Rocket ULW-10 Overview

Rocket is a brand of Onix Audio, a 20 year old British hi-fi manufacturer. Onix is currenty owned by a partnership between Mark Schifter and a Chinese entity. Onix owns a factory in China where Onix, Rocket and many other speakers are made under Mark's personal supervision. Reportedly, Mark spends about nine months a year in China and is very involved with all aspects of manufacturing. This is a considerably different setup from the current trend, of designing a product in North America or Europe and outsourcing production to a third-party in China. Mark actually goes to China to oversee manufacturing and design aspects of the product.

It seems Mark is bent on business models that break from tradition, both in manufacturing and retail. Established in Louisville, Colorado in 2000; AV123 was founded by Mark Schifter. They are an internet-direct retailer of consumer electronics. Though they carry a few conventional retail brands, most of the products they carry are made exclusively for them under the badges of Emotiva, Onix and Rocket.

The traditional retail model of a manufacturer to "brick and mortar" retailer to consumer, and sometimes even an importer/distributor layered in, has some inherent disadvantages. Each independent entity in the chain has a separate overhead structure and profit margin. From a cost-to-consumer perspective, this is not very efficient.

A somewhat common alternative is a factory-direct model. Here, of course, there is only one layer of overhead and profit margin. The big downside is the opportunity to audition before purchase, but the better outfits offer a reasonable return program. For example, AV123 provides a 30 day return policy and you only pay the two-way shipping expense. That is an extremely generous policy, many others also charge a re-stocking fee. Though AV123 is generous enough not to charge it, I feel the re-stocking fees are typically fair, since the seller then would have to markdown the product as "open box" to be able to sell it off.

Actually, while we are on the topic of personal auditions, it is time for another pontification by Arvind Kohli. Common conviction states that the biggest "benefits" of a traditional brick-and-mortar retail model are, that the consumer has a chance for personal audition and can benefit from the expertise of the retail staff. I do not think that there is any guarantee that a traditional retailer will deliver satisfactorily on either of those metrics. There, of course, abound horror stories of shopper snubbed by haughty staff at audio boutiques when seeking a personal audition, check out AudioAsylum for anecdotes. And even in the best cases, you may be permitted to take the product home for a couple of days. However, I do not think that is enough audition time, unless you did almost nothing but audition till you had to return the product. An extended in-house audition (30 days+), as provided by the better factory-direct outfits (and AV123), is more like what you will need to make a proper decision. And in the matter of expert opinion, I would say the consumer is better off gathering information independently from reviews, fellow-hobbyists and acquaintances. There is plenty of that resource freely available on the internet, though you have to keep your wits about you to filter out the pseudo-science and hack claims. So in the end, if you can get better pricing buying remotely, rely on an extended in-house audition and independently gathered information to cement your decision, you are probably better off than going to a "full-service" traditional retailer. Of course, there is a segment of the population (likely a sizeable segment) who could not be bothered with research. They want convenience, and that is where the "brick-and-mortar" folks fit in perfectly.

For folks who read reviews, participate in forums and constantly update their knowledge base; the AV123 business model is likely to deliver better value, since they are "informed consumers" and would not benefit much from knowledge and support given by traditional retailers. But that is just my guess, I will probably never have access to all the data I need to conclusively find that answer.

Sorry for the digression... now back to the review.