What current China import sounds like a CJ??

Nrchy, Fatparrot, Czbbcl,

Is ALL Chinese stuff copies of other designs? Or just tube gear? Is there a comprehensive list somewhere that matches up Chinese models with the models of the copied gear?

I'm willing to do my part to protect intellectual property, but avoiding ALL Chinese gear just because some of it is copied seems a little extreme, and penalizes the Chinese manufacturers who are trying to do the right thing.

Take, for example, my Onix XCD-88 CD player; it's the only Chinese piece I own. Is it a copy? I'd love to know that.

David

Please a little less polictics and a little more feedback please!!

Tommy, I purchased a CJ amp used here on Agon for less than a third of the new retail price and am very excited about it. One of my most expense components was made in China and I've nothing but problems with it. Did I purchase either product based upon where it was manufactured? No of course not. The folks at CJ in Virginia did respond to some of my tech questions, letting me know they still had parts in house incase I wanted to perform such and such upgrade to the amp (which I was already way happy with) but should that factor into your buying decision?

Base on many experiences I think that saying something is made in china will give one a better value for the money is just not an accurate generalization.

A lot of the Chinese equipment has been cheapened by the importers and distributors as much as the manufacturers themselves. In most instances, the sonics of this gear are more than fine.

The issue is with having adequate support; which falls directly on the folks importing the gear from China. They are the ones responsible for interfacing with both customers and dealers here in the USA.

In my mind, these people have often been more interested in generating short term profits than growing the brands into companies that can sit on the same shelves as ARC, CJ, etc. One facet of this is that are often unable or unwilling to put forth the requisite work and expense to support and repair product in the field. If you happen to have any of this gear, look out when it falls out of warranty. You may have to seek out a third party, one who doesn't have any experience with the product/brand necessarily, as recourse.

Compounding this, in many cases, because of their very short track record in this industry, these Chinese manufacturers have no concept of product support and/or maintenance. Parts used in the equipment of a previous generation may no longer be available once they have moved on to the next. I'm not talking the everyday resistor or cap, but circuit boards, chips, knobs, transports, and the like.

The trends are beginning to point to these brands having a lifespan of 3 - 5 years in this market. At which point, the chickens come home to roost. The service issues creep into the picture, and the customer is unable to find sufficient recourse. At that point, the frontmen in this country can move on to the next brand no one has ever heard of, grab a quick review or two from the audiophile press, blame the former company for all of the issues, wipe his hands clean, and more or less come out smelling like a rose.

Until and unless these Chinese manufacturers find people to represent them here with a better (and, more traditional) business model over their more favored price undercutting of the legacy brands, the reputation of equipment coming from China is headed for a downturn, in my opinion. So, of course, the final blame ends up falling on the anufacturers for putting their fortunes in the hands of these individuals in the first place.

The chinese gear I have heard reminded me of celebrity look-alikes. Just a lesser quality version of something else. Some of those designs didn't deserve to be ripped off! Who wants to see a Paris Hilton impersonator??? I'm sure I don't have as much experience as a lot of people here, but none of it sounded good to my ear. Some of it was okay, but I'd opt for the US, Italian, or German original.

I'm not a fan of Cary gear, but I'd rather have the Cary than the knockoff. I was walking around CES last year and went to a room that if it were not for the color of the amps, I would have sworn they were Cary. They looked exactly like the original!

Chinese tubes are not as good as the better stuff available, the builders skimp on internals while making nice cabinets. That's probably a good idea, for all the people who buy with their eyes rather than their ears.

Fools can write this off as political rhetoric. When I want to make political statements about China (as I have in the past) I will. This is not one of those times, this has to do with the quality of products coming out of China. When companies from the west go to China to have products built, they retain control of the quality. When the Chinese turn around and rip those same products off, they make them as cheaply as possible hoping to fool the people too cheap to buy the originals. So who's the real fool???