Yeah, I miss the forum too. I was a regular there. I wouldn't consider myself a fan-boy (you can decide) as I was often very critical of all the hoopla around new products, pre-orders, buy now deliver later sales tactics. The whole charity fraud thing has left me with a bad vibe that is hard to dismiss. I live in CO and went to all the local Rocket GTG events and even over the Marks house a few times to demo gear. It's inexcusable what he did to customers, employees, charities... no sympathy here.
I have a house full of AV123 products (550s, 750s, 760s, Bigfoot, ELTs, UFW-10, MFW-15) and they all work/sound just fine. I was always very cautious about my purchase of AV123 products and stuck mostly to speakers/subs.
AV123 electronics were a disaster for the business and consumer IMO. I got lucky with an early production run of the MFW-15 sub, with a functional amp, that still works. I had two UFW10s, one died and they took it back in exchange for the MFW. The one early electronics product that I do have is the PT combo + SOCS, running with my 750s and UFW sub. This is a really nice 2 channel system that continues to deliver incredible sound.
I think if they had just stuck to speakers and perhaps subs (with better quality amps), they would have endured. The partnership with Danny Richie on XO designs was always a win. The 760s I have sound incredible and I won them in a GTG raffle
so what's not to like.
I think the early products that came from the China factory were very high quality. The Columbia factory was a disaster IMO and constantly plagued with production and quality issues, making delivery dates, rising shipping/fuel costs, etc. I have a black MFW that came from Columbia, so it does not suffer from finish issues as some of the veneer products did.
Oh well, these days are gone forever. I haven't found another forum/manf. that fills the void so I guess I'll just continue to enjoy my Rockets.