Does Anyone Else Member the Golden Age of Audio Insults and Product Degradation?

On the subject of product reviews, here's one of my most memorable comments.

I've lost some of the details over time.  Maybe someone can help fill in the blanks?

It was probably around 1980, and a major manufacturer introduced a new power amplifier utilizing "cutting edge technology" developed by another company that had questionable credentials an was not well received by the audio community for its sonics.

After spending some quality time with the amp, the reviewer, not exactly blown away with its performance, wrote:

"It looks like they copied the Titanic with the hole already in it, and headed out to sea."

@cd318 I'm with you on the Schitt Audio thing. I think they really missed some "marketing opportunities" to leverage their name to promote the brand.  A few in the long list of possibilities:

GIVE-A Schitt:  Gift Card

Schitt TOGETHER: Cables and interconnects

DEEP Schitt:  Subwoofer

Schitt STORM:  Power amp

Im pretty sure I won't be getting a call from the folks at Schitt Audio seeking my advice.

I sold audio gear in retail for a couple of years in the early 90’s in the suburban Philadelphia market.  Here’s a few things I remember:

1.  NAD stood for “Not Always Defective”

2.  Sony ES stood for “Extra Sides”  (Our store carried the regular Sony line, but an audio store competitor a few doors away sold the ES line.  Anyone asking for Sony ES, we told them it was exactly the same gear we carried with Extra Sides.

3.  Customers always came in asking for Bose because of the incredible name recognition.  “No highs, no lows, than it must be Bose!”

@lou_setriodes 

Good stuff.  Thanks for sharing.

John

I forgot this one:

B&O stood for Barely Operational, not Bang & Olufsen

@lou_setriodes 

That”s a new one for me.  I feel (a little) smarter now.

In the later ‘80 when NEC was pimping video products, their failure rate quickly earned the reference of Never Ending Crisis 

@boothroyd 

Thanks for the comment.  I remember NEC and they never moved the needle very far on my "cool stuff" meter.  Not Electronically Competent in my opinion.

I had a great, under the radar tuner from them, the NEC T-710.  The A-7 and A10 integrated amps looked great too as did those mono blocks, M50’s I think?

@lou_setriodes 

Looks like you've exposed some gaps in my knowledge base.  Glad your experience with the NEC gear was a possible one.  I've now adjusted my opinion towards NEC with a little help from my friends.

Thanks for the comments.

NAD = Nearly Always Defective 

@waytoomuchstuff 

I thought the NEC T-710 tuner was every bit as good as the highly rated B&K TS-108 that I had just prior to the NEC, if not better.  Although, I never heard the A7 or A10 integrated amps, they were very robust and well built units and also were well regarded.

@lou_setriodes 

i have a greater appreciation now of what NEC brought to the world of high performance audio.

thanks again for sharing.

Another version of McIntosh-Macintoss. 

Grundig-Gruntpig

GoNAD

I am sure there are others....

Magnavox-Maggot Box

I’m surprised no one’s come up with “Disqualified” for the Dalqhuist DQ10.

That’s original.  Haven’t heard that one.

NAD. Not again dam-it.

NAD - No Audio Delivered 

Conrad's Johnson

Seems that Schiit Audio has the perfect name to participate in this thread

Douk is a close second if you add a ‘Y’  (Douky)