Busted, another nail in the coffin for 'high-end' audio..

[Ajani]

Is this really a surprise?
Almost every product has some sort of this rebadging or marketing scam (too harsh a word??) similar to what happened here.

My sister-in-law who works as a consultant to "high-end" cosmetic businesses told me a little marketing story. A company produces a jar of cold cream that costs them about $30 to produce and its quality is top notch but it is in the end only cold cream and the difference between it and some of its lower cost competitors is minimal.

Now this company could put a $45-$60 price tag on it sell it everywhere and make alot of money. However this company makes alot of cosmetic products and is known as a "high-end" company that sells its products in only the most exclusive stores in the world. If they sold their product at a lower price regular retailers would pick it up and the company's reputation would actual suffer despite the quality of its product. So what does the company do? They price the $30 jar of cold cream at around $700 sell it in only "high-end" stores where their customers now routinely fork over their money solely based on the reputation of the company.

My point is not that just because you pay alot for something that you are getting ripped off. My point is that you need to become educated enough in your purchases to know if the money spent is really going into the quality of the product or only in the name/marketing of the product. Unfortunately it sounds easier than it is.

Agreed... that has always been the case with clothes and cosmetics... The same factory, in some poor country, that produces expensive name brand clothes will also produce 'no-name' clothes (that are exactly the same clothes without the tag, but sell for a fraction of the price)...

But I think the real shock here is because Lexicon is a well established brand and part of a major group... so it really has no excuse for this... Some startup "High-End" brand would be expected to be involved in this type of scandal.....