Peformance at price point for speakers manufactured in China?
Lately I've been doing some "window shopping" for speakers on various sites, and this question pertains to how much more speaker one can get for the money when they are manufactured in China.
Specifically, I did some browsing on Music Direct and came across the Wharfedale Elysian 1. I see a listing for a pair with stands that claims it has been marked down from 5800 to about 4k (this does not appear to be an open box) which is interesting, because a pair WITHOUT stands is listed at 5k; but regardless, if these speakers were not manufactured in China, how much more would they probably list for?
It’s not just labor cost difference, there are also different costs in transportation, storage, maybe electricity, etc. I suppose one can use broad assumptions to come up with a cost number, then do some markup, but what’s the point? Besides satisfying curiosity, the higher determined sale price would have no benefit- nothing will change. @mahgister congrats on your new component. |
There’s also the lower pollution standards to consider when offshoring to China. Very lax laws allow toxic wastes to just be dumped wherever convenient. One can’t do that here. Chinese workers are exposed to all manner of toxins that wouldn’t be allowed here. On the bright side, they have some remarkable craftsmen/tradesmen whose work can rival anyone in the rest of the world, and is some areas, surpass them. The more they build and specialize, the more we’re going to use their people for labor, as long as the costs are low enough to offset transportation costs. Anything to save a penny. All the best,
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@kennyc , the reason I asked was because, as a hypothetical example, if it was widely known (except by me because I tend to be a bit of a cave dweller on this stuff) that a speaker manufactured in China that listed for 5k performed at the level of a US manufactured speaker that listed for 10k, I'd probably point myself in that direction. That's all. No big deal. |
@mahgister , not all inexpensive preamps sound good. As an example, in the mid 90s I was listening to my system with a B&K HT digital preamp. I felt my system could sound more "musical" and I felt the the preamp might be what I should be considering. As it happened, Audio Advisor was selling an extremely afforadable Vac pre (I found out later that Vac had a couple of different priced product lines at the time) and the brand name vac and the fact that it had a couple of 12AX7s in the circuit appealed to me. I truly WANTED to like it. That preamp sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
BTW, what is your picture of? For some reason, it always makes me think of the cover to the Lou Reed "Rock And Roll Animal" CD. |
For sure you are right... I lived through the same experience with cheap chinese products 10 years ago and also with the product of a new american player in town at the times ... The new american amp well reviewed was so bad i sold it the next day... The chinese audio toys were not much better at the times ... Things had changed, this new american company produce better design and improved now... Some chinese companies at lower cost produce as good as this new american company nowadays ... The problem is identifying the good design ... I used statistical analysis of all reviews... i then bought for peanuts a Fosi SK01 S.S. preamplifier and a Douk P2 tubes preamplifier, for 50 bucks each ...😊 The Douk tube amplifier is better now than a european-american one i bought 7 years ago for six time the price of the DOUK...I sold it after one year because the sound quality was too artificial ... Some chinese low cost products now , without being high end one for sure, answer the huge audiophile demand of the oriental market... Chalk board sounding preamplifier even at low price cannot survive long and sell big ... Chinese engineers improve design and cost... Chinese is no more a third developing country...North america are declining countries as the British empire was ... But you know already all this .. 😊
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