theater research speakers-- buyer beware

[trauski]

i was walking out of a music store today and these guys in a van approached me about buying some speakers. said that they did a job and had 3 pair left over but account was marked paid and they didnt want to take them back to work. thought they could make a few bucks. pulled out a wad of cash and said just sold a pair for 800.00. they had a brochure listing them at 1999.00 each. looked like decent marketing material. anyway i talked them down to 240 for a pair and said i would come back in 1/2 hour after i did some research.well you cant find the company hardly. i found a link at stereo411 forums. had the same speakers listed at 1999.00 each on sale for 1999.00 for the pair. but some resonses in the forums cautioned me to further research like company has not returned email for a week. no phone number on website. went to ebay and the same speaker were going for 299-500 for a pair. tr2810 is model number and most speaker that tall are 1999.00 each in cataloge and web page. these babies looked to have 2 midrange drivers yellow with pointed cones stating that they were carbon fiber and a silk dome tweeter all on upper half of tower. bottom half had about a 10 inch side fireing woofer but not amped. biwireable as stated as you would have to to run them well with a set up like that. i picked up one of the boxes and it was as big as my paradigm studio 60's but weighted half as much. that kind if sealed the deal for me as how could you have 2 " 5 inch drivers a done tweeter , a 10 inch sub with 1 1/2 alum voice coil all in a tall cabinet 41inches tall 15 deep and 10 wide. box said weighted 60 but felt like 45. anyway i could have bought the same stuff on ebay for 299 , im glad ididnt plop down 240 for a pair. website is
trtheaterrearch.com

[Bryan]

Looks like the infamous white van speakers under a different name.

[Woochifer]

Those are more disaffectionately known as "white van speakers". As implied, they are typically sold out of the back of a van and are a total scam. They go by any number of knockoff names like Dynalab, Dahlton, Acoustic Monitor, Denmark, or Dogg Digital. But, the bottomline on these speakers is that they are cheap to make, and (at least the ones I've heard) sound horrible.

The story that you told about some guys having a "few extra" speakers from an installation is the same lie that they tell every customer. Sounds like you steered clear, which is a good thing. A lot of people have learned the hard way, including people I know personally. If you want to read more about this, here's a site where you can post your story and share with others (scary how many other people have been approached this way).

http://www.scamshield.com/Feature.asp?id=1

[trauski]

to a guy with some speaker knowledge it was hard to pass up. you think you are buying hot goods dirt cheap but with ebay and the knowledge pawn shops have these days i dont think very many dirt cheap deals are around. even ebay is mostly a sellers market if you are looking for a deal.told my brother about it and he said he bought some tower speakers out of a white van about 7 years ago, funny he never told me till now. he took them home and they sounded like crap. he said his 10-15 year old advent legacy's blew them away. he was lucky as he recognized the kid who sold them to him when he { my brother} was a counselor at a church camp. he called up the kids parents who must have laid a guilt trip on there kid and he came by my brothers house and gave him his money back. i called the number on theater research website and it is a voice mail box. the fax is in a different area code.i didnt even want the speakers, i was thinking resale as i just bought some paradigm studios a month ago.i was thinking i just passed up a good deal or that i almost got taken. when i punched up the manufacturer on audio review and it wasnt listed i was glad i made the right decision.

[enmtiyjack]

These speakers sound good, especially for the price. Sorry for all of you people who thought they were 6k speakers. You can buy these directly at:

www.speaker-city.com

[N. Abstentia]

These speakers sound good, especially for the price. Sorry for all of you people who thought they were 6k speakers. You can buy these directly at:

www.speaker-city.com

Please quit saying these speakers sound good, and please quit your advertising for speakercity.com.

The speakers do NOT sound good and that website is a joke.

[enmtiyjack]

Please quit saying these speakers sound good, and please quit your advertising for speakercity.com.

The speakers do NOT sound good and that website is a joke.

And what makes you an expert!

[filecat13]

For anyone who's actually seen and heard these low priced speakers, they are tough to take seriously. It's an insult to see them flooding the JBL pages on eBay. It's even an insult to Bose to be compared with these TR speakers.

[This Guy]

haha an insult to Bose, that's pretty hard to do. But seriously, did anyone on these boards actually hear these speakers besides jack?

[Garrardman]

Never seen the speaker-city website before.
Haven't laughed so much for ages.....................
Adam.

[filecat13]

haha an insult to Bose, that's pretty hard to do. But seriously, did anyone on these boards actually hear these speakers besides jack?

Yes, heard 'em, seen 'em, touched 'em, lifted 'em.

Then, I laughed and asked the guy to pay me to take them.

[nusiclover]

Those are more disaffectionately known as "white van speakers". As implied, they are typically sold out of the back of a van and are a total scam. They go by any number of knockoff names like Dynalab, Dahlton, Acoustic Monitor, Denmark, or Dogg Digital. But, the bottomline on these speakers is that they are cheap to make, and (at least the ones I've heard) sound horrible.

The story that you told about some guys having a "few extra" speakers from an installation is the same lie that they tell every customer. Sounds like you steered clear, which is a good thing. A lot of people have learned the hard way, including people I know personally. If you want to read more about this, here's a site where you can post your story and share with others (scary how many other people have been approached this way).

http://www.scamshield.com/Feature.asp?id=1

yep, i got a pair of Acoustic Monitor's off the back of a white van some 10 years ago. funny that this scam is still in effect. i was young and got conned, but my friends all bought the speakers for a couple hundred (thinking it was the deal of a lifetime, i hooked them up - im such a good friend i know) that i got mine for $50 i think. they are still in the box in my grandparents garage i think. so if anyone wants to hear them?lol. A couple of days after getting scammed i ran into people that knew of the "white van" scam. i never bothered to open them beucase my friends that did called me up yelling. but truely, i believe they have been sitting in a garage for 10 years. can anyone say vintage?

[nusiclover]

oh my goodness. i just saw the speaker city website and i think im trading in my dynaudios for their killer speakers. wow, i cant believe how cheap they are. and look at the size of those things - ill be able to impress all of my friends. they rock. i still cant believe i never knew about speaker city. those are the best looking spearkers ive ever seen. and did you see the tech. stats? these speakers must really rock. huge soundstage, tight deep bass, clear highs, and void of all colorations. i cant wait to get myself a pair. and if you think im serious then youd better hurry up and buy a pair before they run out of stock. actually, im just kidding. that website was more funny to me than the fact that i got duped into the "white van" scam ten years ago. one would think that with such a crap-product theyd at least try to make their website look a little more sleek. but then again, if that website is any indication of how good the speakers sound - i'm buying a whole 5.1 system today!

[Blackary]

http://www.e-gear.com/doc/284728723995529.bsp
Apparently Grant Clauser doesn't think they're too bad. Is he a scammer too? Apperently E-gear trusts him, because he's done about 70 reviews for them (http://www.e-gear.com/doc/283069533129163.bsp). I have heard a lot of bad things about these speakers on forums like this one, but this is the only real review I have ever found. I'm really just confused, because for all I know, the 'real people' on these forums are the scammers, and the anonymous ones who promote the speakers really do have a clue. I really just want to know how much they are worth.

[Florian]

You guys know nothing of audio, those speakers from speakercity are total killers man! I trade my DIVA for a pair of those hotglued paper speakers.. Damn and the deal is awsome! I think if someone is dumb enough to buy them they deserve to be ripped off.

[BEETLEMAN]

kind of funny i came across this thread. my neighbour has had a set of these in his house for the last 10-12 years. never had the things hooked up. but he passed away here about 2 months ago and there was quite the fight between family members over who was to recieve these ( very expensive) speakers.
was finally resolved when the oldest son arrived from abroad and saw them for what they were and proceded to burn them on the fire pit to the rest of the families horror. i thought it was quite funny.

[SlumpBuster]

I love the White Van scam! I never get tired of hearing stories. While the douchbage below is my favorites, I am almost sad to provide the link creating traffic. Get a load of the
"reformed, born-again, white van scam." http://www.burckhards.com/mission.html
The best is that he doesn't want you to miss out on his fly license plate or his hot piece of "A." Too bad for the girl that she ranks only slightly higher than a personalized plate in this guys list of priorities.

[MikeyBC]

The price they paid to get the brochures made with the bogus price list probably cost more than the speakers themselves to manufacture. If you get approached by the dreaded white van selling "overstocked" or extra pairs of speakers just walk away....the fact they're selling "overstock" to make an xtra buck shows that they are dishonest...real businesspeople would just return them to the supplier for credit on their account. I dont care what anyone else says but these speakers are Complete and total pieces of SH*T!

[caniac]

Speaker City?

Wasn't the name of Vince Vaughn's store in Old School?