Hey kungfu, the factory seconds are a great deal!. I spoke with Amy about it once and I was told that the standard they use is a '5 foot test' meaning the blemish should not be visible from a distance of 5 foot. I have VaSSallo series M60s which are factory seconds and if you were to look at them, you cant tell unless I told you that they are seconds. As far as the sound quality goes, there is absolutely no odifference between 1sts and 2nds.

M60s, QS8s, VP150 and paradigm Ultracube-12
Samsung BDP-3600, Nintendo Wii