Audio Companies with Integrity??


Interaction with Audiophile companies and AudiogoN members have been (for most part) positive through the years. There have been a few, however, that have gone 'above and beyond' to ensure that the customer was satisfied. To that end, I would like to give a 'shout out' to Audioquest that recently made a situation right when they really didn't have to. I won't go into the details, but suffice to say, that when the need arises I will not hesitate to buy from them again and will recommend their products and service to anyone who values my opinion.

For discussion purposes, would anyone care to raise a glass to a company that in your opinion deserves some love.
brauser
You sure got that right Corelli. I saw one guy looked up all the drivers in his Moabs, priced them out at Parts-Express or something like that, said it was $3600 worth of drivers. Just drivers. Not cabinet, not crossovers. Nothing for speaker terminals, paint or wire. Just drivers alone, $3600 in speakers retailing for $4500. Granted Eric at his volume does not pay anywhere near those prices. Not the point. That is orders of magnitude more than what you will find anywhere else. No less an authority than Duke said he was surprised at the quality drivers he sees in them. Okay so the guy could probably double his prices and still be a deal.  

Huge volume, always behind. Called him up a week or so ago. Phone rings and rings, which usually means no one around to answer. But I know after a while it will ring over to his cell. Sure enough, he picks up. Clearly running around doing something out of breath, says in the middle of something but if its okay with you? Yeah sure. Okay what is it?  

Just called to say its been about 7 months, and I am loving these speakers more every day. Needless to say he was happy to hear that. 

Thing of it is, it has pretty much always been like that. Every time I have called the guy is running doing something. Air compressor going in the background. That kind of thing. One time I caught him driving to the cabinet shop. That was the best conversation! He had nothing to do but drive and talk. Learned a lot. How many guys like that out there? 

And he could double his prices, easily, make a ton more money, hire someone to do all the dirty work, but he doesn't. Instead he keeps prices low so guys like us who crave great sound but work for a living can afford speakers they never could any other way. Cannot say enough good things about this guy.
MC, let me start by saying there are a number of things where we do not have common ground. This is not one of them. Everything you said is spot on. I have posted several times that simple math makes you shake your head--how can this guy deliver these speakers for so little. Now that would mean little if his speakers didn’t deliver the goods. But they do. Big time. Like you, I have found that over time I enjoy his speakers more and more to the point where I question can it really get much better? Contentment. A very nice place to be.

P.S. Quite jealous you caught him when he was on the road. No doubt you enjoyed a wonderful discussion. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to call Andrew Jones.
The following are who I would consider to have the highest of integrity, in no particular order...

Scott Frankland - Wavestream Kinetics
Emmanual Go - First Sound
Robert Lee - Acoustic Zen
Thomas Mackris - Galibier Designs

Best wishes,
Don