I remember that affair well! One day years ago at university ,passing
through the campus after returning from the town, having placed an
order for a pair of wharfedale floorstanders at the local HiFi shop I
was approached by some dodgy characters in - wait for it - a white
van.

Heheheh.

Although, these days, they'll drive anything that can hold product, from a
beat-up Chevrolet Astro all the way up to a pristine Lincoln Navigator.

Or, for Europe, from a beat up Ford Transit to a pristine Range Rover.

It is shocking that this appears to be a worldwide affar. Apparently, it
started here in the 1970s in the States and then spread to other countries over
the years.

There have been instances in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and I
think even in Germany with possibly many other countries.

And, I am also sorry to say, that this foul business will most certainly not go
away for quite some time. There are too many greedy suckers who think they
will be bagging themselves a good deal, and the business runs to the point
where the authorities can do almost nothing about it.

Faces fell as I told them
where I was coming from, and tried to convince me that the ones I had
ordered "were Ok but what we got here is the real ****, know what i
mean?" they then spun me some ridiculous story ... I said "no" and left them
to it.

Great feeling to dodge a bullet and look good in the process, yes?

Week or two later on BBC watchdog or some similar programme, lo and
behold I saw a trading standards report on the scam, they got a pair
of these speakers from a disgruntled duped customer and ran an
analysis on them. They came to the same conclusions as you said -
pieces of crap with awful response curves, sensitivity, phasing,
soundstage, build, crossovers...you name it. In fact I 'm fairly sure
I still have a video of the programme somewhere.....

I'd love to watch that, although the video would have to be sent through the
net. I'm afraid I don't have the capability to play PAL recordings.

Another thing I've heard about these white van speakers, they may not have
serial numbers tagged on the product or labeled on the packaging.

And, of course, common sense dictates that buying speakers out of a van from
real pushy people telling an ethically questionable story should be avoided at
all costs. - Reinhart