Help Do I have fake van den Hul Mainsstreams?


I just checked the van den Hul site. They have posted a warning there about fakes on the market. It seems to mostly describe the ones I have. (One's that were purchased through Audiogon, I believe.)
But then it gets weird. The site says the US fakes don't have ground pins. Mine do. Alright, so, maybe, they were reterminated. But it gets more confusing. The site says the fakes' writing doesn't capitalize the "V" in van den Hul. Mine have the "V"s in lower case, so, case closed, right? They're fakes. Not necessarily. THE PICTURES OF THE CORD ON THE VAN DEN HUL WEBSITE SHOW THE LOWER CASE "V" THAT THE SITE SAYS ONLY THE FAKES HAVE. What does that mean?
Also, van den Hul's own site says the Mainsstreams have a "catalog number" (or, whatever it is) after the phrase "Halogen free". But, again, the ones they show don't seem to have that. In fact, I haven't found a picture, yet, of the "real ones" they describe.
I was once a van den Hul dealer, by the way, and am familiar with their "house sound". And these cords sound like van den Huls. In fact, they have even beaten out some high quality competitors during comparisons.
But, I can't just adopt a, "Well, heck, they sound good. What's it matter?" attitude because van den Hul goes on to say that use of the fake will "likely" destroy my equipment and, possibly, ELECTROCUTE me. This is due in part, they say, to their very shoddy construction. Mine seem to be built like tanks, though, have been used successfully for years, and still sound and work great.
So, what do I do, now? Throw mine away? But, still, what confuses me the most is that van den Hul seems to have the fakes they describe pictured on their own site! What gives? Help!
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Showing 1 response by dtsag

I just bought a used Mainsstream Hybrid locally and the guy said he bought it from my friend's store. This cord has the small v and no catalog # beside the halogen free wording. I will bring my cord to my friend to verify.

According to my dealer friend, VDH once sold the Mainsstream Hybrid in bulk to their distributors. In Toronto, the distributor terminated them with Furutech IEC and Marinco AC plug, and sell them as Mainsstream Hybrid Performance series for a very good price.

After a while, VDH stop doing this and offer pre-terminated cord only to the distributors.

Wait a minute, I just find a printed catalog of VDH product that came with my othe VDH cables. 99% of the cables are shown with a picture that has a small v and no catalog # beside the halogen free wording. Guess what, the Mainsstream Hybrid is shown with a small v as well with no catalog #. The color is exactly like my used one. The Mainsstream BS Hybrid and Mainsserver Hybrid are shown with a greenish tint.

So I am confidence that mine is a real one after all. Hope this help.