Discount Stores, i.e. newaudiovideo.com

I'm not suggesting that you should buy from these guys, but I would venture to say that you probably won't receive a fake or knockoff product if you did.

GP Acoustics, the HK-based company that owns KEF, manufactures loads of consumer electronics and other products for the Best Buys of the world. The reality is, loads of manufactured products get dumped into the secondary (grey) market for reasons that have nothing to do with product quality. Stores close, merge or can't pay their bills. Maybe some distributor took a boatload of product in order to get a higher discount on certain items and dumped the rest. Maybe there are factory seconds; generally cosmetic blems.

If you pay via CC or PayPal you will almost certainly not be harmed financially in the off chance that you don't receive what you think you ordered.

When I called the manufacturer they told me they are suing this guy and I should stay away.

Taters, what else would you expect the manufacturer to say? They are trying to protect their registered dealer channel, and rightly so. But that does not necessarily mean that the goods are compromised or other than advertised.

Again, I am not advocating buying audio gear from a discounter, but the fact is that there are sme fantastic deals out there if you know where to look and how to buy. This is unfortunate consequence of life in the internet and global manufacturing age. It's the the consumer wild wild west out there, more so every day.

It's not the fault of the B&M stores, or the distributors, or the internet. IMO the manufacturers are too greedy; they want to have their cake and eat it too. Until more manufacturers adopt a more sensible global pricing and distribution model, these kind of issues will become more prevalent.

The big discount sellers are often not authorized dealers

That is not always true. Some manufacturers do sell to (or at least tolerate) web discounters, either directly or indirectly, as a way to deal with old, B-stock or overstock goods.

and the manufacturer will not honor the warranty if you don't have a receipt from an authorized dealer

Ah, that's a whole different kettle of fish. The so-called "Grey Market" has changed completely since I was selling camera and audio gear in my college days (early 80s). This is a topic for a separate, long discussion, but I will say that for every manufacturer who decries the unauthorized market, there is another manufacturer who uses it to their own advantage. Multi-channel marketing is a reality of life - different buyers paying different prices for the same product. The retailers do it too; google the term "dynamic pricing".

But with regard to the warranty situation, this was pretty much settled years ago (in most states and in federal court) during the spate of Grey market lawsuits in the 1980s.

In general, if the *manufacturer* is responsible for the repair of an object and the customer can prove that they purchased the item new, the manufacturer is responsible for the repair.

If the manufacturer's distributor (can be a whole or partially owned subsidiary) is responsible for the repair, then the distributor can refuse repair for any product sold outside it's disty/retail channel. This is why many manfacturers use 3rd party distributors or set up their own.

There are several exceptions to these generalized rules, and many manufacturers post rules that are simply not true or legally valid. As a consumer, I would say that this is an assumed risk proposition: how much risk am I willing to take. If I am looking to buy a pair of $600 KEF speakers, I might be prepared to take more risk than if the item was a $6,000 tube amp.

Caveat Emptor!