Do we make anything anymore ?

[iQ Speakers]

Speaking with a guy who made Hypex cases from solid billet of Ally, he said that Naim were haveing cases anodized in the same factory he used for the anodizing

 

[spiny norman]

Yeah, like Arcam I still class Cyrus as British.

But surely Arcam has no production whatsoever in Britain these days: everything's made either in China or the USA.

 

[chebby]

Cyrus cast alloy cases are made in Scandinavia (Sweden) in an 11 stage process and hand finished.

Yeah, like Arcam I still class Cyrus as British.

Many British cars use American engines or other components from Germany blah blah.

The Mercedes/AMG/Petronas F1 car is made in the UK, so is the engine (made in Brixworth Northamptonshire). The team is based (and headquartered) in the UK. They are still registered as a German team despite all that. They play the German national anthem every time they win.

More so with Arcam. Made in China/USA, owned by Canadians and managed by a Dublin born Irish CEO.

 

[tino]

The Mercedes/AMG/Petronas F1 car is made in the UK, so is the engine (made in Brixworth Northamptonshire). The team is based (and headquartered) in the UK. They are still registered as a German team despite all that.

If only the labelling on hifi was as clear-cut. Many hifi firms trade on their 'Britishness', yet they are exclusively produced outside the UK. But you might not be able to tell from the label, in fact the origins are obfuscated e.g. IAG made products which just list a Huntingdon address.

 

[MakkaPakka]

Cambridge Audio boasts 'Great British ound since 1968' and slaps Union flags all over the place. Very disingenuous.

As for Arcam being like Cyrus - not even remotely close. Cyrus is owned by private UK individuals and makes its products in a UK factory . Arrcam is a foreign company in every respect now.

 

[plastic penguin]

Cyrus cast alloy cases are made in Scandinavia (Sweden) in an 11 stage process and hand finished.

Yeah, like Arcam I still class Cyrus as British.

Many British cars use American engines or other components from Germany blah blah.

The Mercedes/AMG/Petronas F1 car is made in the UK, so is the engine (made in Brixworth Northamptonshire). The team is based (and headquartered) in the UK. They are still registered as a German team despite all that. They play the German national anthem every time they win.

More so with Arcam. Made in China/USA, owned by Canadians and managed by a Dublin born Irish CEO.

The AC Cobra had its engine designed by Shelby, US engineer, who worked extensively with Ford on the Mustang

TVR, although now Russian owned, had American engines with other 'under bonnet' components scavange from Saab, Volvo, Mondeo etc etc. Even back in the 60s Triumph produced a slant 4-cylinder engine for their 99 models. This engine was later produced for the Dolimite and and Dolomite Sprint.

What we've proven here is nothing is true anything.

 

[JamesMellor]

I only scanned the ones I'd consider , so Dali , KEF R and Tannoy , Q a won

 

[newlash09]

Hi all....Iam from India....The major speaker manufacturers have only escalated prices from model to model. And have shifted their manufacturing base to china entirely. So they get to pocket a larger share of your well earned morney in profit. Sadly it's true here in india as well. But guess there's nothing much we can do about it. China is the modern day factory of the world. My cousin works for a major american toy manufacturer. The AI chips which go in the toys, are designed at my place, and are subsequently sent to the U.S to undergo an online simulator testing. Once passed, the chip design goes to china in a email, and is downloaded into a flash drive and plugged into a chip printing machine. And off come the chips, and go into the toys. So, at the end of the day, we can still derive some measure of satisfaction, that we designed the chips. That is till the chinese learn to design things themselves.....a sorry but very true state of today's affairs....Unless we keep innovating at a far faster pace than that can be copied, we become irrevelant.....newlash09....Circa 2015....🙂

 

[NSA_watch_my_toilet]

If you want to go around the manufacturers nonsense, you must try to escape to the normal market rules.

For example, the import of hifi gear takes high amount of money. Not that it's expensive, but the margins for import in hifi are around 150 to 300 percents of the initial product price. It's a juicy business. If you can find gear that is not imported on the Hifi label, then the margins drops heavily. Example, PSI Audio, Quested or Neumann, that are "non hifi" speakers. You are paying much less margins (around 30% in the pro studio world). So you will have more speaker for the money.

Other example, when the manufacturer, is selling directly to the retailer. It's the case of Xavian in Europe. This allows to have agressive (realistic, this is not made of cheap components so it costs something) prices on very high endish speakers.

The best is, when you can go from some direct retailers. Wilmslow for example is highly appreciated in your region because of that. You pay only the speaker and the guy who did it, not the chain who is around. And it's true for lots of good indie speaker manufacturers.

 

[matthewpiano]

The other way to get better value for money is to buy later on in a product's life. The Dynaudio DM2/6 were originally a £600 speaker, and they won a WHFS&V award at that price. When I purchased mine nearly 2 years ago, they were £399 so I saved a 3rd of the price. More recently they've been going for £299, a 50% saving on the original price. They are still the same excellent speaker that they were 5 or 6 years ago, and they would still be competitive on performance with £500-£600 speakers now. They are just better value for money than they were.