Hey, rotarius, why the negative attitude towards Upscale Audio? 
Well, there were a couple of long threads on Agon and asylum about Upscale recently (speakers section) and a shocking number of people posted very negative comments. I really don't want to start that here so I will just say I have had mixed results over the years.
First time dealing with a hum issue with a new preamp was positive. Kevin was very helpful. Second time dealing with an amp issue was different, a bit abrupt and the communication ended with nothing resolved. Third time was me inquiring about purchasing Sonus Faber speakers and the guy who answered (not Kevin) was really not interested in selling them to me. Let's just leave it at that, I have no axe to grind. Customer service from audio dealers can be dismal so nothing new here.