Help Do I have fake van den Hul Mainsstreams?
The audio hobby guy seems to be selling fake VDH Magnum now, beware http://www.ebay.com/itm/Van-Den-Hul-VDH-MAGNUM-HYBRID-speaker-cable-3-0M-pair-/201382192872?hash=ite... |
I just bought a used Mainsstream Hybrid locally and the guy said he bought it from my friend's store. This cord has the small v and no catalog # beside the halogen free wording. I will bring my cord to my friend to verify. According to my dealer friend, VDH once sold the Mainsstream Hybrid in bulk to their distributors. In Toronto, the distributor terminated them with Furutech IEC and Marinco AC plug, and sell them as Mainsstream Hybrid Performance series for a very good price. After a while, VDH stop doing this and offer pre-terminated cord only to the distributors. Wait a minute, I just find a printed catalog of VDH product that came with my othe VDH cables. 99% of the cables are shown with a picture that has a small v and no catalog # beside the halogen free wording. Guess what, the Mainsstream Hybrid is shown with a small v as well with no catalog #. The color is exactly like my used one. The Mainsstream BS Hybrid and Mainsserver Hybrid are shown with a greenish tint. So I am confidence that mine is a real one after all. Hope this help. |
Does anyone know if that guy Audiohobby sold other brand cords besides van denHull that were fakes? From the information so kindly provided by Kevziek, I'm suspecting that the van denHul Mainstream power cord I have is also a fake (bummer). I went back through my feedback and I did, in fact, buy something from Audiohobby, but its been so long and I've bought so much stuff on the 'Gon, I really can't remember what item I bought from him/her. It could have been one of the other big seller cords that are often counterfeited, like Cardas. So, if anyone has any more information about Audiohobby's little rip-off business, more information would be appreciated. I will back up Nietzshelover and say that the fake van denHul cord isn't all that bad sounding. I always had a suspicion is wasn't the real deal, but it still beats the stock power cords. Just like a less expensive cord, the Volex for example, can sound good, I imagine that some fakes aren't necessarily going to be bad sounding just because they are fakes. However, that certainly doesn't detract from safety issues as Kevziek pointed out. Nonetheless, the issue of fakes being sold is pretty disconcerting. Is there anything Audiogon can do about this in terms of screening the items (specifically cables) sold here? I've seen more than a couple of ads from sellers selling Cardas cables that I have "suspected" were fake, but have no way of offering definitive proof without further investigation. I wouldn't want to accuse or slander anyone's name without positive proof that they are selling fakes, but at the same time I would want to warn others that there is something afoul. Although I don't use my own van denHul cord anymore, it was the first aftermarket power cord I bought. It certainly shakes my confidence in knowing that I was burned from the beginning and leads me to wonder what else I've bought that isn't authentic. |
That's cool. It occurred to me, later, that you might have mistaken the ad. And, don't worry, I have the original box, literature, and, even, the plastic "blister pack" (or, whatever that clear plastic thing is that fits around the box is called) for the Integrated Hybrid ic I have for sale, so it, probably, is genuine--unless they can fake of all of that, too! |
I never said I was going to sell my fakes to anybody, nor did I imply it. I'd NEVER do that. What makes you guys think that? Where'd that come from? Those things are dangerous! Nobody should ever use them. I take great offense at that accusation. What I AM going to do is start a "fake thread" (a real fake thread). I'm going to start it off by telling people about the fake Mainsstream Hybrid and what to look for. Then, I want to encourage everyone to report any fakes on the market they know about. But, I'm not sure which forum to put it in, if it's going to be about ALL kinds of fakes. What do you guys think? |
To address the website confusion issue rather than whether the cable is the real one or the fake, it looks like the image on the left is not a photograph of the actual cable. It is a graphic illustration. The graphic artist doing the illustration may have been careless with the details or maybe just had a description of the cable to draw from. While this may be costly to correct, it would certainly help the effectiveness of the warning. Good luck with your cable. |
Attention Please Sir Of greater importance are you a Jack Nietzschelover or a Superman Nietzsche Lover. If the latter is engaged then it is all existential reality and morally false to appear counterfit of course if the first is true then you can Da Do Run Run over the original Van der Hull hierarchy for such hipoceacy to appear superfluously superiour by wearing their underwear outside their pajamas while lisening to Parsifil. Professor Irwin Corey Listening to Performance Sound Track Memo From Turner Back to Mono |
From your feedback, I gather you bought them from Audiohobby, correct? If so, yes they are fakes, frauds from China or Korea. He sold hundreds of these on the internet. If the jackets are a urine yellow with a greenish cast, and smell like cheap PVC, they are fake. The real ones are a dusty gold color. The Wattgates will both say 320 on both ends--that is wrong, and they are fake and dangerous plugs. If you open one up, you'll find the screw terminals are cheap junk that hardly hold the wire. Also, the fake ones have bare wire ends, whereas the real ones have small silver clips covering the bare wire. The fakes are made from fake silver-coated garbage wire; not plated through the special process vdH uses with ultra-pure & highly-smooth silver. If they are 5 foot lengths, they are fakes. They come in 1.5 meter, which is not 5 feet. They may work fine, even sound good, but the risk is there for fire, shorting, etc. |
my feeling on products that are being countefeited, is that what is going to stop the perp from correcting the "v" on his or her next run of outer shielding? sort of off topic, but when I buy used, I always suspect something could have happened to the product in its former life. it could have been modded, broken, repaired incorrectly, or whatever. I use my ears to judge if something is up to snuff, which brings me to my point, not sure if you will ever know what you have, I say listen to your ears, if it sounds great, or as good as other comparable cables, she's a keeper. if she doesn't sound right, good chance you got a bad one. FWIW, I purchased some Dynaudio Car speakers off ebay which I later learned were fakes, they were installed and fooled an authorized dealer, and the best thing is that they sound wonderful and cost me 1/3 of the real ones. |
I'm talking about the picture on the left. THAT is NOT a picture of the fake cable. Yet, it has the lower case "v". Why do people not want to look at that picture? By the way, I, also, am familiar with Jadis' "house sound". That doesn't mean I can know, in advance, the details of how one of their products sounds. That's not inconsistent at all. It seems, folks, that unless you go to van den Hul's website and look at the picture ON THE LEFT, which is NOT the fake, ACCORDING TO THEM (and, yet, has the lower case "v"), you will remain as determinedly confused as Btstrg. Again, the fake is pictured on the right, not the left. Yeah, you're right, Coffee-nudge, the picture of the real one on the right does have the large "V" when you click on and enlarge it. I hadn't noticed that. But, the question remains, what's up with the one on the left? If it's real, too, why does it have that lower case "v"? I'm with you Muzikat. It sounds good, so it's good. I did pull both cords out of my system, checked them out, and put them both through some "torture tests". I confirmed that they're in great working order and built more ruggedly than many other cords I have used (e.g., by Nordost, XLO, and Acoustic Zen). If anyone out there actually owns a Mainsstream Hybrid, I would be curious to know what yours looks like. Thanks. |
"I was once a van den Hul dealer, by the way, and am familiar with their "house sound". And these cords sound like van den Huls" "In fact, they have even beaten out some high quality competitors during comparisons". "I've tracked down some reviews of them and the reviewers describe the sound of the ones I have " "I read these reviews only after I bought the cords, by the way, so I'm not just hearing what I was told to hear" You dont make any sense! |
No, Rwwear, they do sound like they're supposed to. I've tracked down some reviews of them and the reviewers describe the sound of the ones I have. I read these reviews only after I bought the cords, by the way, so I'm not just hearing what I was told to hear (which would be a reasonable hypothesis). Hey, maybe I have fake fakes and that's why they sound real. Is a fake fake real? |
I got my confusion from your post. Rwwear, He did say they didnt sound fake but is confused why the picture of the fake cable is on there site. Just that, they want people to see what a fake cable looks like.duh (So, what do I do, now? Throw mine away? But, still, what confuses me the most is that van den Hul seems to have the fakes they describe pictured on their own site! What gives? Help) Again, refer to the above for explanation. "I was once a van den Hul dealer" SORRY I should have known from that response it was 20 years ago. MY BAD! |
To everybody else: if you look at the pictures of the Mainsstream Hybrid on the van den Hul website--the ones on the left--of their actual cable, you'll see that it has the lower case "v" that they say only the fake has. That's what's confusing. Yes, they do have a picture of a small section of the fake, too, on the right, laid next to their real one. Unfortunately, neither one pictured shows the part labeled "Van (van?) den Hul, or the number VDE-Reg.-Nr. 7824 CE, which, they say, is, also, only on the real one. |
I was a van den Hul dealer twenty years ago. Why would I know what their latest models look like, today? Intuition? You seem to have a small problem with your reading comprehension skills, Btstrg. (For instance, I never sold these cables, or, said I did. From where did you get that?) Unfortunately, since your response is so confused, and you made no attempt to clarify the issues, anyway (or, even check the van den Hul website, yourself, to try to understand), I don't see the point of trying to get you to understand what I said. Perhaps, I will get a response from someone who actually knows something, later. |
Seems awful funny to be asking these questions if you were a dealer for them?? It also sounds like they are showing a picture of what a fake looks like and if yours doesnt look like that you should be okay. You said you havent found a real picture yet?? Again you said you were a van den Hul dealer you should know what they look like. You mention a "catalog number or as you put it (or, whatever it is)?? Again you say you were a van den Hul dealer you should have known all these details. Something is not right here with your post? I would hope the dealers I buy from are more educated on the products they sell then you are on the cables you sell. If you are not totally sure call them you should have there contact info from when you sold them. Good luck |
