I am thinking to buy speakers from gumtree but i am little suspicious about the product. can anyone please tell me how to identify if the product is genuine? say yamaha or bose speakers. thank you in advance.
How do I identify if a product is genuine or not ?
akula on 18/11/2012 - 12:21
Comments
If you're buying from Gumtree I'm guessing you'd be buying local? So take a small amp/player and a cd you know and listen first. Fakes will sound like typical white van speakers - boomy bass, a wall of sound with no good seperation of instruments. Typically the binding posts at the rear of the speaker will be springs (rather than screw sockets). Good quality speakers have well finished cabinets… fakes/cheapies will use chipboard and veneer.
Fake brand name headphones are far more common than fake name speakers… but if someone in China is going fake a brand - why Yamaha? (except maybe the NS1000), and i can't even think of a decent sounding Bose speaker.
I don't know how much you're anticipating spending but if you're spending anything over $350 look for something like Wharfedale, Monitor Audio, Audioengine etc etc… there's lots of good sounding cheap speakers there and many audiophile forums to ask advice on (in Australia start with stereo.net)
All I can say is to ask the seller for the serial number before you purchase and contact Bose or Yamaha and see if the Serial Number is legit and not reported to be used on counterfeit products. It's not fool proof though. If they believe it is legit, make sure you double check the serial number before purchasing it off the seller.
It's the only way I can think of telling it's legit before you buy it. There are so many different makes and models of all sorts of products it's really have to compare fakes with real ones.
You will actually have to give us the model number of the product your looking for and we might be able to tell you what to look out for. But it's highly unlikely anyone here will be able to tell. We would only be experienced in telling whether really popular products are fake. As I said there are too many variations of products to know about them all.