White Van Speaker Scams

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Anyone got any idea what happened to Caveman's (Brig's) posts?

It was his post I was responding to in my last post as he was claiming how much he was enjoying his "Theater Research" speakers. He had taken offense at my last post and seemed to think I was calling his own set of speakers "junk".

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Mike, his posts are being systematically removed, either by him (not likely) or by the mods here (most likely). He does still have posts on another speaker forum but i'll bet they will be gone by today. This "white van scam" cancer is spreading, I just answered a thread here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=250132

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

He was banned, he made some posts over the course of a couple of days or something. He made some ignorant comments regarding the XBOX 360 and it is still on the forum. Admin decided to use the post as an example of what not to do on these forums.

Wasn't Brig Tamlin the name of the slow weather man in "Anchorman"? How convenient to have such a fitting screen name and name to fit the profile of a moron troller.

"is"

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

I see. Must be admins removing the posts because if he was doing it himself the post itself would remain...but the space would be blank. I didn't realize if someone got banned all their posts were removed.

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Makes all the sense in the world that eBay (the internet) would be a perfect venue for this kind of speaker marketing. While I understand buying speakers "sight unseen" or "sound unheard" from reputable companies or retailers online, I'm surprised people would make that kind of purchase without even a listen. But, I'm easily surprised.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

I am not sure that they make common practice of removing posts. I think they would only do that if the individual is just here to cause problems. Like spammers, their threads get removed.

"is"

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

I bought some "Audiophile" brand speakers out of a van one time, I know it was a scam at the time. I talked them down to $100 a pair, then sold them to an idiot I worked with for $200. Don't worry, that guy was a total jackass. A few weeks later I asked how the speakers were working out, he said they sounded good. Another happy customer.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

What's wrong with a side speaker? I wish I has a pair If i could get a set for 40 dollars at a pawn shop I wish I could get all the speakers in the Va!n
Theres nothing like 100 speakers all pumping the same song around your body! my mom would think Im NUTS and so would the neighbors!

I dont care where a speaker is sold as long as it sounds good as long as it isnt stolen or worse come from big beefy men who are holding AK-47's be cause at that moment speakers are the least of your worries!

On a side note 2 pair would be good enough!

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

I recently purchased a pair of the Blue Ridge Sound Eng. HR-1 speakers and I can assure you these are not "white van" speakers. I have a lot of experience with scam speakers having sold AV for 7 years (4 at Hi-Fi Buys in Atlanta and 3 at Pyramid Audio in Anchorage). Occasionally, I would have customers come in and tell me about their "great" speakers and, like many of you, when I heard the names I new where they bought them. But what really killed me was all the times I heard "Isn't Bose the best speaker?" As a matter of fact, as I was looking for a good pair of monitors recently for a second stereo-only system I stopped by the closest Tweeter (Winston Salem, NC) and asked what their best monitors were. After explaining to him that I was looking for speakers not flat-screens the salesman promptly said that their best small speaker was Bose. I immediately headed for the door. In the past, I have sold and been impressed by Monitor Audio, Celestion, Sonus Faber, Definitive Technology (Definitely Technology is a great name for a scam speaker!!), Mirage/Energy, Snell, Paradigm, and I owned a set of Magnepans for a year. I watched and bid on several older Celestions (SL600, SL700), Monitor Audio(Studio 10) but these, and of course the Sonus Fabers, were out of my budget range. As far as new speakers, I was looking at ONIX X-LS, EPOS ELS-3, or the PSB Alpha B-1. Basically, I wanted champagne on a beer budget. The most important thing for me was depth and soundstaging- I wanted the speakers to disappear. Since this was a second system with a Nakamichi receiver I didn't want to spend much money. After reading reviews and bidding on speakers out of my range (the Celestion SL700si went for around $1200) I came across the BRSE speaker. The first pair I bid on went to a higher bidder for around $650. The second set I won for $499. I was a little worried after reading this string but I hadn't heard anything negative from anyone that actually owned a pair. After I received them and opened the double boxes I placed them on my trusty 30" Monitor Audio stands (which are about 6" too high for these speakers). The speakers are very solidly built and passed the tried and true knuckle rap test. I haven't taken any drivers out to look inside yet but they appear to be made of standard 3/4 to 1 inch MDF with real wood veneer overlay. They are bi-wirable (which I use). How many "white van" speakers do you know of that use 5-way biwire posts? The drivers are recessed in the cabinet so they are flush with the baffle (again more expensive than scam speakers would use). Since they are not fully broken in yet and I haven't filled the stands with lead I don't want to go into a formal review yet (later on Audiogon and AudioReview) but I did do a few comparisons with my HT system speakers (Monitor Audio S8) on my B&K AVR307. At first, I thought the bass sounded weak. The S8 speakers go as low as 33hz so that was part of it. After a couple of days of burn-in I got my trusty Radio Shack analyzer out and used the on-board B&K tone generator and sure enough, the HR-1 goes at least as low as 42hz! The claimed freq response does seem unbelievably flat, but I can't verify that because all I have is normal living rooms. After several tracks of AB comparison (Steely Dan, MFSL AJA; Eric Clapton, MTV Live; and Peter Gabriel, SO & US) I noticed that the BRSE speakers are more open sounding with a bigger soundstage than the Monitor Audios. The highs are very good with excellent vocals. And on music I couldn't tell much difference in low freq loss. Overall, I am impressed. I haven't hooked up my Nak 2-channel system yet since we are renovating the only available room is being renovated and I haven't bought a wall mount for my turntable yet. I haven't taken any pics yet but will post some when I do.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Dude. Paragraphs.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Interesting website. They make a lot of claims, that's for sure.

Now we have someone just come on and register and start out singing their praises in their first post. A big debate over them in the AVS forum.

Well, the proof is in the pudding and one must really listen to them to judge them. Any dealers where one can listen to them?

BTW, isn't Hickory somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains?

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Interesting thread on AVS about them from April. I haven't seen a whole lot of reviews about them.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ght=blue+ridge

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Yes, if I climb up on top of the outhouse I can see the Blue Ridge mountains!

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

I guess I wouldnt care what brand they were as long as they sounded good. Cheaper is better if you can get it. Are they gonna be 10,000.00$ speakers,,,NO...but then again , most people dont have that kind of money.

They are just cheaper brand speakers. Im sure they are built fine and sound ok. I just bought a Theater Research center channel and 2 Theater Research rear surrounds....Sound pretty good to me and built fine, and I heard these are some part of "white van" speakers...

Oh well...as long as the buyer knows the difference and not thinking they are getting some big top of the line brand.....

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

If you are happy with them, that is all that matters.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

I think I have become Illiterate!

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Looks like someone likes run-on sentences!

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

blue ridge whatever, uses cheap drivers. They are overcharging for their product, whether is sounds good or not.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

With a list price of $1200 I would definitely agree. The $499 price I paid seems about right. Without the equipment the big boys have, I'm sure it is more costly from a manufacturing standpoint to make these. But, that doesn't give Carl the right to complain to us, the consumers, about how much he puts into them!

The main reason I bought them was the hope of getting an open sounding speaker with a huge soundstage. The separate tweeter on top made sense to me in this regard. As far as types of drivers, spacing between drivers, and side mounting goes, I have seen (and owned) several "odd" looking speakers that sounded very good. How about MBL?

Anyway, my point of posting was merely to say that these appear to be well-made in an honest effort at a "real" (not "scam") speaker. How they compare to other speakers in the $499 price range I can't answer completely. I can say that so far, I am happy with the sound. Though they sound thinner overall compared to my Monitor Audio mains (due to the extra 10hz depth of the MAs I assume), they have a huge soundstage and no glaring faults- which is basically what I was looking for.

(I hope the shorter paragraphs keeps everyone literate!)

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

At least he likes the speakers.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Micahel, perhaps you could provide photos of your speakers, perhaps showing closeups of the drivers?

Perhaps not an audioholics style teardown, but more than what the website offers?

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

I will try to take some tomorrow or Saturday. With 4 kids and a decidely un-AV wife, it is difficult to take the time. I want to take a midrange out and see what kind of bracing is inside. But I am not sure if I can get the right lighting for decent inside shots.
Michael

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

The tweeter and drivers in the HR-1 look exactly like the TN28 and M4N from Hi-Vi Research. The same ones used in my Swan Diva's. They are in-expensive to purchase but can produce a wonderful sound. You don't need to spend allot to get allot. I know nothing about Blue Ridge Sound, however. Those HR-1's look like a dual driver version of the DIY speaker project in PartsExpress's latest sales flyer.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

It still beats BOSE !

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

That's a very good point. No tweeters at all. You want to talk about the greatest scam speaker of all time, look no further than Bose. It was always a dilemma when a customer came in and either asked to look at the
Bose speakers or in conversation would say something like, "I've never heard of Paradigm, are they as good as Bose?" On the one hand you could sell them Bose and chalk up another sale. But your conscience and love of audio tells you to educate the customer and sell them a better speaker. It is the greatest PR campaign of all time!

"No highs, no lows, must be Bose!"

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Michael asked me to to post these.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

I like the way they look

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

As do I. Very handsome!

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

Do those "ports" go all the way through?

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

It does look that way, doesn't it? Unusual design. Almost wish I could take a peak inside the cabinet and have a look around.

Re: White Van Speaker Scams

What brand are those speakers?