Product purchasing decisions based on manufacturer’s proximity

Well let's see the last few purchase I made the manufacturers were in Ohio, California, Missouri, and Hong Kong. I live in Washington. But the speakers were actually manufactured in Israel, and the cartridge in Japan. Once long ago some speakers bought in Portland were made in Oregon, which worked out great as I was able to drive them down to the designer/builder for some upgrades, chat with the guy in person, hear some cool stuff and basically get all insider-ly like you just can't do any other way.

But I also met Ted Denney (Synergistic Research) at a small private demo, and had Caelin (Shunyata Research) come over and demo some cables in my listening room. Cool stuff. But it never once even crossed my mind to buy anything based on proximity or relationship. You buy what you have heard to work great in your system, period.

Never thought of that i go for the best not the closest. Good luck though!!

I have never based a product purchasing decision on manufacturer proximity. I’ve had audio products from Germany, UK, HK, China, as well as the USA.

This came up in another thread for an OP thinking about that possibility. So I thought it worthy of discussion.

The only thing I could think of that might justify such considerations would product shipping weight or bulk (size) if warranty work at the factory were required.

I never buy anything from China. Too many counterfeits and poor quality control. There are limited exceptions I would consider. 

A huge amount of what’s in your house is from China.

I recently was in the market for a preamp with DSP. Front-runners were the DSPeaker X4 and the Anthem STR. It was easier to audition the Anthem (local dealer), and I do like that it's designed, made, and supported in North America. So I auditioned it first -- and liked it enough so that I never did try the DSPeaker. So origin turned out to be of some importance to me.

On the other hand, I have Canadian, Chinese, German, and American components in my main system; Canadian (Chinese made), American (Thai made), and English in my second system.

Bought Symdex speakers once because they where close enough that I could demo them with the builder.

A brand's reputation is more important to me than origin of manufacture.  All thing being equal, I will always choose a domestic product over foreign.

if at all possible I try to buy locally, maybe even if the thing is NOT the identical thing I'm seeking, maybe but a likewise item, just different brand.

buying from Brick and mortar shops is nice indeed, but those I've encountered locally in past years, seem to believe the web and its buying options are myths or don't exist at all and as such act as though they have no competition what so ever.

I've bought a good number of things completely in the blind, and likely will again without respect to lcale. However....

I have never given much creedence to location as the tipping point for any purchase. this is of course given I choose about 95% of the time to buy 'on shore' at least.

location gets to be the deal maker or breaker, depending.

its not the primary aspect of the chase.

although this does come into play when likewise goods, same brand and model are available locally or in the listings.


if all else is on balance, location clinches the deal pretty often for me.y, it usualy doesn't work out quite that way very often though.