Newly:
It's like anything else ... purchase from a well known or at least better known company and have access to product, service, support, predictability, reputation, R&D; etc. or purchase from a boutique company and get possibly better or more custom product and best effort with everything else. Surrounding this realtionship is the consumer's appetite for risk (which is the reality) and state of the art performance (which may be the myth).
As a consumer, I stay away from the real boutique products, no matter how well touted they are because product reliability and corporate predictability, are as important to me as product performance. Having a component in the service shop even occasionally is not for me. If I were a dealer, I would feel the same way for the same reasons.
I shake my head when I read reviews of the real boutique items because invariably they cost a load of cash; are handled by only a handful of dealers (none are ever near me); are as quirky as any other product out there; and to top it off, the reviewer rarely has the product in his possession for more than a few weeks ... so how can you predict reliability?
To answer your question ... they probably are all good speakers, but how would you ever know and who would take the chance?
Regards, Rich
It's like anything else ... purchase from a well known or at least better known company and have access to product, service, support, predictability, reputation, R&D; etc. or purchase from a boutique company and get possibly better or more custom product and best effort with everything else. Surrounding this realtionship is the consumer's appetite for risk (which is the reality) and state of the art performance (which may be the myth).
As a consumer, I stay away from the real boutique products, no matter how well touted they are because product reliability and corporate predictability, are as important to me as product performance. Having a component in the service shop even occasionally is not for me. If I were a dealer, I would feel the same way for the same reasons.
I shake my head when I read reviews of the real boutique items because invariably they cost a load of cash; are handled by only a handful of dealers (none are ever near me); are as quirky as any other product out there; and to top it off, the reviewer rarely has the product in his possession for more than a few weeks ... so how can you predict reliability?
To answer your question ... they probably are all good speakers, but how would you ever know and who would take the chance?
Regards, Rich