Watch it Cam...he's taking .01 in commission!

Getting the photo "just right" would be open to interpretation. As Cam mentioned, if you angle the lights low to rake across a blemish, you'll over-emphasize texture. If the light is soft and straight on, you'll de-emphasize it.

In either case, end-customers could complain that it wasn't represented correctly.

Well, how about a text description, then?

Ah, I can see it now:

"You know how when you're helping your buddy move a sofa bed down from his third floor apartment and it violently pops open on a landing, putting a deep gouge in the wall? Well, this blemish looks like the exact opposite of that. 'Tis but a scratch."

Yup, great analogy Peter :-) .

I put my black VP100 in/on-wall for sale on the Auction site.

How is shipping handled? I see where the buyer pays for the shipping. I suppose that Axiom collects the bid money plus shipping cost from the buyer. Then, I'm guessing that Axiom then electronically sends me a shipping label?

My VP100 isn't getting any love. 2 bids at $2.

Maybe it's just me, but I liked the Factory Outlet site/idea a whole lot better than the Auction stuff. If I want an auction, I'll hit up Audiogon or eBay.

With the F/O, if I decided *today* that I wanted a pair of M2's, I'd just go order them from the outlet knowing that they'd be as good as the full-priced ones. All stock was always available. Easy to navigate, easy to order. 8 weeks later, hooray.

I can't do that anymore. Now I've got to either pay full price for 'new' ones, or I visit the auction site to find that there are 6 sets of speakers for sale, none of which are what I want. Blah.

I don't know. I guess I just miss the discount + awesomeness was that was the Factory Outlet. Or am I missing something?

This has been beaten pretty badly over the course of the thread.

The prevailing theory is that the reason the speakers from the factory outlet were usually so flawless, is that if during the 8 week period Axiom didn't ding a cabinet you'd get stock that would have normally been sold at full price.

That's fine. I understand that it was certainly a business decision on Axiom's part. After all, any manufacturing company should strive for the fewest defects as possible. They probably hit a point where the level of 'defect' products was so low that the Outlet wasn't financially feasible.

I've been nothing but impressed with Axiom's products and actions as a company. I just think the Auction site is a dumb idea. And as a customer, I'm disappointed that they replaced the Outlet with the Auction site. It's harder to use and far less useful.

Actually arrived on Thursday, and as far as I can tell, they are flawless. I guess I can take them out on the patio this summer and study them for some defect, but why look that gift-horse in the mouth. The auction was a very good deal, even though they are V2's. I have lost my ability to appreciate high frequencies anyways, so I do not need new and improved tweeters.

I don't have a lot of time with them yet, but it is an upgrade from my Polk RT800's. I'm planning on some Blu-ray's and of course, playoff football this weekend. (go Steelers). That should seal the deal for these beauties.