B&W Rip-Off


Here is a good one, What a cheep ripoff of some B&W speakers.

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/auc.pl?spkrmoni&1133404814&1132839359
krellm7
OK, I'm wondering why you feel the need to poke at this? The seller (who has a 2.5 year record of good feedback), isn't advertising them as B&Ws. If copied designs were the basis for crapping on things, you could slam 90% of the industry. Let me guess, you got a pair of B&Ws for sale and worried someone is going to buy these instead?

Caveat, I have no relationship with the seller of these things, and think B&W and Krell are for poseurs anyway.
er·satz ( P ) Pronunciation Key (rzäts, r-zäts)
adj.
Being an imitation or a substitute, usually an inferior one; artificial: ersatz coffee made mostly of chicory. See Synonyms at artificial.

The name of the speakers was a clue to the dictionary users among us.
>Cool down - the ad is really to funny!<

What is "to" (sic) funny about the ad? I don't see it.

Oz
Isn't TAD, "Technical Audio Devices," maker of the highly rated TAD Model 1? http://tadhomeaudio.com/home.html

The advertised speakers do look remarkably like another "well-known" speaker, right down to the dimples in the port. Has anyone heard them?
I think you need therapy if this bugs you, and I highly doubt a high end audiophoole would even buy this so simma down and get a puppy or something, sheeeeeeeees
whats feedback got to do with anything? nobody said the guy wasnt honest he just said the speakers were a rip off from the b&w design & after looking at them i agree,hopefully they sound better than their b&w cousins.

mike
I would agree with Edesilva if it would not say the following straight from the seller's website:

Today it is easy to say most every speaker brand on the market has the bulk of their manufacturing duties performed in China. Not a copy or reproduction. This is a fresh 100% from the ground up new design built for today's marketplace.

Sure...
Perform an Audiogon forum search on "Tube Audio Design" and see for yourself.

I've also seen positive commentary on their products posted at Audio Asylum as well.
I think it is completely respectable. I admire the guy for telling it like it is. I agree with all those that support the guy. He is poking fun at himself and not claiming anything other than these are not what they appear to be.
I am surprised that you aren't deeply aware that most products are derivatives from others. Whose designs BTW originated during the middle of the last century.
A 2 way speaker with a yellow cone of roughly the same dimensions of another 2 way speaker. Are you shocked to learn that most electronics and speakers use the same outsourced components.
They don't tell you that CD player of yours, assuming you have one, probably uses one of the few laser OEM transports available from one of giant manufactures, Phillips for example. That same transport can end up in a $100 universal or a $10,000 one. He isn't even saying these are the same drivers and crossovers that B and W use.
A real problem would be true counterfiets or piracy which I am pretty sure is coming out of certain areas of the world but mostly small pieces like fake NOS tubes.
By "too funny" I mean it is a very good example of a copy job that simply makes me chuckle. No issue with the speaker or man as I feel he is being straight forward.

Bill
Cheap chinese drivers. I'd be interested to see their raw response curves. But a good crossover can still make cheap drivers sound pretty good.
Ok so who would buy these at $1000 when you can have the real thing for $1500 or less for a used pair on the Gon?
There is no way they sound as good as B&W 705's or even DM601's for that matter. I know I have never listened to them so how do I know. You will give the usual circulatory
argument. That speaker is a half a** mix of a 705 & 805.
You want response curves? Just wait they will be in TAS or Stereophile soon NOT!
Geez Krellm7, take a pill. The way I read the ad (the jump link is actually pretty funny), they are 700 clams, not $1K, so your argument loses a little steam. I'm guessing, based on other feedback about TAD, you might get your money's worth. As far as the hyperbole on the website, heck, its no where near the level of rhetoric on the cable manufacturers' or vibration control folks' websites. And, frankly, saying you ought to hear them before calling them cheap isn't a "circulatory" argument (I believe the term is actually a "circular" argument, and it isn't applicable at all in the context you have used it).

Heck, I find B&W's sound pretty sterile, so in my book it wouldn't be too hard to build a better speaker. Moreover, given the cost of prototyping and production in China, as well as vast improvements in quality control, these might just be B&W killers.
I have no experience with the product or the seller, but frankly, the smarmy dismissal of all audiophile things Chinese on Audiogon is comical. I have a $400 Jungson integrated amp that I bought 2nd hand here for $325 that makes the Audiolab 8000A which retailed for close to $1000 15 years ago that I replaced it with look and sound like a cheap mass market receiver from Best Buy. There may be some junk coming out of China, but there is also some VERY high end equipment being manufactured there and sold at VERY reasonable prices. And most of it appears to be from Chinese companies, as opposed to other non-Chinese companies who are now having their products built there and still charging very non-Chinese prices.
Edesilva the bid is starting at 700 clams so your argument loses a little steam.
Krellm7-

But, geez, what if there is only one bid? Since BZB is a retail shop, would he post a minimum bid that was lower that what he was really willing to sell for? Since he is the only importer, ya think he might be able to arbitrarily manipulate what the "retail" price is? Do you really think, that if anyone wanted these, they would engage in a bidding war when the seller seems to have a large supply and has posted a minimum bid of $700?

Your understanding of auction economics is rivaled only by your idolatry of form over substance.
According to the web site, the pre-order price is $499, $49 of which is to be donated to a local food bank. And the Audiogon auction says not to bid on them: "DO NOT BID: CLICK ON THE INFORMATION LINK TO PRE-ORDER AT THE SUPER LOW SALE PRICE FOR LATE JANUARY DELIVERY."

Since none of us seem to know what they sound like, I don't think that they should immediately be dismissed, no matter what company they copied the design from. Just my opinion, of course.

Holly
Judy426,
Well, since they sell mega bucks in loudspeakers, the list of people envious of their designs from a purely 'sales' standpoint is undoubtedly huge. So....hmmm, virtually everyone wanting to make a loudspeaker profit might want to 'rip off' their result, if not design.
Many smaller companies would like to have in sales, what they pay out in engineering dollars!
I don't like B&W OR Bose, for that matter,but would love to have either of their profits, or gross sales dollars.
Was this a real question? Is anyone really this naive? Larry
>>Well, since they sell mega bucks in loudspeakers<<
Chevrolet sells mega bucks in cars too. What's your point? Big sales make great products or great designs? See my Chevrolet analogy above. Thank you.
I love this quote from the web site:

"100% designed and constructed in one of the most prominent chocolate factories in the world."

I have no idea what the game really is, but they sure don't seem to take themselves too seriously!