What's wrong with Velodyne?

Just to clarify, I didn't hear the JL Audio 113 in a shop, or with a dealer, I had it in my system, along with a DD-15 for comparison. The DD-15 was every bit as good, or actually better. It could have been the imperfect room, but the set up program of the Velodyne made it work seamlessly with my Maggies. I quickly sold the JL Audio, at a slight profit actually, and continued with the Velodyne DD-15 until I bought the current SVS after many recommendations. It's a different set up, and includes the Velodyne SMS-1 to manage it, and the only reason I don't sell and go back to the DD-15 is not wanting to mess with it again.

I have a pair of 20 year old servo 1200 that are still going strong. These were the first subs i ever purchased. Everything else in my system has changed except the Velodynes.

My dealer sales person some time ago told me that Velodyne as a company can be difficult to deal with vs other brands (ordering, returns, billing, etc). They sell both Velodyne and B&W. On numerous ocassions, he told me that working and dealing with the B&W Group is so much more pleasant and supportive to their dealers.

As a dealer Velodyne is one of the easiest. But in the last five years we've only had two that needed repair. New amps were sent immediately at no charge even for return shipping. Velodyne also offers free firmware upgrades online.

"-plus no high end dealer wants to carry product that is offered in so-called "low end" places."

I suspect this is more of the case than not. It's always politics, distribution channels, marketing, etc.
I used to deal with Velodyne years ago. Their entry products gave us more problems, reliability wise. Their top end pieces came in for service much less often, however.
Althought I never was a lover of the Volodyne's personally, I felt they made good products. Personally I liked the more accurate sound of the M&K subs, Paradigms even, and the power handling of the Earthquake line in the same genre. But were talking mere preference of course.
That was my experience, for the most part.