Goldenear….recent experience and lesson learned

@jnc

I would acknowledge Golden Ear are a respected brand and regarded mid high tier.. 

I believe that the customer service issues are collateral to their aquisition by PML (Paradigm Martin Logan). 

Often, the Aquisitor would freeze the spending within the company it has just aquired until they can gain financial oversight etc.

GE products have always had their design HQ in North America but like many top US brands they outsource to Chinese and other South East Asian countries. Sometimes to maximize profit, but often to take advantage of highly developed, disciplined skills and automation. 

So this is not it neccessarily a bad thing as we all know home produced US products can be and often are quite shoddy.

I doubt PML would be so interested in Golden Ear if they didnt believe they had the technologies and synergies they were looking for. My quick research shows quite a loyal brand base for Golden Ear.

I have not heard many GE product but I have heard the T66 at a show late 2024 and thought they sounded quite good and looked to be built well.

I would reach out to PML at a high level and set out your issue in a factual, open and friendly way. Speak about your hope that customers would be helped out by the parent, who I’m sure would be keen to build on a loyal base and protect the PML reputation going forward.

Let us know what you plan to do and what were the outcomes. I’m sure you can still get some satisfaction from this very frustrating episode.

ted brand and regarded mid high tier.. 

@jnc Man, sorry to hear this! I’ve owned GE Triton 7s paired with 2 of their Forcefield 3s and can confirm that plate amps go bad, but each time, GE replaced them.  Is it because they no longer sell the Triton 3s? They always offered to fix what was broken in my experience. I now have a couple of their SuperSub Xs for a modest TV room. They’re paired with SuperSat 60s and sound great for TV and movies. When I finally get settled (retired after 25+ years in the Navy so been figuring out what’s "next"), I plan on using separate amps/speakers. Probably RBH. Hope GE can get you up and running again - they've always treated me well!

Agree with @nubiann. PML has kept the GoldenEar design team very much intact - as stated, it's always been based in Canada - when Sandy Gross was in charge and for the 5 years that Quest (the parent company of AudioQuest) owned them. I definitely have the impression that PML is committed to GE continuing as a successful, largely independent brand, and that they will respond usefully. They fully understand that they are quite popular with a sizable group of audiophiles.

@jnc 

I’ve never heard of a company not keeping parts for 18 months.  Either they are really in it for the fast buck or there’s something else going on, but I am really sorry to hear that you got caught in the middle of this.

All the best.

Unfortunately that is the mindset of most Chinese companies,  no spares....