My brother-in-law was duped into buying some questionable speakers (1 Viewer)

[Wade]

Last night we did a quick search on the speaker (Digital Audio brand) and came up with nothing. He even commented on how he couldn't find anything before. I have never heard of this brand and at the time I was thinking scam but we didn't have time to search further. This morning I decided to do a search on white van speakers and sure enough there they were, the SL-1400 digital loudspeaker from Dogg Digital Audio. After a little more searching I found good information on the following sites:
Scam Shield
Crimes of Persuasion
Rip-Off Report
Well after I found this info I called him to inform him but it was to late. He must have really wanted the speakers because he had already bought them for $700. His thinking was if they looked good then they must be good. I told him he could have picked them up from ebay for well under $200. I don't think he bought them from a white van so he may have a shot at getting his money back.
The sad thing is I could have prevented this by searching for Digital Audio speakers here at the good old HTF. It didn't even cross my mind to do so.
How is this whole white van sells tactic even legal? I was approached a long time ago but brushed them off before they could get into their sales pitch.
Oh well! Learn from your mistakes.
Wade

 

[Bill Balcziak]

How is this whole white van sells tactic even legal?

As long as they're licensed to do business, then they're just taking advantage of the naive and the foolish--and if that is illegal, then the whole country is headed to jail!

This scam has been around and well documented since the 70s (and probably long before that). I feel sorry for anybody who gets conned by these weasels, but at the same time, it might be a small price to pay for a valuable lesson. Like it or not, there's a lot of common sense in the old saying: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Caveat emptor, baby. Yeah, surre.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Yep. Had a coworker ask me the same thing (brand was Denmark) about some speakers a relative of his had bought.

If you don't know the brand, don't buy it. And especially not out of a van off the road.

 

[Dan Hine]

I must say, the cabinets do look really nice though. I think I would take out the drivers and check to see how well they are actually constructed. If it's possible to take some internal volume measurements then perhaps some guys in the DIY section could help your brother in-law just change out the drivers and crossover. Sounds like a fun project to me!
Dan

 

[Ryan Wright]

My friend bought two pairs of speakers ("Accoustic" brand) out of the back of a white van. They gave him the whole pitch about having excess speakers, how they were worth $2k a pair, etc. I think he paid $700-$1000 for all four.

They're garbage. Complete garbage. Can't handle much power at all. Poor guy... He wanted me to buy one of the pairs from him, and I was actually considering it. Borrowed them for a week. They sounded great until I turned the stereo up a little. My cheapo Costco-purchased KLH speakers outperformed them 1000%. I did some research online and found out what they really were...

He's still got them, almost 5 years later now. He's going to (or already has, I can't remember which) replace the drivers with something decent. The exterior cases of the speakers actually look very nice...

 

[Philip_G]

The exterior cases of the speakers actually look very nice...

everyone in this thread has said that the cabinets look nice, you would think making a nice cabinet would cost more than using a decent driver

 

[Tomoko Noguchi]

Personally, I would have a problem with having a speaker named Dogg in my system. Just me I guess, but what about someone saying, "boy I got a pair of Doggs." Just doesn't sound good.

 

[Wade]

Just a quick note that my brother-in-law ended up getting his money back after all. I told him to stick to brand name speakers next time around.

Wade

 

[Joe Meissner]

they do look kinda cool????????????????????????

 

[Julio]

can the speaker boxes hold any power if the drivers were to be changed with speakers with better power

 

[Mike Strassburg]

I picked up a pair of the Denmarks off a guy at work for $150 & they sound pretty good. I've pushed over 100 watts to them with no distortion. Definitely NOT a $700 speaker though.

Glad to hear he got his money back. Tell him to offer them $150 or so if he liked the sound.

 

[ben hunt]

I almost got taken by a white van when I was younger (10-11 years ago). This guy and his girlfriend tell me to pull over...so I do into this big parking lot. He shows me the speakers and all that...I didn't have any money so I said thanks but no thanks...good luck etc.

Then he made the mistake and asked if I "partied" ie. smoked weed. I told him yeah and he asked if he could buy some from me. Sure I said, he handed me $20 and I went back to my car to get it, got in the car and drove away. Thanks for the $20!!

Those white van people are idiots.

 

[Greg_R]

can the speaker boxes hold any power if the drivers were to be changed with speakers with better power

No, the outside may look nice but I'm sure there is little bracing in the cabinet. Also, you can't just drop drivers into an enclosure... you need to design the crossover & enclosure around an appropriate selection of drivers.

 

[peter a]

ben-
you crazy son of a sack. that's great.
p

 

[Stacy Huff]

I have to agree with those who think that the Dogg's at least look nice. I'll also say that the website is better than some of the legitimate manufacturers. They've gone a long way to make the scam seem real.