Why would you buy high end speakers made in China?
Why would you buy high end electronics made in China?
I’m not saying they’re no good. I am saying we need to support gear that’s made in N America or Europe. Let’s support companies that make their own gear, in their own houses, with better warranties.
By the way, the N American and Euro gear sounds better and can be repaired years down the road more easily. We have several wonderful suppliers to fill the bill. Bryston and Atoll come quickly to mind. Let’s quit sending our money to the other side of the globe to support widget makers.
The Chinese job houses are ubiquitous, pernicious vendors. Companies can buy from their menus or come up with bespoke SKUs. They wire money and poopbox of China will ship the containers over, complete with company logos on the boxes. These companies make so many different brand names that as you get to know a given production house, you can derive which brands are built in a given production facility.
When companies hire the Chinese “on contract” they don’t have to worry about long hours, working conditions, the break room vending machines, being respectful or nice etc. All they do is wire money.
When the products get here, they make up a retail price so they can run a pseudo discount on it to trick naive customers. It’s the oldest trick in the book and it still works.
If one Chinese vendor is running slower than they like or wants to raise prices, they just switch to another. The new guys can make a carbon copy. It’s really such an easy formula. I shouldn’t be so surprised that it’s working like a charm for the majority of our industry.
I started Audio Emporium in 1977. I like dealing with owner operators, or companies, that care about what they make and do so with much more TLC than mass production from 6500 miles away. I like supporting N American and Euro PEOPLE who CREATE products and take their jobs quite seriously. They’re not just punching out widgets on contract.
I don’t like that you can click a button on a computer here, and a month later a container of speakers shows up- with a prestigious brand name on it. The brand name on the box means nothing. It’s black magic.
If you’re buying baseball hats or golf shirts, I get it. They aren’t critical. But for products that create music… that we want to sound good and last many years, it matters.
I was talking to an American speaker vendor recently. He asked me what brands of high end electronics we are selling. I told him Bryston is my best sounding and best built brand, with 20 year warranty, made in Canada no less. I told him of Atoll for much less money, made in France with a 3 year warranty. He asked if I had heard this, that or the other competing brand- all of which are built in China by the way- and similar in price to Bryston & Atoll.
I was more than a little surprised, even miffed. I countered, “Why would I offer those? Bryston is built in N America with a 20 year warranty. Atoll is built in France with a 3 year warranty. They both sound great and are best of breed at their price points. Each brand you told me about is built in China with a 2 or 3 year warranty. What’s the point?”
He replied, “Well the customer might like the feature set or aesthetics better on brand A, B or C. It might sell better.”
I was shocked. I offered, “If you have the same attitude towards speakers, YOURS are likely not to sell. There’s always someone cheaper or with a goofy orange grill or something that the odd fella might like. I choose to support our community of audiophile companies. Let’s do the work and make a case for them.”
I’ll gladly make a case, and back it up with a demo, to the customer as to why Bryston or Atoll makes more sense than the Asian built gear by Rotel, NAD, Hegel, Cambridge, Parasound, Adcom, Arcam and a zillion others.
I was surprised to hear him say, “I don’t care where it’s built. I would want whatever gives me the best chance to sell something.”
Really?!
Believe me, I’m here to do business. More business beats less business. Yet Audio Emporium is in a strata of the market where we can do virtually the same amount of biz with Bryston & Atoll- without having to succumb to Chinese mass production gear and pricing trickery.
Take a look at the dotcoms now. They’re blatantly appealing to the naive with cranked up retail prices- that just happen to be on sale TODAY! How gullible are we getting… to believe that virtually everything is ON SALE?! Further, this made in Asia gear is NOT as good as what we can offer from great suppliers like Bryston & Atoll.