[hakfoo]

I don't know if anyone remembers the brief craze there was for off-brand Korean monitor imports a few years back.

Basically they had similar panels to the then-current 1440p 27" Apple Cinema Displays but were usually "Grade A-/B/etc." instead of A+. They had the flimsiest, crappiest cases and most primitive controller boards (i. e. no OSD or multiple inputs on many models, just keep tapping the button and trying to get the brightness where you wanted it.). I think the original market for them was domestic, and you pretty much had to order them via eBay or sketchy small retailers.

I suspect what did it in was collapsing prices for mainstream-brand monitors, and a choice-paradox problem (there ended up being dozens of seemingly identical units to choose from with different cases, so the market was probably sliced too think for anyone to succeed).

But the concept is completely viable here. Remember that the name brands have major cost centres you don't-- advertising, a high-touch retail sales channel, the R&D on smart features.

TBH, I'm surprised you don't see more higher-end TVs without speakers. There's always going to be physics-related problems with trying to have really decent speakers in a 5cm deep set. You can target the demographic of people who already have competent audio systems AND save on the BOM!