Are there such things as "counterfeit" MIT cables

heiney9

I hate when people ask questions AFTER they buy something. Like "I just bought one of these, is it any good", etc. I'm kind of being one of those.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274266734845?_trkparms=amclksrc=ITM&aid=1110006&algo=HOMESPLICE.SIM&ao=1&asc=20220405142716&meid=f6ba4ff862574a55ab52604b4088b9b1&pid=101506&rk=3&rkt=10&sd=296525593505&itm=274266734845&pmt=0&noa=1&pg=4481478&algv=DefaultOrganicWebWithV11WebTrimmedV3VisualRankerWithKnnV3AndUltBRecall&_trksid=p4481478.c101506.m1851

I bought from this seller in Hong Kong an 8' and 12' pair of brand new AVt3 speaker cables. One for the new TV rig and one for my office rig. After looking at many other listings over the past couple of weeks, these look different.

The ends and how they are terminated look different. The outer sheath is supposed to have a purple thread and the others I see, don't have the coupler on the amp end (banana plug end), which I think is a plus. These are not ICON ends they are permanent, but look exactly like my other ICONN ends.

Are these just newer and perhaps a last run or could they be counterfeit? I know over time the Terminator 2's changed appearance to look like the rest of the MIT lines. Outer sheathing and box style as well as how the end were terminated changed.

These appear to be legit and I don't know why they would go the trouble of counterfeiting these at the lower end. Box, packing, literature all looks legit.

The seller was excellent and these were here within 5 days.

Just curious what MIT peoples thought are. I'm leaning to 95% legit, but.......

H9

tonyp063

@heiney9 , I know this doesn't directly answer your question, but I have bought multiple items from that specific ebay seller & all have been legitimate.

treitz3

You *may* be able to contact MIT to find out for sure, as I know some companies will verify this for you. That said, I'm not 100% that MIT will do this or not. Is there any serial number on them?

Tom

pitdogg2

They may be legit, that being said anything from China can be counterfeit, anything. Most manufacturers go into China knowing that product will go out the back door to be produced as the "real" deal. If I'm remembering correctly Audioquest once said they do all the packaging and braided sleeves in the U.S. to help stay one step ahead of the Chinese counterfeits.

VR3

The margins in audiophile cables are stratospheric in nature. This will definitely draw counterfeits who can make similar or exact replicas in appearance to try to sell at a low cost to draw buyers.

The cost to manufacture most of these cables is probably 10 to 20% of retail pricing.

heiney9

All good food for thought. If these are counterfeit, they are excellent copies of literature, warranty card and boxing, and labels. Usually, these are the area's you can tell a counterfeit because they won't carry through with that kind of detail.

Just a few things like the lack of purple stripe in the sheathing and the "MIT" coupler on the amp end (banana) that are different than many others I see for sale. Granted, I've maybe looked at a 1/2 dozen other sales..........not hardly enough to draw any kind of definitive conclusions.

@tonyp063 - that's very reassuring. It is possible some one bought out retired inventory. These are sealed and look absolutely new.

More curious than concerned.

H9

VR3

Do not under estimate how far these groups will go to try to scalp money from legitimate companies

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/inside-fake-chinese-apple-store-shenzen-kunming-2015-9?amp

F1nut

By coupler, do you mean the part circled? If so, it appears some AVt cables had it and others didn't. No idea why. I do know that series has not been made for many years now.

Emlyn

I wouldn't sweat it because the pricing wouldn't ring alarm bells and if they were counterfeit it's less likely they would have put the extra coupler on them. But, it's always been common for a factory that manufactures products like these under contract in certain parts of the world to produce one batch for the company for sale in the US or European markets and another batch that goes out the back door with just slight cosmetic differences.

F1nut

MIT cables were made in California. Now, they are made in Nevada.

sucks2beme

Given how things are, just about everything has been counterfeited.
Offshore sourced stuff is risky at best. Transistors from ebay will often
be fake. Same for a bunch of stuff on Amazon. Don't even get me started
on fake Seiko dive watches from the Philippines (Faiko). If it ships from
the Philippines, it's a fake watch.

heiney9

F1nut wrote: »

By coupler, do you mean the part circled? If so, it appears some AVt cables had it and others didn't. No idea why. I do know that series has not been made for many years now.

Yes, that coupler for lack of a better word.

I know they were discontinued in the late 2000's or early 2010-2012. I assume someone bought the NOS and is now selling.

heiney9

sucks2beme wrote: »

Given how things are, just about everything has been counterfeited.
Offshore sourced stuff is risky at best. Transistors from ebay will often
be fake. Same for a bunch of stuff on Amazon. Don't even get me started
on fake Seiko dive watches from the Philippines (Faiko). If it ships from
the Philippines, it's a fake watch.

I agree with what you're saying for certain high volume, highly desired items. I would say they sell more Seiko dive watches than MIT cables.

Doing more searching I have found at least 3 variations of build on the AVt series. I believe these to be legit.

H9