Bryston Loudspeakers?

There's a reason there are so few manufacturers that can successfully build and sell both electronics and speakers. A mid to high end company like Bryston working with a lower end speaker company to enter the speaker market seems like an odd strategy to me from a credibility perspective at the very least. This looks like a rare misstep by Bryston.

I own a Bryston pre and am certainly rooting for them here, and I bet the speakers sound pretty darn good too. And I understand working with Axiom to get access to their drivers, but why oh why did they have to make the Model T look so much like the Axiom M80 that I think sells for like 1500 bucks??? Bryston already has a big enough challenge to gain credibility as a speaker designer at these price levels given the competition they'll face from more established speaker brands. On top of that they now have opened the door wide to fighting audiophile snobbery as many will not even give them a shot and dismiss them out of hand as a really expensive souped-up Axioms. And the fact that Axiom sells direct and Bryston will be selling through dealers makes them seem relatively even more expensive. If they're going to look so much like another brand they should've gone higher end and moved down the price scale. It would be a much easier sell as a perceived cheaper Magico than an expensive Axiom. (It's a lot easier to sell a cheaper BMW than an expensive Volkswagen). I realize this would be largely perception, but unfortunately among the audiophile crowd and at these price levels perceptions become very important. I hope Bryston can overcome this because the speakers may be very good, but given the way they executed this and who they're selling to I find myself a bit skeptical. As you say, time will tell.