Well, at least they are diversifying. MLS should have done the same, since so many transactions ended with someone getting screwed.
I think "the other place" is going to be the setting for av456 part II in a few years - not in the outright criminal activity, but in the vaporware, zealous army of forum zombies, and now there's mention of QC issues?
Interesting.
"Those who fail to learn from history..."
I've seen the "QC issues" thing come up a few times now. In defense of "the other place" (as it's called around here), it's not like they are rampant with QC problems, although there are currently only 2 products.
It seems the issues with the amps were the manufacturers fault (not a surprise given the reputation of that manufacturer), and they were remidied and seem to be otherwise reliable.
The speaker grill problem is really the result of physics and poor design - wood expands/contracts with the humidity, so expecting a MDF grill to stay in place by friction in all conditions is wishful thinking.
Let's not forget that many small companies have some problems. Check out the Virtue Audio circle at AudioCircle. Virtue has a reputation for making some outstanding amps, and even they ran into some minor issues with the new run of amps, which they had to address post production.
I'm not trying to start any arguments about this... and my post is as off topic as the others regarding this subject. Just thought I'd try to keep this "QC issues" topic from getting blow out of proportion.
It seems they are taking all the steps to make sure the future subs are very reliable, so hopefully they are successful in that regard. Time will tell how well that company does, and how reliable the products are.
As far as the vaporware thing - at least "they" have stepped up to flat out say - "We stopped development of this idea for this reason: ______." As I see it, if you're going to be open with design ideas, you have to share both sides, otherwise it really does add to the vaporware argument. So far, that has been handled very differently than how things were done at av451. Like reliability, time will tell how many of the products actually become reality.
So far, as far as I can recall, they've followed through on 2, and openly explained scrapping 3 others. We'll see what happens with the 3 subs. They've also shared a few ideas - "intended products" - but not with the mls type "WE WILL HAVE THIS ___ AVAILABLE" promise, but a "here's something we want to make" comment. And no napkin sketches or useless renderings.
Again, time will tell. But there are an awful lot of predictions aren't there? I'm not going to make any.... I'll just stick with the "wait and see" approach.
