No that isn‘t the issue. Doesn't matter to me who's making the components. What I'm talking about is more broadly how they operate.
There are several things Emotiva does that are "red flags" for me. Steep markdowns on continuing products. Hyping products in development. Constantly introducing new products that often replace previous one (specifically talking about speakers). Expanding their business very quickly. IMO these are all signs of an immature company that's riding close to the edge. If they sold something that I wasn't worried about warranty service on then these might not be issues but electronics products are for me.
Another issue that bothers me about them is heavily moderating their forum both directly and through fanboyism. Needing to control what's being said about them on the internet says either something about the owners, that the business relies to heavily on internet hype, or both. A company that lives by internet hype dies in its absence. I understand that most ID companies, even Axiom, have probably been internet darlings at some point. However, I have more faith in that company if it's core business has a solid foundation beyond internet forums.
When speaker shopping the first company I dropped from consideration was AV123 for the reasons stated above about Emotiva plus a couple others. I was also worried about Axiom in general but if you notice Axiom does not send up any of the red flags that I mentioned above which allayed much of my fears. There were also people pointing out Axiom's warts in other forums and here who weren't being attacked by packs of fanboys so I felt I was getting a more realistic picture of the company.
Emotiva doesn't need to make hyperbolic claims on their own website since they've had fanboys spamming internet forms with hyperbole for some time, though it's died down recently with the problems they've been having and the rising number of complaints that are no longer getting shouted down.
I'm glad Emotiva is in business. New blood leads to innovation. Competition helps the whole market. However, it's my preference to go with a company with a proven track record. If that costs me a little extra money I don't mind. I am quite pleased that you and others are willing to support new companies like Emo, and those who are early adaptors because if it all works out it drives prices down and bring new products into the mainstream. Just not my cup of tea. So I have nothing personal about Emo or AV123, I just like to act as a reality check to make sure people who haven’t looked into them know the whole picture. I’m not bagging on you or any other owner of either of those companies products any more than I would bag on a Bose owner. Everyone has different needs, wants, prices, risk threshold, etc. . . .
So even though Emotive might not have a spotless record, I'm still grateful for what they are attempting to do for us.
This is exactly the type of statement that disturbs me about a company. Companies that foster the idea that they are something more than a business, Emotiva and AV123 come to mind, worry me because they are just businesses and are not doing anything for you. They're in business to make money and if the byproduct of that benefits you then everyone benefits.
Cheers,
Dean
