Back in the 80's and desperate for a job, I answered an add for Audio Salesman wanted, I called the number and was told to report for work the following day. As it turned out the sales position was to drive around in a white van trying to scam people. I made a decent amount of money that day, was paid in cash, and promptly quit. The guy I was paired with driving the van was a master bullshitter, slime ball, con man. You live and learn. Thirty years later a wealthy friend asked me to stop by his place and hook up this fantastic new set of speakers he bought dirt cheap. And you guessed it, he bought them from 2 guys in a white van. I did not have the heart to tell him he was conned. They sounded awful. Thanks for the video, I enjoyed it.
The only thing I bought from the back of a white van was a surfboard. 7 foot fibre glass. And it went quite good . The glass was probably a bit light on top as ended up with a lot of dents. But it dd paddle and ride well..
Yes, I was approached about 25 years ago. Unfortunately, I have been an audiophile almost since coming out of the womb and also an incurable cynic. I played along for a few minutes and then said something like, "I'll give you $5 for them." He said something I can't repeat and got back in his van and sped off. What's really funny is that 80% of the population doesn't really care all that much about "audiophile sound" and he looked at me, think it was in the parking lot of a neighborhood record store and said: "you look like someone who really cares about high quality sound." I started singing the praises of Threshold, Thiel, Spectral, etc. Right then I could see a strange look come over his face like he was being played.
Fell for this scam back in the late ‘90s. I remember feeling good about myself for negotiating them down from $400 to $100 for a pair of no-brand “white van speakers.” Put together that I’d been duped before I even got them home. Was in my early twenties, so I chalk it up to youthful idiocy.
They tried to scam my elderly father, but he told them he was going to call me before just to be sure, and send me a photo. They just left, and my father was upset because he thought he lost a huge deal, but I told him about the scam, and he was feeling a lot better.
Living in Dallas in the 90's and my older buddy came by with a new set of speakers he got from a guy in a white van. He was so stoked! He brought them inside and first thing that caught my eye was THE MSRP WAS PRINTED RIGHT ON THE BOX!!! "Oh,boy" I thought. When he started to unbox them it was obviously that they were junk. He was so proud before hand. lol
About 30 years ago I had a friend that was pissed at me that I wouldn't loan him the cash to buy a pair of speakers. A week later another friend bought them from the same van at a different mall. After listening to them he wasn't mad anymore.
I was approached by these white van guys decades ago in the Boarders Bookstore parking lot in Torrance, CA. Claimed they were given double inventory by mistake at some fictional loading dock of the stereo speaker fictional company. I let them talk the b.s. and told them they were full of it.
I had an interview for a job selling the white van speakers back in the early 1990's. I did not take the job. I also had a white van sales pitch at a store that was not far from my apartment. At the time, I had a pair of JBL L-112. There was NO way a set of White Van Speakers were going to sound better than those.
I, myself, bought some way back in the '70's. Hooked them up, listened to them and they sounded okay. Maybe some kind of Acoustic Research knock-offs. But back then I listened with a much less discriminating ear, which is somewhat of a mixed blessing. C'est la vie!
After hearing so many stories about white van speakers I was honoured when my time came and a couple guys approached me in my work van. It was a rite of passage to some extent. I'm complete now.
My roommate came home one day with a pair of white van speakers in about 1997. He wasn't excited and didn't set them up because he realized he'd been scammed before he made it home. I remember him feeling horrible that he'd fallen for it. I think he spent the rest of the day in bed. We never even opened the box. They had grey carpet on the sides and bulbous black grates over the woofers - at least from the pictures on the side of the box. I hadn't thought of that for years. Really funny to have such a similar experience as you.
In my Late teens/The Early '90's when I was getting into Stereo equipment I got one 12" 3way cabinet from my sisters boyfriend at the time. Seems like it may have said "liquid Cooled" and or "digital ready" on it . The woofer was blown/inop. when I removed it the magnet was REALLY small for a 12" woofer like 1-2" diameter if I remember correctly. I replaced it w/a woofer from Radio Shack and it was able to produce decent sounding Bass.--At least I thought so at that time. A couple of years later at the Bank, when you still needed to go to the bank and cash your payroll check. I was approached by some guy in a white van. ,Yes literally in a white van. W/some audio equipment for sale. But I knew better "Thanks Anyway"....
I used to have a store where I bought and sold used equipment. The white van guys would tell people they can take their speakers to my store and I would be happy to buy them for multiples of what they paid for them. When I turned them down, people got mad at me!
Traded an old broken Alpine car stereo pullout for some around 1987 in Davenport IA. After putting some real power (~80 or so watts from my old Onkyo) to them and they instantly fried. Took a hammer to the cabinet and the wood was the thin particle board stuff you mentioned. They didn't look bad - had gain knobs for mid and high even.
Came across a pair at Goodwill for $50. Excited they were high end, I purchased them, took them home and was gravely disappointed in their sound and build quality. I believe the brand name was Vincent but may have been spelled slightly differently, which I believe is a maker of quality electronics but never heard of them making speakers.
I totally fell for this in 2001. Michigan boy fresh to Florida and I was at a gas station and it was exactly as you describe. A guy approached says he has a bunch of leftovers from a huge install at the casino. Witch I was on State RD 7 and the Seminole Casino was just across the street so I grabbed a pair. 😅 lesson learned. And I can definitely laugh about it today.
This has been around for ever! One of my co worker brought a VCR in a sealed box, yea that long along. Looked great and weighted a nice amount. It was a junk VCR inside with a brick for added weight.
I was approached by one of these guys in the late 80s. Pulled up next to me while waiting at a stoplight. Can't remember if it was a white van but told me they had some really nice Boston Acoustics to sell. Ironically I was just driving back home after buying my first stereo, Technics with (genuine) Cerwin Vega speakers. Definitely had no extra money left for a second pair.
I've always wondered what the business model is, so thanks for the explanation! I encountered the white van folks once back in the 80s, I think. Their sales technique wasn't the best, because I was walking down the street when a van swooped to the curb right in front of me and the door flew open, which is automatically going to put someone on their guard. They shouted the familiar "Hey, do you want to want to buy some speakers?", and I replied with something like, "no, I don't want to buy stolen speakers." They actually got offended by that and said "they aren't stolen!" before racing off. I didn't know what the deal was, but I knew something was off.
Yes, this very thing happened to me in the early 80s. The white van at the gas station. I think I paid $200 for a pair. I was young and not very sophisticated audio wise so I used them for a few years, live and learn 😩
Still happening occasionally up here in Canada. I can admit it now but I got scammed by these guys in the nineties. Got them home nothing but bricks inside. I was so pissed at the time.
I Had moved to Boulder, CO in the late 90s and this scam was in full swing. The white-van guys actually flagged me down at an intersection. We pulled into a nearby parking lot, and it was obvious to me the speakers were crap. I had been installing my own car stereos since high-school and the ridiculous specs on the box were a dead giveaway along with the mysterious brand name. Thank goodness for RadioShack and Crutchfield catalogs, and of course my electronics enthusiast neighbors! Without that knowledge base I might've fallen for it. ....and a month later the scam made the local news around Denver Metro.
Fortunately, when I was younger, I was never rich enough to afford these. I do dimly remember these, and I agree that they have moved online. Lots of advantages for scammers online, no need to hire “pushers”, no need to rent a van, nobody online to enforce whatever laws you are breaking. And if you try to get back to them you hit an impenetrable firewall.
I only experienced a 'white van' speaker scammer once. In 1993, I was driving from Winnipeg to Toronto, through the USA, and somewhere between Detroit/Windsor and Toronto in SW Ontario, I decided to stop for coffee and lunch. When I was stopped at the traffic light at the end of of the offramp, a white van pulled up beside and the passenger side window went down and the sales pitch began... exactly as you described... they were special high end speakers left over from an installation job, and they didn't want to pay restocking fees. I was driving a 1967 Pontiac Parisienne _convertible_ and the cover was snapped on, so I couldn't just put the roof up and roll up the windows. They started to get really insistent (even aggressive) I should buy their speakers. I said I wasn't interested, and besides that I had no cash on me. That wasn't deterring them, they said they could follow me to a bank machine so I could get the cash. This was now getting pretty crazy. I checked both ways twice, planted my foot to the floor and went right through the red light and down the onramp on the other side and back onto the highway. Coffee and lunch waited until later. That is the only time I have willfully gone through a red light !
Kevin, great video and worthwhile topic for people to watch out lest they get taken. Never fell for it and its been a while. The White Van used to park at Best Buy (talk about gutsy/good target audience) and give a pitch as you walked past. i just kept on walking. Appreciate folks sharing below, glad I dodged that bullet !
Back in the 80's I had a friend that bought a pair of the AR3000 speakers off a guy in a corvette of all things. After 5 minutes of listening to the less then spectacular audio we decided to pull them apart and see what was inside. Well other than cheap drivers (big surprise) there was no port tube, just a hole in the front of the cab. So we borrowed some pvc tubing from his dad's workshop and spent the rest of the day tuning the cab. Much to our surprise we found a port length that worked and I swear those speakers sounded like they were worth twice what he paid for them. (btw this only worked on the paper coned drivers the later version poly cones are complete garbage)
I got approached while at a stop light in 1986. I was a broke high school student, many days its was the question, eat lunch or put gas in my car. A white van stopped beside me at the red light, the guy leaned out with the classic schpeal, wanted to follow me to an ATM but it didn't matter as I didn't have the money to even contemplate buying his speakers. I'm amazed the scam still exists.
I was approached by one of these guys in the mid-80s. He pulled up to me in the parking lot and yelled, "Hey, want to buy some speakers cheap?" I just told him I already had cheap speakers. ( I couldn't resist the word play on "speakers cheap" and "cheap speakers." ) He said, "No, they're good speakers for cheap!" My 2nd-hand JBLs that I had at the time worked just fine, so I told him no thanks. I didn't realize what I had at the time - I wish I still had those JBLs.
I was approached by the white van when I moved to Maryland in 2014. I didn't take the bait. As a Audiophile, who's father was into equipment I can tell you... the name of the white van speaker was close to a high-end manufacturer that I heard of.
Bought a pair of white van speakers called "Dynamic Audio Pro Poly Series 1901" for $100 in the parking lot of a Target in 1989. Still have them and still use them.
Only encountered them once around 15 years ago. I was walking to a shopping centre during a lunch break and as I was crossing a busy road, this van pulls up onto the centre strip and the driver calls out do I want some speakers. Because I already knew about the scam, I said no and the van raced off on the prowl for other potential victims.
I kinda laughed when you said you just left the theater and you had a little money in your pocket. LOL I was lucky, I didn't have enough money to buy any gear when I got interested in audio.I did subscribe to Stereo Review in 1975 and did a ton of research before I bought anything.
This happened to a housemate of mine as well in the 80's. Very similar story! He brought them home and was stoked to show me, knowing that I had worked in a (nice) stereo shop and was somewhat knowledgeable. I wasn't as tactful as i wish I'd been. I was aware of this scam and had had it attempted on me. Anyway, what the hell, lets hook'em up. They were simply horrible! They were called Acoustic something. I recently saw a pair of the exact same speakers on for sale used on fb marketplace, they wanted 100 bucks!
Live in NewYork had that experience back in the 90s Had a stereo system didn’t need, But two years later déjà VU same situation left over speakers, story didn’t make sense lol.
It wasn’t just in the States. Way back in the day - late 70s, early 80’s at the height of the audio sales boom these crews were a regular fixture. Can’t remember how many times I was approached. My favourite time was the day I was walking to work at one of the big regional stereo chains in Edmonton. They rolled up beside me just before I was getting to the door and started a patter about how much money they could save me. After a bit of back and forth I offered to demo some good speakers for them. Took some time for the lightbulb to go off before they headed off to look for the next sucker. I wonder what they would’ve thought about our Tannoy Windsors…
I was working as a mechanic in a small town shop in 2010 - one of these sleezeballs came around. He even had a very similar system set up in his van and it DID sound good. I didn't know about the scam, but the guy gave off sleezy vibes and I didn't have the money... But my boss and co-worker did, so they got taken.
I had a friend try to unload his newly purchased white van speakers on me in 1992. He came over with them, told the incredible story of good fortune, and I agreed to check them out and maybe buy them off him. At the time I had a pretty nice set of infinity three way bookshelf units that sounded great with my parasound integrated amp. The amp had two speaker outs so we could a/b them easily, that’s what we did. We sat there listening to these big speakers and then mine and the difference was pretty obvious and I luckily stuck with mine. I didn’t know about the scam at the time. Looking back I wonder if my buddy found out after he bought them and tried to get out of his screwup using me.
A unknown neighbor was giving away an ‘Ambeo AB11’ soundbar so I grabbed it…Says ‘ MSRP $1,499.99’ on outside of box. Got it home and it felt super lightweight and I could feel that there is something inside cabinet that’s sliding around like box of crackers…Maybe somebody got scammed and just wanted to get rid of it…Online I have seen about 3 of these listed $250-$500…
Radio shack really loved to play up "Liquid Cooled" with the Mach one's (2nd version). Now days you have to remove the glue it became with IPA and then sadly replace it with fresh (Ferrofluid is expensive!).
Great vid! Great idea to reminisce about this, era I guess? There’s still some kind of this level of crap audio online (Pyle?) I was approached in 1999 and almost fell for it, 15 years later I bought the same basic thing on eBay for $10 for the fun of it and now my friend still uses them as some pretty cool looking rear surround speakers so we definitely got our $10 worth out of them! Keep up the great work man!
Yeah! "Pyle" anything. Lmao. When COVID hit and I was forced to shut down my business, pre-Doordash... My buddy took pity on me and sent me a Pyle Cassette player. After wiring it up and playing a coupke different cassettes and looking over that my wiring was sound... I promptly put it back in the box and sent it back. Thanking him for the kind gesture but, no, my ears are better than that!
Pyle used to be legit. I think they made drivers for Radio Shack at one point. I never tried any, so can’t comment on their quality, but they were a legit manufacturer as far as I know.
In New York City in the early 80s, they were a lot of shops along Canal Street in Midtown. It’s sold knock offs of legitimate brands. I remember one of the most popular was Japan. Victory components for JVC. I remember they had a 12 inch woofer three mid range is three types of tweeters and indicated they were liquid cooled and had a resettable fuse and cheap pots to attenuate mid range and treble.
Loved Canal St in the 80’s. So many things to do and see. Although so much fake audio gear and plenty people stupid enough to buy it. Boxes usually weighed down with bricks.
As someone who made their living selling audio gear for over a decade, I can regrettably attest that the "white van speaker scam" didn't just occur from the white van-- it happened right out the front door of your local hifi shop. Many folks do not understand that the speaker system is where the shop makes it money. The usual marketing plan was to advertise the receiver at a bargain price (I can specifically remember when our chain broke the SX-650 at the new low price of $199-- we had off duty cops directing traffic out of the parking lot!), and then add on a pair of high profit/low quality speakers to recover some profit on the sale. Typically, these cheap speakers were highly efficient; so an A-B comparison test against a less efficient name brand pair (Acoustic Research comes to mind) made them sound more "impressive" to the unsuspecting ear. I regrettably admit to selling hundreds of these speaker systems. PS: Kevin, whether deliberately or not, you always start off every video with "Definitely gonna be a fun one!" It makes me smile every time; I'd be disappointed if you didn't! Thanks for another great video.
I was in the parking lot of a major grocery store and these two guys pulled up to me and tried this scam around 2010. I already had a $10,000 real audio system in my home. Sounded fishy from the start. You’ve got to know if you buy it without a receipt or not from a store or real online retailer, you’re screwed. Said no thanks and left. They went on to the next person walking out of the store.
In the mid 80’s there was a van in the shopping plaza near Andrews AFB selling ‘overstock’ speakers. Struck me as strange. Audio from the PX was pretty reasonable, plus no tax. Still sold a number of them to dorm dwellers.
in 2003 I interviewed at a company that was exactly this, a white van speaker scam lol. I was interested at first at selling stereo equipment, but got sketched out by what they were asking me to do very quickly. Another friend wound up working there and they got in tons of trouble for soliciting and whatnot LOL.
Not a white van, but super stereo store back in the 1980's. 12 inch Fishers... Eventually I had to use my speaker building skills and pull them apart. Changed out cone mids and tweeters with dome mids and tweeters from ole Radio shack with a three way crossover and adequate damping material. They were excellent after that. And then I built another pair and liked them. Then my sister bought me two Mach 3's they were on sale and she kept my home mades. Speakers are madness and yes the mass market boxes are like white van speakers although probably somewhat better engineered.
I started at my first Job Memorial Day 1987 at a local electronic supper store in Albuquerque New Mexico. The store was called West Coast Sound Systems. We would see those white van speakers appear as customer take aways. The customers would bring them in or have us take the speakers away during deliveries of different speakers. We almost always left those white van speakers inside by the back door so that we could take them home and give them to friends. In 1990 my highschool senior year I was on my way to a party when I received a call from the friends that was hosting that party on my car phone. He said that his father took the speakers out of the house and there would not be any music at the party so I went by the store and my boss gave me two pairs of the white van speakers to take to the party. I was very popular for my generosity by giving so many pairs of the white van speakers away. What was funny I decided to leave the party early and there was these looks of concern that I was going to take home my speakers. I said you can have them. There were looks of confusion. White van speakers were great for parties.
One effect of the White Van scam is that when people don't recognize a speaker, they sometimes think it's white van when it's not. I see it all the time in Facebook audio groups, especially budget groups.
Thank you for the video. Two or three years ago one of those vans drove by me in a suburban Detroit shopping center parking lot and piqued my curiosity. Thankfully it didn't stop. But why a white van? Should be a tip-off.
"Digital Ready". I was in a high end audio store in the early 1980s when CDs came out. While stereo salesmen spew a lot of BS, this guy hit it dead on. "Any manufacture claiming their gear is "Digital Ready" isn't and never will be." He went on to point out an old McIntosh MC60 was "digital ready", the day it was built!
Have you seen any HeathKit AS 153 Speaker.. I have a pair in custom cabinets... one of the speakers is not working... any ideas? I think the crossover capacitor in bad.. no signal from my multimeter....
Lol... my room mate did exactly the same thing. I didn't have the heart to say anything so we just listened to those crappy ass speakers and drank more not to care!
in the 80's, we saw this kind of thing, right up to the white van....some cool looking speakers, really heavy, "ooohh, they must have huge magnets", but, no, they had steel plates screwed to the front of the enclosure, and some kind of 12'" woofer with about a 10 oz magnet, a simple capacitor "crossover" to a tweeter...one of the guys in our building bought one to see what was what, but I think he had a colleague keep the white van guy talking while zipped inside and pulled it apart...surprised the "salesman" to see him come back with "the goods"...hard not to refund with a few guys on hand!
@ 6:27 I have this system. It's been in my family since 1980. Very god system from Fisher Sanyo. The preamp is great and has many selections for MM and MC in the phono stage. The FM Tuner has been regarded as a very fine unit. The BA 6000 amp has clean sound with plenty of headroom. The track finding MT 6360 Turn table is pretty cool also.
An essential part of this scam is that the story of how they got them and why they need to sell them doesn’t quite add up - leading people to think they’re stolen goods Most successful grifts work by convincing the mark that what’s going on is a scam, but that the person being scammed is some unnamed third party. That way, when you do realize you got taken, you’ll be less likely to go to the cops or sue because “I thought they were real stolen goods” is not a sympathetic complaint
YUP! I ran across some guys trying this scam during a lunch break on my first real job out of college in 1988, and I didn't even come close to falling for 'em and my first instinct was right out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!!!), exactly for the reasons you name! (Literally two guys in a white panel van hitting us up in a parking lot, in retrospect maybe their acting squirrelly was actually intentional?) My coworker on the other hand said something like "MAN, YOU JUST PASSED UP A GREAT DEAL!!!" Umm.... NO, I did not.... 😂🙄
LOL, funny thing is, if they were actually stolen high-end speakers at least they wouldn't have to lie to you to sell them. I'm not sure which would be ethically better.
1982 in Parsippany NJ. Got approached at a 7/11. I got a pair for 75 bucks. Got them home and new I was scammed. I took them apart and refitted with better used speakers and still have them to this day.
A co-worker bought some white van speakers in the mid 90s. It was instantly apparent to me what he'd bought. The key was to just make an anodyne comment like, "Quite a deal you got there!" and let them enjoy their speakers. When they can't return them, there's no value added by telling somebody they got screwed.
i got scammed on this about20 years ago ---and like you said they worked ---but they helped me know i like 10" 3 ways in my little house with a small receiver its great--- im running jbl - 96
Yep!!! Got me..early 80's I was coming out of my bank...some joker came over..pointed me toward his Porche that had 2 speakers in the back...great deal on overstock etc. I gave him 200 I think....
I was approached by a white van scammer back in the early 90's. I believe his brand of speakers were Boston. He had a sheet that was made to look like it was photocopied from a stereo magazine and told me they had extras show up for an installation and his boss told him to sell them off cheap. I felt it was shady enough not to pursue. I've heard that at one point these kinds of scams were being done with something that looked a Bose system, with 5 of the little cubes and a woofer. And now I believe they are selling cheap projectors this way.
Yeah, a neighbor of mine bought a scam surround sound system. It had 4 tiny satellite speakers and a subwoofer. The satellites had little sandbags inside the plastic enclosures to make it seem like they had large magnets. They didn’t, and the very small gauge speaker wires didn’t even have plugs, just bare wires. He spend a couple of hundred on maybe $20 worth of plastic. I would almost prefer to get the old school “Rocks in a box” speakers. He wasted a fair amount of time actually trying to get a good sound out of that crap. At least with rocks, you don’t waste time trying to hook things up only to be disappointed.
That sound like the "Cinder Block In A Stereo Box Scam, they used to run when I lived in Brooklyn. They would say "Don't Open The Box Here!!! cops are riding around.
I was pitched on this in Boston in 1987 but didn't have any money or desire for speakers at the time . A few weeks later I was pitched in a parking lot in Buffalo NY, seemed like a weird coincidence and then I figured out it was a scam. Fast forward many years later I've been pitched twice in NYC in the 2010's. I even told one guy told it was a tired old scam . He replied "but it still works!" and drove away
Unreal. A friend bought a pair in the 80s...ugh. The scam even had an ad in Stereo Review. He spent $ he didnt have. I had to let him know. He got mad and punched a hole in one. The other is still in the box 40 years later. They were never hooked up..
So funny this video came out now. I was just going through some old gear I have and about 15-20 years ago. I was in a parking lot. Guy came up to me and I dumb enough to buy “Dolby 5.1” speaker. It did come with the 5 surrounds and a sub. Brand was acoustic image. I didn’t k ow much about decent equipment back then. And yeah similar story have excess speaker from an install etc. I paid like $350 for the sub and surrounds. I was like a Sweet. LOL. Little did I know at the time they were very poor quality. The sub was not horrible. But not very good. Ended up giving it to someone. And the 5 surrounds ended up in a closet which I just had them I. My hands a few days ago. LOL. Next stop right to the trash. Oh well you live and you learn. Thanks for sharing. Great content.
In the late 80's to early 90's I worked at a higher end audio store in the NYC area. A guy came in the store with the same "i have left over speakers form an install that we have to get rid of". I do believe the brand was Acoustic Monitors. The guy told about the specs, 500 watt handling power blah blah blah. So we had him bring a set in and we proceeded to connect them up to a Threshold S500 amp. (it's 250 WPC on it's worst day) I remember we put on an album from Nautilus Records of the Kingston Trio "Aspen Gold". The song starts out rather quietly so up the volume a bit and then the main part of the song hit...BAM. Those speakers became an instantaneous smoke cloud . We politely said "Thanks, but no thanks". The song was "Worried Man' BTW.
The current white van is Amazon with many sub par audio equipment comming out of China. Yes there are some pretty good items available but I'm not laying out cash for something I will probably have to go down to UPS and ship back and cross my fingers hoping I will get a refund.
I had a roommate who fell for this many years ago. they approached him in the parking lot of a Kroger. when he got home he could not of been more proud of himself. I explained what was up and he told me I was wrong and did not know what I was taking about. there was a switch on the back labeled Boost. I opened the speaker up and the switch was not even wired up. He kept them.
I didn’t realize they were still trying to pull this scam. I remember this from the 80’s. “There's a sucker born every minute" is a famous quote by P. T. Barnum.
I almost fell for this in the late 90s. Fortunately I didn’t have much cash on me and was actually bummed. Only years later did I learn of this scam and was relieved that I didn’t get taken. I gotta admit if I had more cash I probably would’ve gotten taken. I guess 1 good thing was I did take up a lot of their time so hopefully they didn’t have time to scam someone else that day.
I was approached for this scam back in 2018 or 2019 so its still going strong. Grocery store parking lot. I was approached 5-6 years before that in another parking lot as well.
In Colorado in the early 1980's, you could find a "Car Audio SUPER SALE" in a rented strip mall or closed grocery store. I got suckered into buying the "250 watt amp/equalizer" for $25. What a pile... They went well with the 500 watt!! cheap tin 6x9's.
I fell "victim" to these once, 30 years ago. Bought 2 pairs of floorstanding towers for $300.00. Found out about this scam later, when it was "too late". The good news? They sounded AMAZING and, 30 years later, I still have (and love) them lol.
I was approached back in the late 80s at the bank parking lot. Said he had only two pair left. Fortunately, I had seen a report on the news about this prior, and told him to %%$# off with his scam.
I was so close to the same disaster. Was asked if Id take payment for $100 work and after 10 minutes I was unhooking them and asking for the money we'd discussed. They looked like some poor version of Klipsch towers with a fake horn !
I often see these white van speakers on offerup or local marketplace from people who I'm sure were scammed and are now trying to resell them to get some of their money back
There used to be an audio expo that would travel from city to city and set up in local convention centers. Most of the stuff was car audio but there was a lot of white van merchandise at these shows. The worst part is they would actually charge an admission to get inside then you got ripped off again when you bought something. I bought a pair of "3 way" car 6x9 speakers and when I got them home I realized the mid-range and tweeters were totally fake.
Reminds me of the “500 watt Ferro Fluid” car stereo speakers I purchased in the late 1980’s at a flea market for $50 when I was a teenager. They actually sounded good…. for about 3 weeks. Ended up reinstalling my old Jenson speakers.
Umm 59 here and I remember them advertising the new titanium domed tweeters as liquid cooled. The scammers at least based that on a real claim! There were some low end Fischer's that sounded pretty darn good lol. I use JBL PA speakers now.
Lol! I'm so happy this hustle is still going. Great deals! Greedy buyers think they are taking advantage of the seller, get mad and call it a scam when they realize they got hustled. A sucker is born every minute - PT Barnum
The last couple times I've been approached was a black van and a black dodge Durango. Regardless of the vehicle or color. If someone in a parking lot are selling equipment with the outrageous price printed on to box. It's a SCAM.
I had gotten lucky with a tape deck at the Goodwill the previous weeks, and the White Van Speakers I found that third week at 100$ completely eradicated, my savvy gains from the previous weeks. They had stickers on them from the Museum of the Moving image. My phone died while looking them up and I was convinced they were used in the museum's high-end theater. I never hooked them up. Once I got home with them, the internet research was clear...White Van Special!
This is perfect timing because I am trying to find info on a speaker set I bought from goodwill a week ago still with the box but opened. The read Macntosh at first glance I thought they said Macintosh. HD 5.1 Home theater MT-310 the “model”
About 13 years ago I kinda "white vaned" a pair of QSC SR-26 new in box. Still have today. But these are one of the good luck deal stories. Most of my friends didn't know speakers, or fared as well in the past with these type of sellers.
I worked for a legit hifi store tgat used "Phase Tech" as their entry-level speaker brand. Most customers thought it was a scam ----- "who the hell is Phase Tech?" but Phase Technology (in FL as I recall) actually invented ferrofluid-cooled tweeters, and they had several good-sounding low-cost speaker models (we also sold Boston Acoustics, B&W, and Dahlquist).
So I was at a gas station, I was probably 23 or 24 and some guy offers me a hole set of Klipsch (he probably said Kirsch but I didn’t know) for $100 bucks. My parents were into Pioneer and Sansui so I didn’t know Klipsch that well so I declined. For years I’ve been kicking myself in the head for not buying them. Thank you for this video, now I can finally put it to rest.
I got a pair years ago and still have and sound good with a subwoofer . Can't complain for cheap speakers ,they look great ,gloss black, rounded corners, hefty little speakers. I'd buy them again..
Me and my dad were at a home Depot somewhere in Florida. Got that BS line" We were going to install these and the customer change their mind" We both said no....
I was a speakers in a white van guy for a day about 20 years ago. I was told it was a job in auto sales. The company had sent a crew from South Africa to Toronto to start selling their product. The South Africa Africans were nice, they had one local guy from Toronto, who was quite a sleaze bag and started drinking at 9:30. He had a fake invoice from a bar that was ordering speakers and we had too many and needed to get rid of them. The real goal was to sell at least five pairs and get minimum $50 each for them. If you sold five pairs, you got $100 bonus. Pretty sleazy, but if you think you’re getting a good deal from some guy in a van in a parking lot and then you kind of get what you deserve.
Back in the 80's and desperate for a job, I answered an add for Audio Salesman wanted, I called the number and was told to report for work the following day. As it turned out the sales position was to drive around in a white van trying to scam people. I made a decent amount of money that day, was paid in cash, and promptly quit. The guy I was paired with driving the van was a master bullshitter, slime ball, con man. You live and learn. Thirty years later a wealthy friend asked me to stop by his place and hook up this fantastic new set of speakers he bought dirt cheap. And you guessed it, he bought them from 2 guys in a white van. I did not have the heart to tell him he was conned. They sounded awful. Thanks for the video, I enjoyed it.
Thats too bad. Not all con men have decent ears.
The only thing I bought from the back of a white van was a surfboard. 7 foot fibre glass.
And it went quite good . The glass was probably a bit light on top as ended up with a lot of dents. But it dd paddle and ride well..
There was two guys in the Van I saw as well.
Yes, I was approached about 25 years ago. Unfortunately, I have been an audiophile almost since coming out of the womb and also an incurable cynic. I played along for a few minutes and then said something like, "I'll give you $5 for them." He said something I can't repeat and got back in his van and sped off. What's really funny is that 80% of the population doesn't really care all that much about "audiophile sound" and he looked at me, think it was in the parking lot of a neighborhood record store and said: "you look like someone who really cares about high quality sound." I started singing the praises of Threshold, Thiel, Spectral, etc. Right then I could see a strange look come over his face like he was being played.
Fell for this scam back in the late ‘90s. I remember feeling good about myself for negotiating them down from $400 to $100 for a pair of no-brand “white van speakers.” Put together that I’d been duped before I even got them home. Was in my early twenties, so I chalk it up to youthful idiocy.
They tried to scam my elderly father, but he told them he was going to call me before just to be sure, and send me a photo. They just left, and my father was upset because he thought he lost a huge deal, but I told him about the scam, and he was feeling a lot better.
Living in Dallas in the 90's and my older buddy came by with a new set of speakers he got from a guy in a white van. He was so stoked! He brought them inside and first thing that caught my eye was THE MSRP WAS PRINTED RIGHT ON THE BOX!!! "Oh,boy" I thought. When he started to unbox them it was obviously that they were junk. He was so proud before hand. lol
About 30 years ago I had a friend that was pissed at me that I wouldn't loan him the cash to buy a pair of speakers. A week later another friend bought them from the same van at a different mall. After listening to them he wasn't mad anymore.
I was approached by these white van guys decades ago in the Boarders Bookstore parking lot in Torrance, CA. Claimed they were given double inventory by mistake at some fictional loading dock of the stereo speaker fictional company. I let them talk the b.s. and told them they were full of it.
I had an interview for a job selling the white van speakers back in the early 1990's. I did not take the job. I also had a white van sales pitch at a store that was not far from my apartment. At the time, I had a pair of JBL L-112. There was NO way a set of White Van Speakers were going to sound better than those.
I, myself, bought some way back in the '70's. Hooked them up, listened to them and they sounded okay. Maybe some kind of Acoustic Research knock-offs. But back then I listened with a much less discriminating ear, which is somewhat of a mixed blessing. C'est la vie!
After hearing so many stories about white van speakers I was honoured when my time came and a couple guys approached me in my work van. It was a rite of passage to some extent. I'm complete now.
I am proud of you son.
My roommate came home one day with a pair of white van speakers in about 1997. He wasn't excited and didn't set them up because he realized he'd been scammed before he made it home. I remember him feeling horrible that he'd fallen for it. I think he spent the rest of the day in bed. We never even opened the box. They had grey carpet on the sides and bulbous black grates over the woofers - at least from the pictures on the side of the box. I hadn't thought of that for years. Really funny to have such a similar experience as you.
These sound like the same speakers my flamate was scammed with too! In about 1997!! Carpeted with metal grills and lots of red if I remember
We lived in San Francisco, CA. Where did your flatmate pick up his grey carpeted speakers?
In my Late teens/The Early '90's when I was getting into Stereo equipment I got one 12" 3way cabinet from my sisters boyfriend at the time. Seems like it may have said "liquid Cooled" and or "digital ready" on it . The woofer was blown/inop. when I removed it the magnet was REALLY small for a 12" woofer like 1-2" diameter if I remember correctly. I replaced it w/a woofer from Radio Shack and it was able to produce decent sounding Bass.--At least I thought so at that time. A couple of years later at the Bank, when you still needed to go to the bank and cash your payroll check. I was approached by some guy in a white van. ,Yes literally in a white van. W/some audio equipment for sale. But I knew better "Thanks Anyway"....
As a rule: If I haven't heard of the audio equipment brand, I don't buy them - no matter how affordable they are.
As a rule, even if you have heard of them, don't buy then from a guy selling them out of a white van at your local Krogers.
I used to have a store where I bought and sold used equipment. The white van guys would tell people they can take their speakers to my store and I would be happy to buy them for multiples of what they paid for them. When I turned them down, people got mad at me!
Traded an old broken Alpine car stereo pullout for some around 1987 in Davenport IA. After putting some real power (~80 or so watts from my old Onkyo) to them and they instantly fried. Took a hammer to the cabinet and the wood was the thin particle board stuff you mentioned. They didn't look bad - had gain knobs for mid and high even.
Came across a pair at Goodwill for $50. Excited they were high end, I purchased them, took them home and was gravely disappointed in their sound and build quality. I believe the brand name was Vincent but may have been spelled slightly differently, which I believe is a maker of quality electronics but never heard of them making speakers.
I totally fell for this in 2001. Michigan boy fresh to Florida and I was at a gas station and it was exactly as you describe. A guy approached says he has a bunch of leftovers from a huge install at the casino. Witch I was on State RD 7 and the Seminole Casino was just across the street so I grabbed a pair. 😅 lesson learned. And I can definitely laugh about it today.
This has been around for ever! One of my co worker brought a VCR in a sealed box, yea that long along. Looked great and weighted a nice amount. It was a junk VCR inside with a brick for added weight.
I was approached by one of these guys in the late 80s. Pulled up next to me while waiting at a stoplight. Can't remember if it was a white van but told me they had some really nice Boston Acoustics to sell. Ironically I was just driving back home after buying my first stereo, Technics with (genuine) Cerwin Vega speakers. Definitely had no extra money left for a second pair.
I've always wondered what the business model is, so thanks for the explanation!
I encountered the white van folks once back in the 80s, I think. Their sales technique wasn't the best, because I was walking down the street when a van swooped to the curb right in front of me and the door flew open, which is automatically going to put someone on their guard. They shouted the familiar "Hey, do you want to want to buy some speakers?", and I replied with something like, "no, I don't want to buy stolen speakers." They actually got offended by that and said "they aren't stolen!" before racing off. I didn't know what the deal was, but I knew something was off.
Yes, this very thing happened to me in the early 80s. The white van at the gas station. I think I paid $200 for a pair. I was young and not very sophisticated audio wise so I used them for a few years, live and learn 😩
I have no life im constantly working 12 hr nightshift. Fell for it after getting gas. Just threw my shit in the garbage. 200 gone
Still happening occasionally up here in Canada. I can admit it now but I got scammed by these guys in the nineties. Got them home nothing but bricks inside. I was so pissed at the time.
I Had moved to Boulder, CO in the late 90s and this scam was in full swing. The white-van guys actually flagged me down at an intersection. We pulled into a nearby parking lot, and it was obvious to me the speakers were crap. I had been installing my own car stereos since high-school and the ridiculous specs on the box were a dead giveaway along with the mysterious brand name. Thank goodness for RadioShack and Crutchfield catalogs, and of course my electronics enthusiast neighbors! Without that knowledge base I might've fallen for it. ....and a month later the scam made the local news around Denver Metro.
Fortunately, when I was younger, I was never rich enough to afford these. I do dimly remember these, and I agree that they have moved online. Lots of advantages for scammers online, no need to hire “pushers”, no need to rent a van, nobody online to enforce whatever laws you are breaking. And if you try to get back to them you hit an impenetrable firewall.
Your credit card is your friend. You simply stop payment, unless you were foolish enough to send them cash.
I only experienced a 'white van' speaker scammer once. In 1993, I was driving from Winnipeg to Toronto, through the USA, and somewhere between Detroit/Windsor and Toronto in SW Ontario, I decided to stop for coffee and lunch. When I was stopped at the traffic light at the end of of the offramp, a white van pulled up beside and the passenger side window went down and the sales pitch began... exactly as you described... they were special high end speakers left over from an installation job, and they didn't want to pay restocking fees. I was driving a 1967 Pontiac Parisienne _convertible_ and the cover was snapped on, so I couldn't just put the roof up and roll up the windows. They started to get really insistent (even aggressive) I should buy their speakers. I said I wasn't interested, and besides that I had no cash on me. That wasn't deterring them, they said they could follow me to a bank machine so I could get the cash. This was now getting pretty crazy. I checked both ways twice, planted my foot to the floor and went right through the red light and down the onramp on the other side and back onto the highway. Coffee and lunch waited until later. That is the only time I have willfully gone through a red light !
Kevin, great video and worthwhile topic for people to watch out lest they get taken. Never fell for it and its been a while. The White Van used to park at Best Buy (talk about gutsy/good target audience) and give a pitch as you walked past. i just kept on walking. Appreciate folks sharing below, glad I dodged that bullet !
Back in the 80's I had a friend that bought a pair of the AR3000 speakers off a guy in a corvette of all things. After 5 minutes of listening to the less then spectacular audio we decided to pull them apart and see what was inside. Well other than cheap drivers (big surprise) there was no port tube, just a hole in the front of the cab. So we borrowed some pvc tubing from his dad's workshop and spent the rest of the day tuning the cab. Much to our surprise we found a port length that worked and I swear those speakers sounded like they were worth twice what he paid for them. (btw this only worked on the paper coned drivers the later version poly cones are complete garbage)
I got approached while at a stop light in 1986. I was a broke high school student, many days its was the question, eat lunch or put gas in my car. A white van stopped beside me at the red light, the guy leaned out with the classic schpeal, wanted to follow me to an ATM but it didn't matter as I didn't have the money to even contemplate buying his speakers. I'm amazed the scam still exists.
I was approached by one of these guys in the mid-80s. He pulled up to me in the parking lot and yelled, "Hey, want to buy some speakers cheap?" I just told him I already had cheap speakers. ( I couldn't resist the word play on "speakers cheap" and "cheap speakers." ) He said, "No, they're good speakers for cheap!" My 2nd-hand JBLs that I had at the time worked just fine, so I told him no thanks.
I didn't realize what I had at the time - I wish I still had those JBLs.
I was approached by the white van when I moved to Maryland in 2014. I didn't take the bait. As a Audiophile, who's father was into equipment I can tell you... the name of the white van speaker was close to a high-end manufacturer that I heard of.
Bought a pair of white van speakers called "Dynamic Audio Pro Poly Series 1901" for $100 in the parking lot of a Target in 1989. Still have them and still use them.
That's amazing.
Only encountered them once around 15 years ago. I was walking to a shopping centre during a lunch break and as I was crossing a busy road, this van pulls up onto the centre strip and the driver calls out do I want some speakers. Because I already knew about the scam, I said no and the van raced off on the prowl for other potential victims.
I kinda laughed when you said you just left the theater and you had a little money in your pocket. LOL I was lucky, I didn't have enough money to buy any gear when I got interested in audio.I did subscribe to Stereo Review in 1975 and did a ton of research before I bought anything.
This happened to a housemate of mine as well in the 80's. Very similar story! He brought them home and was stoked to show me, knowing that I had worked in a (nice) stereo shop and was somewhat knowledgeable. I wasn't as tactful as i wish I'd been. I was aware of this scam and had had it attempted on me. Anyway, what the hell, lets hook'em up. They were simply horrible! They were called Acoustic something. I recently saw a pair of the exact same speakers on for sale used on fb marketplace, they wanted 100 bucks!
Live in NewYork had that experience back in the 90s Had a stereo system didn’t need, But two years later déjà VU same situation left over speakers, story didn’t make sense lol.
It wasn’t just in the States. Way back in the day - late 70s, early 80’s at the height of the audio sales boom these crews were a regular fixture. Can’t remember how many times I was approached. My favourite time was the day I was walking to work at one of the big regional stereo chains in Edmonton. They rolled up beside me just before I was getting to the door and started a patter about how much money they could save me. After a bit of back and forth I offered to demo some good speakers for them. Took some time for the lightbulb to go off before they headed off to look for the next sucker. I wonder what they would’ve thought about our Tannoy Windsors…
I was working as a mechanic in a small town shop in 2010 - one of these sleezeballs came around. He even had a very similar system set up in his van and it DID sound good. I didn't know about the scam, but the guy gave off sleezy vibes and I didn't have the money... But my boss and co-worker did, so they got taken.
I had a friend try to unload his newly purchased white van speakers on me in 1992. He came over with them, told the incredible story of good fortune, and I agreed to check them out and maybe buy them off him. At the time I had a pretty nice set of infinity three way bookshelf units that sounded great with my parasound integrated amp. The amp had two speaker outs so we could a/b them easily, that’s what we did. We sat there listening to these big speakers and then mine and the difference was pretty obvious and I luckily stuck with mine. I didn’t know about the scam at the time. Looking back I wonder if my buddy found out after he bought them and tried to get out of his screwup using me.
Would never but speaker's from a white van cus i have really good taste when it comes to electronic's and do not like knock off brands sound
Yes, he was absolutely trying to screw you . some friend you had!
A unknown neighbor was giving away an ‘Ambeo AB11’ soundbar so I grabbed it…Says ‘ MSRP $1,499.99’ on outside of box. Got it home and it felt super lightweight and I could feel that there is something inside cabinet that’s sliding around like box of crackers…Maybe somebody got scammed and just wanted to get rid of it…Online I have seen about 3 of these listed $250-$500…
Radio shack really loved to play up "Liquid Cooled" with the Mach one's (2nd version). Now days you have to remove the glue it became with IPA and then sadly replace it with fresh (Ferrofluid is expensive!).
Great vid! Great idea to reminisce about this, era I guess? There’s still some kind of this level of crap audio online (Pyle?) I was approached in 1999 and almost fell for it, 15 years later I bought the same basic thing on eBay for $10 for the fun of it and now my friend still uses them as some pretty cool looking rear surround speakers so we definitely got our $10 worth out of them! Keep up the great work man!
Yeah! "Pyle" anything. Lmao. When COVID hit and I was forced to shut down my business, pre-Doordash... My buddy took pity on me and sent me a Pyle Cassette player. After wiring it up and playing a coupke different cassettes and looking over that my wiring was sound... I promptly put it back in the box and sent it back. Thanking him for the kind gesture but, no, my ears are better than that!
I bought a set of Pyle speakers from Kmart a long time ago. Actually sounded pretty good!
Pyle used to be legit. I think they made drivers for Radio Shack at one point. I never tried any, so can’t comment on their quality, but they were a legit manufacturer as far as I know.
Nothing wrong with.Pyle
In New York City in the early 80s, they were a lot of shops along Canal Street in Midtown. It’s sold knock offs of legitimate brands. I remember one of the most popular was Japan. Victory components for JVC. I remember they had a 12 inch woofer three mid range is three types of tweeters and indicated they were liquid cooled and had a resettable fuse and cheap pots to attenuate mid range and treble.
Loved Canal St in the 80’s. So many things to do and see.
Although so much fake audio gear and plenty people stupid enough to buy it.
Boxes usually weighed down with bricks.
As someone who made their living selling audio gear for over a decade, I can regrettably attest that the "white van speaker scam" didn't just occur from the white van-- it happened right out the front door of your local hifi shop. Many folks do not understand that the speaker system is where the shop makes it money. The usual marketing plan was to advertise the receiver at a bargain price (I can specifically remember when our chain broke the SX-650 at the new low price of $199-- we had off duty cops directing traffic out of the parking lot!), and then add on a pair of high profit/low quality speakers to recover some profit on the sale. Typically, these cheap speakers were highly efficient; so an A-B comparison test against a less efficient name brand pair (Acoustic Research comes to mind) made them sound more "impressive" to the unsuspecting ear. I regrettably admit to selling hundreds of these speaker systems. PS: Kevin, whether deliberately or not, you always start off every video with "Definitely gonna be a fun one!" It makes me smile every time; I'd be disappointed if you didn't! Thanks for another great video.
Are any speakers really worth what the companies are asking for them?...... All have hefty mark-ups
Especially when you see what the bulk cost for the drivers used is. In some cases, the cost per driver is literally measured in cents, not dollars.
Yes. Many.
Yes. Cheap speakers suck.
I was in the parking lot of a major grocery store and these two guys pulled up to me and tried this scam around 2010. I already had a $10,000 real audio system in my home. Sounded fishy from the start. You’ve got to know if you buy it without a receipt or not from a store or real online retailer, you’re screwed. Said no thanks and left. They went on to the next person walking out of the store.
In the mid 80’s there was a van in the shopping plaza near Andrews AFB selling ‘overstock’ speakers. Struck me as strange. Audio from the PX was pretty reasonable, plus no tax. Still sold a number of them to dorm dwellers.
in 2003 I interviewed at a company that was exactly this, a white van speaker scam lol. I was interested at first at selling stereo equipment, but got sketched out by what they were asking me to do very quickly. Another friend wound up working there and they got in tons of trouble for soliciting and whatnot LOL.
Not a white van, but super stereo store back in the 1980's. 12 inch Fishers... Eventually I had to use my speaker building skills and pull them apart. Changed out cone mids and tweeters with dome mids and tweeters from ole Radio shack with a three way crossover and adequate damping material. They were excellent after that. And then I built another pair and liked them. Then my sister bought me two Mach 3's they were on sale and she kept my home mades. Speakers are madness and yes the mass market boxes are like white van speakers although probably somewhat better engineered.
I started at my first Job Memorial Day 1987 at a local electronic supper store in Albuquerque New Mexico. The store was called West Coast Sound Systems. We would see those white van speakers appear as customer take aways. The customers would bring them in or have us take the speakers away during deliveries of different speakers. We almost always left those white van speakers inside by the back door so that we could take them home and give them to friends. In 1990 my highschool senior year I was on my way to a party when I received a call from the friends that was hosting that party on my car phone. He said that his father took the speakers out of the house and there would not be any music at the party so I went by the store and my boss gave me two pairs of the white van speakers to take to the party. I was very popular for my generosity by giving so many pairs of the white van speakers away. What was funny I decided to leave the party early and there was these looks of concern that I was going to take home my speakers. I said you can have them. There were looks of confusion. White van speakers were great for parties.
One effect of the White Van scam is that when people don't recognize a speaker, they sometimes think it's white van when it's not. I see it all the time in Facebook audio groups, especially budget groups.
Thank you for the video. Two or three years ago one of those vans drove by me in a suburban Detroit shopping center parking lot and piqued my curiosity. Thankfully it didn't stop. But why a white van? Should be a tip-off.
"Digital Ready". I was in a high end audio store in the early 1980s when CDs came out. While stereo salesmen spew a lot of BS, this guy hit it dead on. "Any manufacture claiming their gear is "Digital Ready" isn't and never will be." He went on to point out an old McIntosh MC60 was "digital ready", the day it was built!
Have you seen any HeathKit AS 153 Speaker.. I have a pair in custom cabinets... one of the speakers is not working... any ideas? I think the crossover capacitor in bad.. no signal from my multimeter....
Lol... my room mate did exactly the same thing. I didn't have the heart to say anything so we just listened to those crappy ass speakers and drank more not to care!
lol
😂
in the 80's, we saw this kind of thing, right up to the white van....some cool looking speakers, really heavy, "ooohh, they must have huge magnets", but, no, they had steel plates screwed to the front of the enclosure, and some kind of 12'" woofer with about a 10 oz magnet, a simple capacitor "crossover" to a tweeter...one of the guys in our building bought one to see what was what, but I think he had a colleague keep the white van guy talking while zipped inside and pulled it apart...surprised the "salesman" to see him come back with "the goods"...hard not to refund with a few guys on hand!
@ 6:27 I have this system. It's been in my family since 1980. Very god system from Fisher Sanyo. The preamp is great and has many selections for MM and MC in the phono stage. The FM Tuner has been regarded as a very fine unit. The BA 6000 amp has clean sound with plenty of headroom. The track finding MT 6360 Turn table is pretty cool also.
I really love my sunsui receiver and LBJ speakers
I have a ponaneer and ooom speakers
An essential part of this scam is that the story of how they got them and why they need to sell them doesn’t quite add up - leading people to think they’re stolen goods
Most successful grifts work by convincing the mark that what’s going on is a scam, but that the person being scammed is some unnamed third party. That way, when you do realize you got taken, you’ll be less likely to go to the cops or sue because “I thought they were real stolen goods” is not a sympathetic complaint
YUP! I ran across some guys trying this scam during a lunch break on my first real job out of college in 1988, and I didn't even come close to falling for 'em and my first instinct was right out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!!!), exactly for the reasons you name! (Literally two guys in a white panel van hitting us up in a parking lot, in retrospect maybe their acting squirrelly was actually intentional?) My coworker on the other hand said something like "MAN, YOU JUST PASSED UP A GREAT DEAL!!!" Umm.... NO, I did not.... 😂🙄
LOL, funny thing is, if they were actually stolen high-end speakers at least they wouldn't have to lie to you to sell them. I'm not sure which would be ethically better.
1982 in Parsippany NJ. Got approached at a 7/11. I got a pair for 75 bucks. Got them home and new I was scammed. I took them apart and refitted with better used speakers and still have them to this day.
Yep been there done that back in the early 80s 😢
A co-worker bought some white van speakers in the mid 90s. It was instantly apparent to me what he'd bought. The key was to just make an anodyne comment like, "Quite a deal you got there!" and let them enjoy their speakers. When they can't return them, there's no value added by telling somebody they got screwed.
i got scammed on this about20 years ago ---and like you said they worked ---but they helped me know i like 10" 3 ways in my little house with a small receiver its great--- im running jbl - 96
Yep!!! Got me..early 80's I was coming out of my bank...some joker came over..pointed me toward his Porche that had 2 speakers in the back...great deal on overstock etc. I gave him 200 I think....
I was approached by a white van scammer back in the early 90's. I believe his brand of speakers were Boston. He had a sheet that was made to look like it was photocopied from a stereo magazine and told me they had extras show up for an installation and his boss told him to sell them off cheap. I felt it was shady enough not to pursue. I've heard that at one point these kinds of scams were being done with something that looked a Bose system, with 5 of the little cubes and a woofer. And now I believe they are selling cheap projectors this way.
Yeah, a neighbor of mine bought a scam surround sound system. It had 4 tiny satellite speakers and a subwoofer. The satellites had little sandbags inside the plastic enclosures to make it seem like they had large magnets.
They didn’t, and the very small gauge speaker wires didn’t even have plugs, just bare wires. He spend a couple of hundred on maybe $20 worth of plastic.
I would almost prefer to get the old school “Rocks in a box” speakers. He wasted a fair amount of time actually trying to get a good sound out of that crap. At least with rocks, you don’t waste time trying to hook things up only to be disappointed.
That sound like the "Cinder Block In A Stereo Box Scam, they used to run when I lived in Brooklyn. They would say "Don't Open The Box Here!!! cops are riding around.
I was pitched on this in Boston in 1987 but didn't have any money or desire for speakers at the time . A few weeks later I was pitched in a parking lot in Buffalo NY, seemed like a weird coincidence and then I figured out it was a scam. Fast forward many years later I've been pitched twice in NYC in the 2010's. I even told one guy told it was a tired old scam . He replied "but it still works!" and drove away
Is this scam still going? even with smartphone's that people have.
Happened over here in the UK too, I never fell for it myself but many did
Unreal. A friend bought a pair in the 80s...ugh. The scam even had an ad in Stereo Review. He spent $ he didnt have. I had to let him know. He got mad and punched a hole in one. The other is still in the box 40 years later. They were never hooked up..
So funny this video came out now. I was just going through some old gear I have and about 15-20 years ago. I was in a parking lot. Guy came up to me and I dumb enough to buy “Dolby 5.1” speaker. It did come with the 5 surrounds and a sub. Brand was acoustic image. I didn’t k ow much about decent equipment back then. And yeah similar story have excess speaker from an install etc. I paid like $350 for the sub and surrounds. I was like a
Sweet. LOL. Little did I know at the time they were very poor quality. The sub was not horrible. But not very good. Ended up giving it to someone. And the 5 surrounds ended up in a closet which I just had them I. My hands a few days ago. LOL. Next stop right to the trash. Oh well you live and you learn. Thanks for sharing. Great content.
In the late 80's to early 90's I worked at a higher end audio store in the NYC area. A guy came in the store with the same "i have left over speakers form an install that we have to get rid of". I do believe the brand was Acoustic Monitors. The guy told about the specs, 500 watt handling power blah blah blah. So we had him bring a set in and we proceeded to connect them up to a Threshold S500 amp. (it's 250 WPC on it's worst day) I remember we put on an album from Nautilus Records of the Kingston Trio "Aspen Gold". The song starts out rather quietly so up the volume a bit and then the main part of the song hit...BAM. Those speakers became an instantaneous smoke cloud . We politely said "Thanks, but no thanks". The song was "Worried Man' BTW.
The current white van is Amazon with many sub par audio equipment comming out of China. Yes there are some pretty good items available but I'm not laying out cash for something I will probably have to go down to UPS and ship back and cross my fingers hoping I will get a refund.
Had some Sherman Vega,with bright red woofer surrounds,from a white van.didnt convince me to buy them,they were more expensive than Cerwin Vega.
I had a roommate who fell for this many years ago. they approached him in the parking lot of a Kroger. when he got home he could not of been more proud of himself. I explained what was up and he told me I was wrong and did not know what I was taking about. there was a switch on the back labeled Boost. I opened the speaker up and the switch was not even wired up. He kept them.
I didn’t realize they were still trying to pull this scam. I remember this from the 80’s. “There's a sucker born every minute" is a famous quote by P. T. Barnum.
I almost fell for this in the late 90s. Fortunately I didn’t have much cash on me and was actually bummed. Only years later did I learn of this scam and was relieved that I didn’t get taken. I gotta admit if I had more cash I probably would’ve gotten taken. I guess 1 good thing was I did take up a lot of their time so hopefully they didn’t have time to scam someone else that day.
I was approached for this scam back in 2018 or 2019 so its still going strong. Grocery store parking lot. I was approached 5-6 years before that in another parking lot as well.
Lately they've been selling cheap 5.1 surround sound/cheap projectors around the Dallas area.
In Colorado in the early 1980's, you could find a "Car Audio SUPER SALE" in a rented strip mall or closed grocery store. I got suckered into buying the "250 watt amp/equalizer" for $25.
What a pile...
They went well with the 500 watt!! cheap tin 6x9's.
So you're saying my wilson audio speakers I bought from a van are not real? They are very heavy about 25 pounds. cost me 500.00
I fell "victim" to these once, 30 years ago. Bought 2 pairs of floorstanding towers for $300.00. Found out about this scam later, when it was "too late". The good news? They sounded AMAZING and, 30 years later, I still have (and love) them lol.
I was approached back in the late 80s at the bank parking lot. Said he had only two pair left. Fortunately, I had seen a report on the news about this prior, and told him to %%$# off with his scam.
It's amazing that the scam is still happening. I first ran into it like 40 years ago
Just happened to me today in ca. Got a projector and a screen and home sounds system for $500
Cineplex? Just happened to my dad near Toronto area lol
I was so close to the same disaster.
Was asked if Id take payment for $100 work and after 10 minutes I was unhooking them and asking for the money we'd discussed.
They looked like some poor version of Klipsch towers with a fake horn !
I often see these white van speakers on offerup or local marketplace from people who I'm sure were scammed and are now trying to resell them to get some of their money back
There used to be an audio expo that would travel from city to city and set up in local convention centers. Most of the stuff was car audio but there was a lot of white van merchandise at these shows. The worst part is they would actually charge an admission to get inside then you got ripped off again when you bought something. I bought a pair of "3 way" car 6x9 speakers and when I got them home I realized the mid-range and tweeters were totally fake.
Reminds me of the “500 watt Ferro Fluid” car stereo speakers I purchased in the late 1980’s at a flea market for $50 when I was a teenager. They actually sounded good…. for about 3 weeks. Ended up reinstalling my old Jenson speakers.
Umm 59 here and I remember them advertising the new titanium domed tweeters as liquid cooled. The scammers at least based that on a real claim! There were some low end Fischer's that sounded pretty darn good lol. I use JBL PA speakers now.
Lol! I'm so happy this hustle is still going. Great deals! Greedy buyers think they are taking advantage of the seller, get mad and call it a scam when they realize they got hustled.
A sucker is born every minute - PT Barnum
The last couple times I've been approached was a black van and a black dodge Durango. Regardless of the vehicle or color. If someone in a parking lot are selling equipment with the outrageous price printed on to box. It's a SCAM.
I've seen the Paramount speakers before...I swear they were with a whole rack system that was branded the same
I had gotten lucky with a tape deck at the Goodwill the previous weeks, and the White Van Speakers I found that third week at 100$ completely eradicated, my savvy gains from the previous weeks. They had stickers on them from the Museum of the Moving image. My phone died while looking them up and I was convinced they were used in the museum's high-end theater. I never hooked them up. Once I got home with them, the internet research was clear...White Van Special!
Forget the name on my, Acoustic was in the title...just a few of the common words like design, acoustic, boston but jumbled
Acoustic Monitor is the name I think!
@@V1NCH1INZ0, " R.A.L. Acoustic Monitors" was the branding they were using here in the New England area.
This is perfect timing because I am trying to find info on a speaker set I bought from goodwill a week ago still with the box but opened. The read Macntosh at first glance I thought they said Macintosh. HD 5.1 Home theater MT-310 the “model”
They are being sold on ebay. They are the white Van. speakers.
About 13 years ago I kinda "white vaned" a pair of QSC SR-26 new in box. Still have today. But these are one of the good luck deal stories. Most of my friends didn't know speakers, or fared as well in the past with these type of sellers.
Liquid cooled tweeters cooled with ferofluid was an extremely popular selling point back in the day.
I worked for a legit hifi store tgat used "Phase Tech" as their entry-level speaker brand. Most customers thought it was a scam ----- "who the hell is Phase Tech?" but Phase Technology (in FL as I recall) actually invented ferrofluid-cooled tweeters, and they had several good-sounding low-cost speaker models (we also sold Boston Acoustics, B&W, and Dahlquist).
So I was at a gas station, I was probably 23 or 24 and some guy offers me a hole set of Klipsch (he probably said Kirsch but I didn’t know) for $100 bucks. My parents were into Pioneer and Sansui so I didn’t know Klipsch that well so I declined. For years I’ve been kicking myself in the head for not buying them. Thank you for this video, now I can finally put it to rest.
Both my brother and I got those speakers in the '80's and they were great, good quality. Sorry for those who got screwed.
I got a pair years ago and still have and sound good with a subwoofer . Can't complain for cheap speakers ,they look great ,gloss black, rounded corners, hefty little speakers. I'd buy them again..
Me and my dad were at a home Depot somewhere in Florida. Got that BS line" We were going to install these and the customer change their mind" We both said no....
I was a speakers in a white van guy for a day about 20 years ago. I was told it was a job in auto sales. The company had sent a crew from South Africa to Toronto to start selling their product. The South Africa Africans were nice, they had one local guy from Toronto, who was quite a sleaze bag and started drinking at 9:30.
He had a fake invoice from a bar that was ordering speakers and we had too many and needed to get rid of them. The real goal was to sell at least five pairs and get minimum $50 each for them. If you sold five pairs, you got $100 bonus.
Pretty sleazy, but if you think you’re getting a good deal from some guy in a van in a parking lot and then you kind of get what you deserve.
Curious to hear your opinion on the Dominator MX series speakers. 😂