What would you do?

"the manufacturer forgot to put plastic protectors they normally use to avoid these issues."

Totally agree with Dtc. As the consumer of an expensive high end pair of speakers, you have the right (and you owe it to yourself) to require the manufacturer to make the speakers like new again, whatever it takes. This is the manuf's liability. Unless the dealer is a repair service for the manufacturer, and no matter how simple they say the replacement is, you should not settle for anything but the highest quality solution for your new $50k speakers. It get's my blood boiling a little when I hear of any phile getting trifled with when big money is on the table. I cannot afford such speakers, but I cannot imagine accepting half-stepping by the manufacturer. They need people like you way too much! Hold their feet to the fire.. They need to handle the repair to your satisfaction.

My neighbor just got a new Ferrari convertable. Here in Arizona it gets hot so during the day he used the top and at night the top went down...all worked well. Yesterday it rained here in the Sonoran dessert and the top poured water onto his matched hide leather seats et al. The dealer used tape to stop the leakage. My neighbor is outraged. I am very happy in my Porsche.

Both speakers, in their entity need to be replaced at no cost to you. The old ones collected at the dealer's expense. The dealer needs to refund to you 15% of the price of the speakers as an accommodation for your lost time and money. Nothing else would be fair.

stringsteen...Must you tell us YOU drive a Porsche?Also, please spell Ferrari correctly. I wouldn't want Enzo spinning in his grave

I don't know who's at fault here other than the shipping company. The dealer offered to come out and completely fix the problem. Given that, I don't see that there is a problem. You could return them and buy the Polk's like Rok2id says, but they can get damaged in shipping, as well. Then what? Is Matthew Polk going to come to your house and fix them for you? I doubt it.

I say keep the speakers you just bought. I'm sure they sound a hell of a lot better than some pair of crappy Polks. As far as cars go, I don't feel that its any of my business (or anyone else’s, for that matter), to suggest what you should drive. I'm willing to bet, though, given your choice in audio equipment, that you don't have to settle for a crappy BMW 5 series either.

Rok2id,

"In the same vein, I have noticed that there seems to be a lot more problems with the high-end stuff than there is with 'mid-fi' equipment."

I'm not saying that you are wrong, but can you tell us where get that information from? Its an interesting statement.