Sean -
Richard Gray and I have become friends, but I didn't know him when I first tried his unit. He's also a member of our local audio club - last month we met at his house. So I understand if people feel a grain of salt is warranted when Duke comments on Richard's products. The results definitely are system-dependent, and to the best of my knowledge all of their dealers offer no-risk in-home evaluations.
Anyway, back when the first production run was just coming out, one of my customers suggested I contact Richard and see about trying the unit. I'd never met Richard before, but he loaned me two prototypes (they only had one outlet each). I tried them in my system and loved what they did, so I asked if I could buy them. He declined. Over the course of the next month or so I bought six of the units from his local retailer for almost full retail, to use in my own demo system. I felt they made that much of an improvement. I couldn't become a dealer because there is already a dealer in town, so my voting with my wallet in this case was indeed sincere. Normally a dealer only sinks his money into products he can carry, since otherwise there is no return on his investment. I figured my return would be a better demo of my big Sound Lab speakers and amps to drive them, and so far so good (Sound Lab recently told me that I'm the biggest dealer they've ever had, so my demo's must not suck too bad).
Richard and I have since become quite good friends - I was over at his house until nearly midnight last night swapping lies and speaker designs. He is an absolute prince of a man. And I oughtta know - after all, I'm a
Duke
Richard Gray and I have become friends, but I didn't know him when I first tried his unit. He's also a member of our local audio club - last month we met at his house. So I understand if people feel a grain of salt is warranted when Duke comments on Richard's products. The results definitely are system-dependent, and to the best of my knowledge all of their dealers offer no-risk in-home evaluations.
Anyway, back when the first production run was just coming out, one of my customers suggested I contact Richard and see about trying the unit. I'd never met Richard before, but he loaned me two prototypes (they only had one outlet each). I tried them in my system and loved what they did, so I asked if I could buy them. He declined. Over the course of the next month or so I bought six of the units from his local retailer for almost full retail, to use in my own demo system. I felt they made that much of an improvement. I couldn't become a dealer because there is already a dealer in town, so my voting with my wallet in this case was indeed sincere. Normally a dealer only sinks his money into products he can carry, since otherwise there is no return on his investment. I figured my return would be a better demo of my big Sound Lab speakers and amps to drive them, and so far so good (Sound Lab recently told me that I'm the biggest dealer they've ever had, so my demo's must not suck too bad).
Richard and I have since become quite good friends - I was over at his house until nearly midnight last night swapping lies and speaker designs. He is an absolute prince of a man. And I oughtta know - after all, I'm a
Duke