Light Harmonic (LH Labs). Scam? USD$6 million not delivered since 2014

[Samuel T Cogley]

I have been watching this ever since that now infamous video of Gavin Fish celebrating when the original Pulse crowdfunding drive hit the magic $1 million number.  Those were heady days!

 

I knew something was wrong when all the new LH Labs crowdfunding asks outstripped (by orders of magnitude) fulfillment of existing orders.  Then Fish left and went to Audioengine and publicly threw Larry Ho under the bus.

 

I think where Larry went wrong was the "perks".  He thought of technical features to include to the dizzying array of perks before he fleshed out how they would actually integrate with the base system(s).  This created a hardware development nightmare.  And apparently, no one at LH knew enough about electronics manufacturing in China to discriminate between "good" production runs and "bad" ones.  They wasted a ton of money on a large batch of bad PC boards.

 

LH continues to roll out new crowdfunding drives, while still woefully behind on fulfillment.  At this point, it's clear that predictions of "death of a sales model" were quite premature.

[Samuel T Cogley]

27 minutes ago, rando said:

@Ralf11  You could always pursue that most ignominious of outlets tied to class action failures.   You could round up bilked investors to start a funding round for the purpose of producing a documentary based on the history of this company and it's leading figures.  

 

"A Tough Road to Ho"

The story of Larry Ho's LH Labs DAC's, Delays, & Despondency

A documentary narrated by a couple hundred well off individuals who assumed a high risk outlay

 

 

 

Your talent for snark is unmatched!

[Samuel T Cogley]

6 hours ago, LHCommSquad said:

There have also been some concerns about LH as a company – is there staff, are there offices open, is LH financially sound, etc. We are going to share all of that information as well in future updates and we are truly sorry if anything we did gave off the impression otherwise.

 

Acknowledging some concerns about the financial health of LH, a seemingly vague commitment to address those concerns in the future, but then ending the sentence in a way that suggests that LH is sorry if it gave the impression that LH is not financially sound?  Or does that last part of the sentence mean that LH is "truly sorry" that people thought they wouldn't give an update "in [the] future"?

 

Who writes this gobbledygook?  This is part of the reason that people are avoiding LH/LHL products like the plague now.  Ambiguity is not LH's friend.

[Samuel T Cogley]

Since we're reviewing some of Lee Scoggins' LHL cheer-leading, this is just classic:

 

Quote

Light Harmonics developed a bulletin board-style forum for their virtual community of Geek fans – that LH called the Geek Force –to voice their opinions, requests, and concerns.  LH was able to leverage crowd-design to create a customer-centric world.  In fact, LH even solicited a vote on which enclosure design to deploy for a Geek Pulse accessory.  They also held a headphone-stand contest that they allowed members to vote on their favorite design.

 

and

 

Quote

The cheese has moved – the future of audio is already here.

 

Anyone who enjoys irony should read the entire article.  To say that Scoggins got LHL completely wrong would be extremely charitable.

[Samuel T Cogley]

There has to be some back channel communication between Scoggins and LHL, probably Larry himself.

 

Scoggins would start the "interview" with something like, "talk about all the new tech that LH/LHL has in the pipeline".  I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if the crowdfunding debacle would be broached like this, "does it make you sad that a few disgruntled customers trolls have hurt LHL's reputation?"

 

There's a reason Larry wants Scoggins to be the interviewer.  No one has offered as many keystrokes of praise to Gavin Fish and Larry Ho as Lee Scoggins.  If this actually pans out, it will be the clearest indication yet that Larry refuses to face his epic and dismal failures and continues to shirk responsibility.

 

It might be entertaining to some, but real people have lost real money.  And Scoggins should really think about the downsides of raising his profile on the backs of those people.  If his reputation as a shill is persistent now, imagine how pervasive it would be after an event like that!

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

27 minutes ago, Jud said:

I think all such speculation is unnecessary, unhelpful, and ultimately useless.

 

I always appreciate your "adult in the room" prose, Jud. 👍

[Samuel T Cogley]

http://lightharmonic.com/about/

 

5701 Lonetree Blvd., Suite 114
Rocklin, CA 95765

 

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

51 minutes ago, LHCommSquad said:

They specifically chose and discussed the old address (Roseville), absolutely no one bothered to check or correct the address...

 

Jarek, you might want to check the website.  Even though it is a Rocklin address, the heading still has Roseville, which can only add to the confusion.

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

5 hours ago, LHCommSquad said:

However, if anyone has alternate suggestions for an interviewer who has in-depth knowledge of LH Labs/IGG/crowdfunding/LH Labs + IGG debacle, let me know. 

 

Have you considered Ronald "Scott" Owens?  He's close by and I'm sure he'd be happy to ask the tough questions.

[Samuel T Cogley]

26 minutes ago, bernardperu said:

2) Our claims will be translated to Chinese; the China based web sites will link to our forums; and Larry Ho's reputation will be damaged.

 

In my experience, the whole concept of consumer protection is mostly a western culture thing.  I don't think this will ever happen.

[Samuel T Cogley]

1 minute ago, bernardperu said:

 

I assume any consumer in the world wants to:

 

1) Receive what they paid for.

 

2) Have a warranty.

 

3) Get parts and repair service for many years to come.

 

In China they shoot corrupt politicians and imprison billionaires who do not pay their taxes. Perhaps we should file charges against Larry Ho in China.

 

All I'm saying is that if you want to get the attention of Chinese internet users, it might be prudent to understand how unique the concept of Consumer Protection is to western cultures.  It's my understanding that even warranties as we know them for the most part don't exist in Asia.

[Samuel T Cogley]

14 hours ago, spyderman said:

Assumed lifetime warranty must be in effect.

 

I'm only suggesting that those assumptions be validated.

[Samuel T Cogley]

57 minutes ago, Blake said:

Oh, what awesome news!  The new case even has Light Harmonic branding, because, well, LH Labs no longer exists.

 

But wait......

 

Light Harmonic, Inc. no longer exists, as all the shareholders voted to dissolve that entity in January of 2018. 

 

But don't worry Larry, we still have you squarely in our sights.

 

 

 

 

LH Dissolution.pdf 49.72 kB · 6 downloads

 

Ahem, this is notice of the dissolution of "Harmonic Light Inc".  No commas.  Unless I'm missing something, this is irrelevant to this thread.

[Samuel T Cogley]

On 7/28/2019 at 12:32 AM, LHCommSquad said:

 

 

As of 7/28 the LH Labs site is back up and running. It is still owned by LH. 

 

As of 9/19/2019 the site is down and has been for at least a week.

[Samuel T Cogley]

7 minutes ago, John Dyson said:

This problem makes me wonder -- was this an overreach by an overly enthusiastic person who didn't realize what they were getting into, or was this a scam from day 1?

 

I don't think it was a scam from day 1.  Many people have Geek Pulse DACs and some even like them.  🙂

 

I think things started going off the rails with the "perks".  From what I can see, there was a huge disconnect between the technical feasibility of changing DAC designs daily and actually transforming that chaos into DAC production in the factory.

 

Gavin Fish bailed and Larry was left holding the bag.  We know the rest.

[Samuel T Cogley]

I'll know it's real if I see them appear on Amazon.  🙂

[Samuel T Cogley]

On 1/11/2020 at 8:41 PM, agisthos said:

In some way I feel a bit sorry for Larry Ho. Yes he was a part owner of LHLabs, but he was just the designer. It was Gavin Fish who was running the day to day operations of LHLabs and who burned through all the money with his poor business competency. So if you want to attack someone for losing your money, he bears far more responsibility than Larry.

 

Because Larry decided to try and save the LHlabs name, and deliver the product in a piecemeal fashion with whatever extra funds he makes from Light Harmonic, it has kept him as a focal point for the attacks, while Gavin has gotten out of it scott free.

 

I don't disagree about Gavin, but Larry's lack of transparency to date has not helped his image.  That lack of transparency makes people assume the worst.  Generally speaking, Larry's proxies (like Jarek) have not done well in explaining "Larry's side of the story".

 

Larry's apparent shyness with regards to people who are still waiting for product has made and continues to make the name Light Harmonic rather radioactive IMHO.  The passage of time alone with no concrete goals of order fulfillment is de facto evidence of malfeasance.

[Samuel T Cogley]

When the Pono player was all the rage in crowdfunding, I waited until they had enough of a production run to show up in traditional retail.  That device is now on my electronic scrap pile.  It's stuck in "balanced mode" and is useless for conventional earbuds or headphones.  The Pono was ahead of its time, and it showed.

 

I was itching to get a Pulse when Gavin Fish was really pumping it.

 

Then I read this (oddly, now scrubbed from the internet, but saved by the Way Back Machine), and I smelled something scammy.

 

At the end of the day, patience can save you a LOT of money when you're suffering from Gear Acquisition Syndrome. 

 

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

17 hours ago, Jud said:

If you read back through the enormous MQA thread, at some point you’ll see me taking Lee to task for that very article. Maybe that’s when he decided to try to ditch it.

 

I bought a Pono when it first came out and have no complaints after the many years of enjoyment I got from it. These days a smartphone plus portable DAC is far more versatile than a DAP, so I don’t use it any longer.

 

I plunked down for a Wave after having a great experience with the Geek Out, which was really a nice little portable DAC, especially for its time. Oh well.

 

I have heard lots of good things about the Geek Out.  Never used one because it seems like a laptop solution and I'm more of a DAP guy.

 

Totally agree re: smartphones having supplanted DAPs.  My go to is now some kind of Bluetooth dongle (Fiio BTR5 or iFi GO blu) paired with good earbuds.

 

I tried everything I could to resurrect my Pono, even purchased a new battery.  As part of the battery swap process, I left the Pono unplugged from the battery for like a WEEK.  It's still stuck in balanced mode.  When I search the internet for other people experiencing that, I find my own posts 😐

 

Back to LH Labs, the taint of that debacle will not soon be washed away.  I'm not surprised in the least that Scoggins is trying to "memory hole" his part in that disaster.  It's not the first crowdfunding failure, but it's certainly one of the more colorful ones.  I'm thinking Gavin Fish still struggles with distancing himself from it.  I see his internet presence is focused on investigating "cold cases".  I'm curious why he doesn't investigate, "where did all the LH Labs crowdfunding money go?".  Maybe it's because he knows? 🙂

 

 

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

In many ways, I always saw Scoggins as PT Barnum with a degree in Consumer Science.

 

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

2 minutes ago, Superdad said:

BTW, what’s with your “boycott” of Radio Paradise in your signature? Did they do something to offend—play some tunes you don’t like —or is there something nefarious about their business model that we should be aware of? Do I need to stop my annual support donations to them?

 

Radio Paradise are mQa supporters.  You didn't know?  If you want to continue to support mQa, you should keep up those annual donations.  😉

[Samuel T Cogley]

3 hours ago, brucknerdoc said:

Curious that "stuck limo" is hanging around "liking" posts...

 

Jarek was literally Larry Ho's human shield for years.   Still is apparently...