At least Al can pronounce the word "nuclear"...(Hey Peter,is it Olympics time again already? Seriously though, Shrub is a highly, umm, entertaining speaker - wouldn't trade him for a real president unless the going got tough...oops... ;^)
The worst $$K speaker I've ever personally encountered from a 'major' manufacturer came from Velodyne, of all companies. When I was selling audio retail about 10 years back, they introduced a small monitor - which was their first (and I believe last!) attempt at this market - with very dense cabinetry, beautifully-made, and metal-diaphragmed drivers in a D'Appolito configuration, which supposedly incorporated some kind of 'revolutionary' technology that time (or at least myself) has forgotten. I don't recall the model name, but these babies were given a big promotional push, with a rep coming out to the stores to demo them and give background for salespeople, with literature, display cards, etc. I seem to remember them selling for around $3.5K, a lot at the time for their size (sorry if any of my 'factual' recollections are off-base). Anyway, these things were just the biggest stinkers - the most closed-in, uptight, totally dead-sounding music killers - any other speakers in the shop did better, regardless of price. Needless to say, none were sold, and I think after about a year they quietly disappeared from the market - certainly from our store (though their subs stayed). This speaker, whatever it was, isn't even listed on Velodyne's website under their model history. Anybody know more 'bout this fiasco, or remember the model name/number?...
The worst $$K speaker I've ever personally encountered from a 'major' manufacturer came from Velodyne, of all companies. When I was selling audio retail about 10 years back, they introduced a small monitor - which was their first (and I believe last!) attempt at this market - with very dense cabinetry, beautifully-made, and metal-diaphragmed drivers in a D'Appolito configuration, which supposedly incorporated some kind of 'revolutionary' technology that time (or at least myself) has forgotten. I don't recall the model name, but these babies were given a big promotional push, with a rep coming out to the stores to demo them and give background for salespeople, with literature, display cards, etc. I seem to remember them selling for around $3.5K, a lot at the time for their size (sorry if any of my 'factual' recollections are off-base). Anyway, these things were just the biggest stinkers - the most closed-in, uptight, totally dead-sounding music killers - any other speakers in the shop did better, regardless of price. Needless to say, none were sold, and I think after about a year they quietly disappeared from the market - certainly from our store (though their subs stayed). This speaker, whatever it was, isn't even listed on Velodyne's website under their model history. Anybody know more 'bout this fiasco, or remember the model name/number?...