Chu,
I think your post on the quality issues is barely applicable to pre-2007 speakers. There were some issues with some Rockets, but there are always issues with natural products like real wood veneers. The incidences of cracking and popping and whatever else were fairly rare and were quickly resolved which is exactly what you would expect. 100% elimination of veneer issues can only be expected at much higher price points where they can afford to be more selective in their materials and can afford to spend much more on QC checks prior to hand off to the end customer.
I have seen a number of pre-2007 rocket crossovers, and I think the quality of components used was good for the pricepoint and I never saw an issue with incorrect components or miss wiring on the boards themselves. If you were familiar with the crossovers you would understand why that would be extremely unlikely.
The issue with he crossovers was one of design. Funny you should bring up **** Pierce, when in my opinion, he is the one responsible for the crossover issues on the early rockets and the reason for the need for upgrades (if we believe he was the one who designed them). The 750 and 550 crossovers asked the woofers to play too high among other things, and the original 850 was a sonic disaster. This had nothing to do with components used or wiring mistakes, it had 100% to do with topology mistakes.
IMHO the 750 was a well built speaker with a bad XO design. Once the crossovers were upgraded to Ninja versions following Danny Richie's topology, they sounded very good for their price level and I think they also looked good for their price level. These speakers and the 850 sigs that followed WERE a good deal. Like the initial LS-6 they delivered a great experience for the money spent, and what came later does not in any way impact the sound or appearance of these speakers.
As for Cali and Uniaudio, they made some decent stuff too, until the veneer went on. I have 5 Cali made X series speakers and all have veneer issues, but they were also all sold as B stock because of it. For their sub $200 price tags these things sounded great, especially the Encore series. I challenge you to find a speaker that looks better or sounds better than my X-MTM Encores for $180 or less. Even as B-stocks with veneer flaws (minor in this case) they look better than anything else in their class. My X-sls look much worse, and much of the veneer cracking occurred well after I received them, so it was clearly in large part due to the quality of the material and not the skill of the factory doing the application. I would be pretty upset if I paid full price, but these were sold as B- stock (B minus as in worse than what would be considered B stock) with a price to match. They could have come in raw MDF for the price I paid and they would have been a good deal. Seriously, you would have a hard time buying a set of unfinished boxes, drivers and crossover components and assembling a equivalent speaker for what they were charging.
The owner was rotten to the core from day one, and they may be white van quality now, but they did sell some decent speakers at good prices for many years. The reputation was not just a myth even if it was built on theft and lies.
