British-made speakers?

[Anonymous]

Gary Mardell:raym87:

Made in England, I think is a non starter, Assembled in England however is another matter. Don't forget that an item labelled as Made in England doesn't have to have all English made components in it. Not sure of the percentage but I think its quite low. Maybe someone can enlighten us.

iirc, to be designated as 'made in' for anywhere in the EU, over 50% of the cost of the Bill of Material, including the assembly labour, has to originate from that country.

On the basis that labour / assembly is included, then it would be perfectly possible (read more than likely) to have Made in England on a product that contains no english made parts.

 

[Anonymous]

raym87:Gary Mardell:raym87:

Made in England, I think is a non starter, Assembled in England however is another matter. Don't forget that an item labelled as Made in England doesn't have to have all English made components in it. Not sure of the percentage but I think its quite low. Maybe someone can enlighten us.

iirc, to be designated as 'made in' for anywhere in the EU, over 50% of the cost of the Bill of Material, including the assembly labour, has to originate from that country.

On the basis that labour / assembly is included, then it would be perfectly possible (read more than likely) to have Made in England on a product that contains no english made parts.

It is very possible. It depends very much on whether the amount of labour added, and its cost, to a kit of parts justifies a market premium to obtain an ROI. If not, then you'd outsource.

 

[Anonymous]

Gary Mardell:raym87:Gary Mardell:raym87:

Made in England, I think is a non starter, Assembled in England however is another matter. Don't forget that an item labelled as Made in England doesn't have to have all English made components in it. Not sure of the percentage but I think its quite low. Maybe someone can enlighten us.

iirc, to be designated as 'made in' for anywhere in the EU, over 50% of the cost of the Bill of Material, including the assembly labour, has to originate from that country.

On the basis that labour / assembly is included, then it would be perfectly possible (read more than likely) to have Made in England on a product that contains no english made parts.

It is very possible. It depends very much on whether the amount of labour added, and its cost, to a kit of parts justifies a market premium to obtain an ROI. If not, then you'd outsource.

Am I right to assume that the cost of packaging and possibly distribution could be factored in as well. If it is then on that basis ( with a cheap item) it would be OK to have Made in England stuck on it even if no UK manufacturing or assembly took place.

 

[Anonymous]

raym87:Gary Mardell:raym87:Gary Mardell:raym87:

Made in England, I think is a non starter, Assembled in England however is another matter. Don't forget that an item labelled as Made in England doesn't have to have all English made components in it. Not sure of the percentage but I think its quite low. Maybe someone can enlighten us.

iirc, to be designated as 'made in' for anywhere in the EU, over 50% of the cost of the Bill of Material, including the assembly labour, has to originate from that country.

On the basis that labour / assembly is included, then it would be perfectly possible (read more than likely) to have Made in England on a product that contains no english made parts.

It is very possible. It depends very much on whether the amount of labour added, and its cost, to a kit of parts justifies a market premium to obtain an ROI. If not, then you'd outsource.

Am I right to assume that the cost of packaging and possibly distribution could be factored in as well. If it is then on that basis ( with a cheap item) it would be OK to have Made in England stuck on it even if no UK manufacturing or assembly took place.

Packaging is included, but not distribution cost. That never goes into a BOM. Basically, you need to think of it as its cost as it comes off of the end of the production line. If the product doesn't contain a major component (such as cabinet, packaging and owners manual together) made inn the country of origin, then it's unlikely to qualify for the Made In status.
hth

 

[Anonymous]

We've recently experienced problems with PCBs that we were having made in the UK so we had no choice but to seek another supplier. The result is that ours now come from Korea for a third of the price delivered and the quality is miles better.

We were buying drive units from Scandinavia because they were the best, but they got more and more expensive and so most of their personnel are working for the Indonesian Company who now supply us. The quality is at least as good and the technology more advanced.

We offer Piano lacquer cabinets as an option. To get this done in the UK costs about £300 for a pair of boxes and prices us out of the market. Our Indonesian supplier (with ex Scanspeak Designers) sells us the boxes for less than the Brit veneered boxes, even after the shipping is paid.

We do buy stuff in the UK, but we need the best quality and we need to be able to sell into a market that's very competitive indeed. If we were to use old fashioned manufacturing methods and make everything in the UK, the price would be about three times what it is now and I doubt we'd be able to equal the quality.

Cambridge Audio is one of the most highly regarded separates manufacturers now and with good reason. It is also substantially less expensive than UK counterparts and they are probably suffering because of it. No manufacturer can afford to miss opportunities to lower retail prices any more than he can to compromise quality and reliability.

To give an example of Britain's infrastructure cost problems I will mention Classic Car restoration. We have some of the best companies in the world in the UK, but they are starting to lose out because their prices are so high compared to New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and the States. A job that costs £100K here can be done for £35K in New Zealand with a month's holiday thrown in.

My advice to anyone considering sound equipment is to ignore price and country of origin because of this huge discrepancy between goods manufactured in different countries and concentrate on performance. That way you'll get the best.

Ashley

 

[John Duncan]

Anyway, Made in England means nothing

 

[Anonymous]

Ady Hendra:
Hi everyone,

I am thinking to buy Mordaunt Short Mezzo 6, does anyone know if the speakers are still made in England or Asia somewhere ? Really appreciate for the input. Thank you

Built in China. Nicely built too.

Someone mentioned Living Voice earlier. These are indeed UK built but Kevin Scott will choose his components from wherever the best units can be found irrespective of country. The result is awesome and hopefully will get better still with the amp I am currently looking at.

 

[Anonymous]

Ashley James:

My advice to anyone considering sound equipment is to ignore price and country of origin because of this huge discrepancy between goods manufactured in different countries and concentrate on performance. That way you'll get the best.

Ashley

Couldnt agree more with ignoring country of origin. If I was in a position to ignore price as well, hey, I would be living in the Caribbean somewhere.

 

[Anonymous]

Rev:Buy the best sounding speakers and let that be an end to this nonsense!

Mm. I run a Japanese car, tend to buy German white goods, Finnish mobile phone, etc.

Maybe British-made goods can't compete on price/performance, but there really are some awesome Brit speakers out there and I just wanted to hear some. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

Anyway. I'm off to listen to some Spendors. It'll keep me happy anyway

 

[Anonymous]

Noggin:Rev:Buy the best sounding speakers and let that be an end to this nonsense!

Mm. I run a Japanese car, tend to buy German white goods, Finnish mobile phone, etc.

Maybe British-made goods can't compete on price/performance, but there really are some awesome Brit speakers out there and I just wanted to hear some. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

Anyway. I'm off to listen to some Spendors. It'll keep me happy anyway

Nothing wrong at all. The name of the game is to buy whatever suits your requirements. Good luck in making your choice.

 

[Anonymous]

At the risk of resurrecting an old thread ..........

This is a shameless plug for the Best Buy British Campaign's British Product Directory (shameless because it is not-for-profit).

My aim is to make the British Made Hi Fi section the definative resource for some of the info requested in this thread.

Some of the posters here may be interested in it's contents and some may well be able to point out any gaps (which would be most welcome).

The hi-Fi section will soon be split up into various hi-fi components along with a simple grading system so consumers can see at a glance the British-ness of each of the products, if that is important to them.

Kind regards to all

Adrian

 

[manicm]

I have Arcam Solo Mini, Arcam rDock, B&W 685s.

Both British companies, all components made in China.

Your sense of patriotism is a bit misplaced with budget to mid-range kit mate. Give it up. Ironically only my Chord cables are made in UK (as far as I know - I may be wrong here).

In my country the textile/clothing industry is all but dead due to a combination of misguided managment, unregulated Chinese imports and greed. I can only buy overpriced locally made Levis and that''s about as far as it goes.

I'm all for some sort of government protection/regulation, if only to save jobs.

Otherwise you're flogging a dead horse.