Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Soundstage

I say Nuance is sleasy in the way they allowed their retailers sell their products; high pressure sales, lack of knowledge of the product or knowledge of home audio in general,outrageous prices(20 grand for the big 7 ft tall speakers, which was cut in half after i said "ya right", then cut in half again and once more down to 2500 for a set of tower speakers when all it is, is just a nice cabinet with paper cones covered with a coating to make it look otherwise), forbidding anyone to review their products.... the list goes on. They have big sound, with big boxes that appeals cosmetically to people who think size matters. I know I have friends who wn them and were ripped 40 grand, no lie, and honestly I think they look sharp being big, but I wasn't nearly impressed even before I found how much they really cost. I see all over the place people trying to sell them for 4 grand or more on Kijiji and other sites like Buysell.com etc. So yeah, thats my two bits on that and thanks to everyone else on commenting about soundstage.

I whole-heartedly agree. For a few bucks more, you can get M80s which sound a heck of a lot better.

If you want an amusing couple of minutes enter "nuance fluance" into Google and clock on some links.

Interesting... made in Toronto, same contract mfg as Dahlquist :

Link

$400 for 5 speakers made of MDF? It may be a great deal for those that want home theatre on the cheap and aren't fussy about sound quality!

Hi Wiggins,

I suspect the reason you can't find any reviews on Soundstage or other stores that carry them is because there aren't any, the reason being that I'm sure Soundstage is a "house brand".

This means that an individual store or chain of stores will contract with some OEM manufacturer to build a line of speakers at various prices. No one know who designs them, where the parts are sourced, or where they're built. They're designed for maximum profit to the retailer and often are lousy sounding or barely acceptable.

Typically house brands will have names like "Soundstage" that are similar to other high-quality brands. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, there were house brands in Canada like Audio Research, which traded on the name of once fine old American manufacturer, Acoustic Research. Customers would get confused, which was the intention of the retailed and house brand line.

Sometimes the odd house brand speaker would evolve into a decent loudspeaker company. For example, the Ohm loudspeaker line started out as a house brand speaker for a chain of New England hi-fi stores called Tweeter, if memory serves.

I'll tell you the Nuance story in my next chapter--a uniquely Canadian and highly annoying tale of marketing gimmickry.

Regards,

Might it have been Tech HiFi? I remember they really used to be big on Ohm....

Man, I miss places like that. They used to come out with these great printed catalogs that featured everything from the big Kenwood, Sansui, Marantz and pioneer receivers with their 270 or 300 watt ratings, through Infinity Reference Standard speakers. That catalog was hifi porn to me.... !

Hi Mark,

Yes, you're right--Tech Hi-Fi.

And electronics catalogs were absolutely hi-fi porn. Going back even farther, I still cherish two thick catalogs, one from New York-based Lafayette Radio Electronics (1967) and one from Allied Radio, which was based in Chicago. They were given to me by an old friend, Larry Klein, the former Technical Editor of Stereo Review, who retired long ago.

Regards,

Thank you everyone for clearing that up, my suspicions seem to be correct about my curiosity. It just bugs me how some salesman try and prove their product is superior to others with no proof to back up their claim. I went to the Nuance site and they had comments from satisfied customers, but one thing I found amusing was over 3/4 of the comments were from Alberta alone. I find that interesting as to how their marketing strategies work, sell to young people(males) who are young, foolish and spend all the money they make in the oil fields, decieve the buyer by the size of the speaker and how loud it can go. These are just average joes falling prey to a devious plan. Needless to say, the retail outlet for Nuance here in Edmonton is finished and facing numerous lawsuits of unfair business practices among other charges.

Alan,

When are you unveiling the next chapter?