the Chinese are beginning to be able to do is downright scary (especially if you're in competition with them). In Japan the old saying was always "If the Chinese start to compete with you, quit!" I have seen, over the years, Chinese products (and Chinese QC) steadily improve to the point that what used to cost $100 ten years ago now costs in current dollars $20! Crazy world.
Might not the same thing happen with stereo equipment? Is it conceivable that what we paid $1000 a decade ago might now bear a price of $150? I don't know, but my suspicions are high.. In the optical arena, the designs from the East tend to be clones of clones; not too much in the way of original thinking (but this is changing): I would guess that the same is true in the stereo world - there seem to be many similarities between "brands". But these are early days. What is true, and this is fundamental, is that if you want the very best widget it will cost you, say $1. Let's say that that dollar spent represents 100% quality. Well, like it or not, in the optical world, as a direct result of the Far East, if you can put up with 90% quality, you can save 80 cents! It really is that simple.
But, just as I saw in the 'scope world a few years ago, there is a contingent out there that seem pre-disposed to judge before the evidence is all in. Just like the "Gentleman" in the mid 19th Century who wrote in a letter to The Times, that since no horse could have a neck fifteen feet long, the so-called Giraffe was nothing more than a circus trick to dupe the ignorant. Is this a similar story? I would love to read a legitimate review of one of these speakers/receivers: I would more love to read a review in which the tests were blind. It may be a long wait. After all, there may be no little embarrassment ...
What the heck; I think I'll buy a pair. (it's only the cost of a few CDs after all) I'll post my opinions on this forum if anyone's interested.
Now, load your guns and aim