When a company is willing to engage in underhanded sales tactics (viral internet marketing), do you still feel comfortable dealing with that company?
If a company is willing to compromise ethics in order to make some quick bucks, it makes you seriously question what else that same company is willing to compromise in order to beef up their bottom line.
My experience with both companies you mentioned was not the same as yours. I made my decisions on their products mostly by reading independent reviews, so i wasn't exposed to "viral marketing". The products i bought are well-made, performance is good, and were very competitively priced. When i've needed customer service (which i've needed with both companies), it's been excellent.
Forums fanboys, well that's another matter. Both have their rabid fans, and they're just that -- rabid fans. Most industries have them...there are mercedes fanatics, Sony fanatics, and yes, AV123 and SVS fanatics. Whether or not the company caters to them doesn't really affect the quality of the product, performance of the product, or service provided. So in this instance, i have zero problem buying from them.
Now if they were doing something *I* considered morally wrong (clubbing baby seals, burning down the rainforest, etc), then yes, *I* would have a problem. No two people have the same ethics or have exactly the same viewpoint. The original poster asked what was a better performing sub, not what was the most ethical company. FWIW, neither company to me seems "out to make a quick buck" as you suggest. One cross shipped a $250 replacement part, no questions asked, the other is eating the bill on $300+ worth of freight to right a wrong.
The fanboys can get annoying. While there may be a couple "plants", i think the tenacity of the fanbase makes it appear much worse than it actually is. You can't organize stupidity, it has a way of just spreading on its own...
Recommending against a product that you don't have experience with because you don't like the marketing isn't the answer...it makes you as objective as the fanboy blindly recommending the product.