White Van Speakers ?


Anyone heard of this scam. I guess people go around town
and try to sell "left over from an install" products for "cents on the dollar" only to sell people junk! Seams
like it would hardly be worth the effort, but i have had
guys pull up to me in traffic and say the have nice speakers
for sale. I guess these are made in china for like 5 dollar a pair? I cant see too much harm IF you know audio and dont pay too much. I know, my local Craiglist often has unknow speaker brands pop up all the time, and if i do a google, it always goes to a web site about White Van rip-offs.

Anyone else have knowledge of this and can explain the supply chain a little more?
6550c
A guy I know came by my home a few weeks ago claiming that "Every amp I hook up to these speakers just dies," I asked him "What type of speakers are they?" He answered "They are Theater Speakers," I told him that all speakers have a brand name and that I would have to know that before I would have any idea of what was going on with his system. He could not remember the name but that he had bought them off of some guys on a truck on "Broadway Ave"., I think.

He had given them $200.00 and I do mean "given." Later, He would not answer or return any of my calls so I could not assist him in assembling a proper system.

These assholes are alive and well and ripping people off every day. If you are new to this hobby and want to by a system talk to the people on this site if you do not have any close friends to help you.

This is a very expensive hobby even if you buy used gear because it takes a certain amount of money to make quality components, and then whoever touches it before you get it gets a cut. I've been doing this for 40 years and the least costly way I know of is to buy pre-owned gear, you can save a ton of money but YOU MUST KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, OR, HAVE SOMEONE WITH YOU WHO DOES!!!! There are just too many variables involved, and all components do not "play" well together.

This hobby is not for the cheap, timid, or the impatient.
Yep, same people looking for the same fools. Its been happening since time eternal. The only reason it continues is people buy into it.I have to say that I have bought named speakers that aren't much better, but that's part of my learning curve.
I had a guy try to sell me a pair in about '96 in a shopping strip parking lot near Cincinnati.  I asked a guy in a pawn shop about it and he said they actually come as kits.  They're flat and need to be put together before being sold dishonestly.  
Heck, I knew a dude and his dad that basically did this back in the early 70’s. They built "Bose 901" speakers. The living room/kitchen/dining room had several dozen cabinets in various stages of build. They even had the same nasty brown and orange cover material and fake badges. I don’t know if they even started to believe their snake oil but you’d think for all the world by the way they talked that they were a Bose satellite manufacturer.

Somehow they made something of a living off of dupes buying the things for discount rates - enough to buy their beer and pizza for a week. And yes, they had a white van.


They did have the first (and maybe only when I think about it) Quadraphonic system I heard - real Pioneer gear and real Pioneer speakers. Funny how the "Bose" were only for demo purposes, not what they listened to.
At one time we carried a replacement midrange for the 901 - identical in every way except no blue cone.. we made $$$$ selling them for $5 retail, draw your own conclusions....

but we got several calls a week asking us to value White Van speakers.... always that call came after the crime...