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#1
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White van guys
Sorry, but I remember reading tons of posts here from the distant past about
some guys in a "white van" who were going around trying to sell used (probably either tainted or stolen) home audio gear, such as speakers, etc. Well, two punk kids in a white van pull right up along side me today in StonyBrook, Long Island, giving me a hard sell on some "really good home stereo speakers, big tower style", etc. Said they got them from work and wanted to offer me a really good deal. Of course I would have never consider anything like this, but what I was more concerned about was their actual intentions... maybe if I would have stepped out of the car and pulled out my wallet, they would have followed by pulling out a pistol and that would have been the end of my wallet, and/or car. Or, they might just be dopey kids trying to merely sell off some cheap defective speakers for $50 that are worth zero to some suckers. In anycase, this little experience reminded me of all the "white van" posts that I have seen here for years. Gee, why don't these guys just paint the van a different color already? Or why don't they just go sell their defective stolen crap on Ebay like everyone else? Of course, white vans are super common, so this just may be a coincidence. Before I thought to get the plate number etc, these guys sped off. Well.... just another white van post. I finally got my turn. wg |
#2
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White van guys
In article , eagle123
says... Sorry, but I remember reading tons of posts here from the distant past about some guys in a "white van" who were going around trying to sell used (probably either tainted or stolen) home audio gear, such as speakers, etc. IIRC they are, in fact, selling (low-quality) speakers, and they are not doing anything illegal. The marketing tactic is to make you *think* they - and you - are involved in an illegal transaction, so you think you're getting a great deal and don't ask too many questions - like, say, "how can I return these if I'm not satisfied with them..." -- Jay Levitt Funny, they approached me outside a Home Depot in Grandville, MI, in a BLUE van...maybe they're trying to break the stereotype!! Paul Andre |
#3
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White van guys
Mike Caffrey wrote:
I think they're usually selling bricks sealed in a box. The boxes a couple friends of mine bought are way too light to hold bricks, even with the piezo "tweeter"... Worst sounding pieces of **** I've had the displeasure of auditioning. -- ha |
#4
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White van guys
WideGlide wrote:
Sorry, but I remember reading tons of posts here from the distant past about some guys in a "white van" who were going around trying to sell used (probably either tainted or stolen) home audio gear, such as speakers, etc. [snip] In anycase, this little experience reminded me of all the "white van" posts that I have seen here for years. Gee, why don't these guys just paint the van a different color already? Well, times *do* change: I first started hearing these stories when I was selling hi-fi retail in 1983, and back then they were all about guys in a Red Van! /Bob Ross |
#5
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White van guys
On Tue, 8 Jul 2003, WideGlide wrote:
Well, two punk kids in a white van pull right up along side me today in StonyBrook, Long Island, giving me a hard sell on some "really good home stereo speakers, big tower style", etc. Said they got them from work and wanted to offer me a really good deal. Of course I would have never snip We were going to lunch last week and a white van pulled up and asked us if we were interested in some "really high quality home speakers." There was a red triangular-shaped decal on both sides of the van - gray lettering I think - that had "Home Speakers" or similar on them. The decal was ~18" across the bottom. I'd never been approached before, but this was an organized attempt! Doug |
#6
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White van guys
"LeBaron & Alrich" wrote in message . .. Mike Caffrey wrote: I think they're usually selling bricks sealed in a box. The boxes a couple friends of mine bought are way too light to hold bricks, even with the piezo "tweeter"... That's not a piezo tweeter, on the box it says it's a 3"x2" professional ultra high frequency reproduction unit. I got scammed by this in London, a good ten years ago, I was still old enough to know better. The scammers pulled over in a white van, and claimed they were installing speakers in a night club and had a few left over that would not be missed. They were quite friendly and polite, and had authentic looking paperwork. I went to the bank while they waited and took out £250 for a pair. When I got back to them, suddenly that price was for only a single speaker. I refused to pay £250 each, and also refused their offer of a lift home (I was getting a little suspicious by that time). The speakers were terrible. Probably worth about £100 tops. I occasionally see the same speakers going second hand for more than I paid, and sometimes ring up the seller. Either they got scammed too, or sometimes it's a salesman of the same kind. They were advertising in the private for sale part of SOS, but I rang up and informed SOS and they stopped carrying the fake personal ads. Worst sounding pieces of **** I've had the displeasure of auditioning. -- ha |
#7
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White van guys
.....but you still are having fun with your Philicorda I hope!
cheers, Bob (2 philicorda's) |
#8
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White van guys
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#9
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White van guys
just another white van post.
I actually had a buddy who bought some of these speakers out of a white van; really ****ty home stereo towers, the suckas couldn't even hold a hundred watts! I didn't have the heart to tell my friend he got screwed w/o vaseline. Anyways, a coupla weeks later, the same dude hit me up on the same strech of highway, so I rolled my window down, and he put on his game face, so I told him to pull over. After he did, I looked at all his stuff, all the same ****ty speakers my friend go hosed on, and let him go at it for a good thirty minutes. Then I told him I had some B&W's in my living room and I didn't want any of his ****ty stuff. He seemed to take it a little personally, so I advised him to get a real job, like me, where I record ****ty pop-punk bands and demos for 14-year old girls whose parents think they can sing! Touche! Kale Holmes |
#10
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White van guys
Bob Ross wrote:
WideGlide wrote: Sorry, but I remember reading tons of posts here from the distant past about some guys in a "white van" who were going around trying to sell used (probably either tainted or stolen) home audio gear, such as speakers, etc. [snip] In anycase, this little experience reminded me of all the "white van" posts that I have seen here for years. Gee, why don't these guys just paint the van a different color already? Well, times *do* change: I first started hearing these stories when I was selling hi-fi retail in 1983, and back then they were all about guys in a Red Van! Red vans, white vans, blue vans... I think there's a conspiracy on the streets, what with these guys trying to flag us down and all. -- ha |
#11
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White van guys
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#12
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White van guys
Frankly I think they'd sell a lot more product by targeting young guys
with Hondas and Acuras, and selling them knockoff speed parts; you know spoilers, mufflers, giant stickers, that kind of stuff. Yeah, stuff that'll make their puny little fuel efficient easy to park imports look & cost like a testosterone fuelled Humvee. Scott Fraser |
#14
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White van guys
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#15
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White van guys
Analogeezer wrote: Are they white vans in the UK too? Nah, they would have to be white "mini" vans. |
#16
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White van guys
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#17
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White van guys
When the Speaker and Stereo Store was open we'd get these in
regularly...Acoustic Concept was one of the brand names they'd use. A really, really bad box (sometimes 1/8" particle board, I kid you not), $5 worth of drivers, maybe a cap for the tweeter if you were *real* lucky, no stuffing in the box. They would absorb about 10W before they blew sky-high. Our customers would usually come in with a complaint about blown components and want to know what it would take to upgrade them to "real speakers". When they saw the typical $250-300 pricetag (and heard our disclaimers about the cabinets being godawful anyway) they'd slink off, usually leaving us to dispose of the POS. Peace, Paul |
#18
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White van guys
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#19
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White van guys
"Charles Thomas" wrote in
message ... In article , (kHolmes) wrote: advised him to get a real job, like me, where I record demos for 14-year old girls whose parents think they can sing! ****, man! I thought I was the only one who did that! Have you ever had to do an a-capella tape 'cause she couldn't follow the karaoke backing track? CT I once had to visually cue a guy on every single verse. Otherwise, he'd finish singing and there would still be two minutes of the music track remaining. His reason for attempting to sing was because he thought he sounded good singing along with his car radio. *sigh* That was back when I was Anything-For-A Buck recording. Buh-bye. Now, I'm Anything-For-A-Buck-And-A-Half recording! |
#20
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White van guys
reddred wrote:
An international conspiracy of white vans... I got flagged by one in Norfolk once. I wonder where corporate HQ is? I'm picturing the rev. Moon saying 'I listen to these myself'. Do a google search for Dick Pierce's posts on the subject. He got to testify as an expert witness. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#21
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White van guys
I was approached by one of these guys several years ago, outside an Office
Depot. When I told him I owned speakers that retailed for $10K a pair, each driven by a $6.6K amplifier, he turned purple. He was absolutely outraged that anyone would own hi-fi equipment that cost more than a car! |
#23
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White van guys
In rec.audio.pro, "WideGlide" wrote:
Sorry, but I remember reading tons of posts here from the distant past about some guys in a "white van" who were going around trying to sell used (probably either tainted or stolen) home audio gear, such as speakers, etc. Well, two punk kids in a white van pull right up along side me today in StonyBrook, Long Island, giving me a hard sell on some "really good home Where exactly in Stony Brook? That's where I lived when I was on LI a couple years ago. |
#24
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White van guys
I have some people around here running quad turbo Acuras pushing 750+
horses, plus one of the TNN car shows actually ran some of the Faster and Furiouser (should have been Mo Fast and Mo Furious) cars, surprisingly NOT being all that great in the performance department, but then they had like five of each model, some shells and some fairly hopped up. The tested ones were stock on the inside. However, I can't believe the horses some of these guys are getting to the ground out of the 2k cc engines. And when you think about it taking 14 more horses just to get one more mile per hour after 190, these cars should be able to fly if they had wings. So one may question why these guys do it, but my hat is off to them for pulling out rpms and horses that we couldn't back in the days of the small block Chevies and big block Fords and Mopar hemis. There are affordable street cars that pull 0-60 in 5 seconds straight off the show room floor, the Subaru WRX 300 hp and a Mitsubishi in the mid 20s. -- Roger W. Norman SirMusic Studio 301-585-4681 "Charles Thomas" wrote in message ... In article , (Analogeezer) wrote: Frankly I think they'd sell a lot more product by targeting young guys with Hondas and Acuras, and selling them knockoff speed parts; you know spoilers, mufflers, giant stickers, that kind of stuff. sigh The "Fast and Furious" clones. Don't get me started.... CT |
#26
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White van guys
"Analogeezer" wrote Frankly I think they'd sell a lot more product by targeting young guys with Hondas and Acuras, and selling them knockoff speed parts; you know spoilers, mufflers, giant stickers, that kind of stuff. http://homepage.mac.com/howheels/rubpics/woowoo.wmv http://lisupras.com/wooo.html -Scott (Warner) |
#27
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White van guys
Actually I resemble that mark..
Apparently my facetiousness wasn't blatant enough. See, I'm the one ridiculing the SUV culture with its attendant wastefullness, etc. Scott Fraser |
#28
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White van guys
Are they white vans in the UK too?
Analogeezer White Van Man is a recognised social class in the UK - the best selling daily newspaper, The Sun has a column in which they ask a random guy in a white van his thoughts on the days news. Usually quite unsophisticated in their opinions. White Van Man doesn't tend to sell crappy speakers, though there are plenty of shops selling stereos as well as toasters and irons that can do that....... Rob |
#29
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White van guys
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#30
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White van guys
White Van Man is a recognised social class in the UK - the best
selling daily newspaper, The Sun has a column in which they ask a random guy in a white van his thoughts on the days news. Usually quite unsophisticated in their opinions. er....I drive a white van in London. Wanna buy a toaster? |
#31
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White van guys
I always offer them a trade.
I get the speakers and they get the e-mail address of a guy in liberia who will give you 30 percent of 60 million dollars and all he needs is a bank account... |
#32
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White van guys
philicorda wrote:
I got scammed by this in London, a good ten years ago, I was still old enough to know better. Hey, I actually BOUGHT a pair of speakers from the guys in a white van. It was many moons ago. (see story below) The scammers pulled over in a white van, and claimed they were installing speakers in a night club and had a few left over that would not be missed. They were quite friendly and polite, and had authentic looking paperwork. I went to the bank while they waited and took out 250 for a pair. When I got back to them, suddenly that price was for only a single speaker. I refused to pay 250 each, and also refused their offer of a lift home (I was getting a little suspicious by that time). Same story. Guys give me the "nightclub story". Didn't believe a word of it. The speakers were said to be "brand new" in box. This part seemed to be true. Furthermore they were of the "magnetic fluid" kind that was a brand new item at the time. I give them LOTS of sales resistance, but they simply wouldn't take "no" for an answer. I tell them I think the speakers are crap and doubt they are worth the money. They argue and I say, hey, let me "test" them. Heh, they figure I'm gonna hook them up to my "hi fi" and they readily agree. So we go to my house and I take them into my audio lab!!! We hooked up a speaker (new out of the box, by the way) and put it through it's paces. it was rather weak on the bass end but sounded damn good on the mids and highs. I told them, hey, these are really not half bad speakers! Of course they were falling all over themselves with praise for the sound as I tested the speakers. So we get down to price. I offer $100. They counter. We agree on $150. Done, they say, $300 for the pair. Whoa! I stop that crap right now. I say, dig. $150 for PAIR. They hmm and haw and finally agree. And we go to the bank machine. The speakers were terrible. Probably worth about 100 tops. interesting enough, these speakers were not terrible in fact they are STILL here hooked to my computer. I probably still paid too much since I later checked and found that I got these speakers for about what similar Radio Shack speakers were going for at the time. Only these sounded much better. That "magnetic fluid" thing really does work. Of course soon I also added a 100W sub under the table and now the system kicks some major butt. I pity the dudes who fell for the $300 price though. Have to admit it, these guys were major pro sales guys. I'm a REALLY hard sell, and they never missed a beat even when I gave the speakers the lab tests. And it worked, I'm still using them. Benj (Who as a general policy tries NOT to buy things from guys in white vans) -- SPAM-Guard! Remove .users (if present) to email me! |
#33
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White van guys
These days they sell under the name "Acoustic Image".
That's unfortunate, as there's a real company by that name, which makes a damned fine acoustic bass amplifier. Peace, Paul |
#34
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White van guys
the ones i've seen doing this are actually "real" businesses. the
trick is their speakers suck, but they make you think you're getting some hot deal. it's real shady no matter how you slice it. if you want to have fun with them, have them lug their speakers in to your house to demo them... "no.. i think it will sound better upstairs... no, let's try the basement... no, that won't do it..." if you have a big loud dog that hates strangers, even better! |
#36
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White van guys
(P Stamler) wrote:
These days they sell under the name "Acoustic Image". That's unfortunate, as there's a real company by that name, which makes a damned fine acoustic bass amplifier. Paul, That was Acoustic Control, which is trying to get them to stop using "Acoustic Anything" for a brand name. Acoustic Control use to make fine bass amplifiers. Samick now owns the name, and they're making basically P.A. cabinets these days. Harvey Gerst Indian Trail Recording Studio http://www.ITRstudio.com/ |
#37
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White van guys
Even better -- turn the volume all the way up to 11 and blow out the speakers.
Before you've paid, of course... if you want to have fun with them, have them lug their speakers into your house to demo them... |
#38
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OT: fast and furious (was: White van guys)
Charles Thomas wrote:
In article , (Analogeezer) wrote: Frankly I think they'd sell a lot more product by targeting young guys with Hondas and Acuras, and selling them knockoff speed parts; you know spoilers, mufflers, giant stickers, that kind of stuff. sigh The "Fast and Furious" clones. Don't get me started.... Here, have fun http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/ride.htm |
#39
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White van guys
xy wrote:
: if you want to have fun with them, have them lug their speakers in to : your house to demo them... You honestly are recommending inviting these thieves into my house? Scott |
#40
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White van guys
That was Acoustic Control, which is trying to get them to stop using "Acoustic Anything" for a brand name. Acoustic Control use to make fine bass amplifiers. Samick now owns the name, and they're making basically P.A. cabinets these days. No, this is Acoustic Image, makers of the Contra bass amplifier among other products. Different folks. See: www.acousticimg.com/index2.html Peace, Paul |
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