Made in Britain?

[seemorebtts]

A Chinese man bought mission and with it was wharfedale and audiolab quad but Cyrus which was mission split From them and stayed it's own company thank god. Meridian are owned buy an American bloke that has movie connections and a very expensive watch company. You will see alot of meridian product placements in movies like Twilight,get him to the greek and limitless but they are still made in Britain all in house.they do buy disc drives for cd Sony I think. Arcam used to make everything in Britain except disc drives but that went to China in the 90s as they were making a loss on the alpha range.we have dcs in Cambridge too which make everything in Britain and IV made some prototype boards for ear yoshino but they might go abroad for mass production not sure.

And Arcam was not made far from me and you 

I personally liked Arcam very much when there stuff was made here and at the time I owned a Alfa 7se CD player and it matching amplifier with the sticker with the Union Jack on the front and if you wanted to upgrade anything you could take it and they would upgrade it for you for a price .

Today’s Arcam I am not sure if you can upgrade them like you was able to back in 90s when made here .

they are still there and are very willing to help with anything. Excellent customer service
I made all the alpha range transformers

 

[Leif]

There are strict rules governing Made in Germany and Made in Switzerland. The most expensive parts have to be German/Swiss or something along those lines. There are I think no rules for Made in England. I work for a company that makes items marked Made in England. The camera, glass, case, PCB and connectors are made in China. I'm not aware of any English parts. The firmware is written in England, and so is the PC software supplied with the product. The components are assembled and tested in England, mostly by Eastern Europeans. Made in England? No!

 

[jjbomber]

Talk Electronics, or Edwards Audio as we say.

http://www.stillmadeinbritain.co.uk/music-electrical-hifi

 

[jjbomber]

Rega and Linn

http://www.stillmadeinbritain.co.uk/music-electrical-hifi/page-2

 

[andyjm]

There are strict rules governing Made in Germany and Made in Switzerland. The most expensive parts have to be German/Swiss or something along those lines. There are I think no rules for Made in England. I work for a company that makes items marked Made in England. The camera, glass, case, PCB and connectors are made in China. I'm not aware of any English parts. The firmware is written in England, and so is the PC software supplied with the product. The components are assembled and tested in England, mostly by Eastern Europeans. Made in England? No!

I think you are mistaken.

As I mentioned above, there are strict rules imposed by the WTO about 'made in xxx'. One of these defines 'made in' as the point at which a significant transformation took place, so assembly of parts would count. Another rule uses the point at which most value was added. As far as I am aware, these rules apply as much in the UK as they do in Germany or in Switzerland.

 

[Al ears]

Where does the paper come form? Yours, Anne R Kistik-Lee.

Trees. Yours, Sa Karstik-Lee

Foreign trees? ;-)

 

[Al ears]

Talk Electronics, or Edwards Audio as we say.

http://www.stillmadeinbritain.co.uk/music-electrical-hifi

All of these use components manufactured abroad, it's a case of assembled Britain again, which is not a bad thing I suppose. To be honest the Made in anywhere sticker is totally irrelevant these days .

 

[Leif]

There are strict rules governing Made in Germany and Made in Switzerland. The most expensive parts have to be German/Swiss or something along those lines. There are I think no rules for Made in England. I work for a company that makes items marked Made in England. The camera, glass, case, PCB and connectors are made in China. I'm not aware of any English parts. The firmware is written in England, and so is the PC software supplied with the product. The components are assembled and tested in England, mostly by Eastern Europeans. Made in England? No!

I think you are mistaken.

As I mentioned above, there are strict rules imposed by the WTO about 'made in xxx'. One of these defines 'made in' as the point at which a significant transformation took place, so assembly of parts would count. Another rule uses the point at which most value was added. As far as I am aware, these rules apply as much in the UK as they do in Germany or in Switzerland.

I am not mistaken. Germany and Switzerland do have strict rules imposed in those countries. Assembly in England of electronic components made in China is not in my view a significant transformation. And that assembly is literally just plugging in connectors between boards, and inserting the boards into the casing, minor operations.If assembled in Germany, it would not qualify for Made in Germany. Arcam mark some products as Designed in England, which is honest.

 

[andyjm]

Assembly in England of electronic components made in China is not in my view a significant transformation.

You are entitled to your view, but it seems the world trade organisation doesn't agree with you.

I had thought that a 'made in xxx' sticker was mandated by international agreements. This is true for customs / tariffs / quotas, but it does seem that individual countries can come up with their own rules for labels - so a 'made in xxx' sticker means something different in each country. Buying a product in the UK would mean that all 'made in xxx' stickers would need to comply with UK rules, so however Germany or Switzerland or China choose to label their products domestically would not impact labels in the UK. The EU has had a go at standardising this, but has not achieved much.

Apparently the UK was the first country to implement these labels, inisisting that German products were labelled with 'Made in Germany' to differentiate the low quality German imports from high quality products made in England.

 

[Leif]

Assembly in England of electronic components made in China is not in my view a significant transformation.

You are entitled to your view, but it seems the world trade organisation doesn't agree with you.

I had thought that a 'made in xxx' sticker was mandated by international agreements. This is true for customs / tariffs / quotas, but it does seem that individual countries can come up with their own rules for labels - so a 'made in xxx' sticker means something different in each country. Buying a product in the UK would mean that all 'made in xxx' stickers would need to comply with UK rules, so however Germany or Switzerland or China choose to label their products domestically would not impact labels in the UK. The EU has had a go at standardising this, but has not achieved much.

Apparently the UK was the first country to implement these labels, inisisting that German products were labelled with 'Made in Germany' to differentiate the low quality German imports from high quality products made in England.

Oh come off it. Our product has three circuit boards, and a camera. We connect the circut boards together, no soldering, plug in a camera, plug in a cable, plug them into a plastic case, put on the glass, then press fit the top. That's it. If that is adding significant value, then I'm Donald Trump. Germany would not allow it to be called Made in Germany were we in Germany. My view is that our use of Made in England is fraudulent as it is grossly misleading.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

I think I agree with you Leif but it’s probably an academic argument as these firms will get round it somehow by a trade group etc. But I’m nonplussed how my cyrus amp casings made in Sweden, and circuit boards made overseas, can be considered made in uk. I’m sure the Germans place a more strict interpretation as you say, and very probably because their manufacturing sector is bigger than ours I think.

 

[Leif]

The question might be does it matter? I have a Chord Mojo, which is claimed to be made in England, and I like the idea of supporting Britain. But would it sway my purchase of a product? Probably not, performance and price come first. The Chord Mojo just happens to be the best at that price IMO. I also have PMC speakers and I believe they are made in England in the true sense of the term. Again, it was the design and sound that attracted me. Still, it'd be nice if Made in England meant something.

 

[nopiano]

The question might be does it matter? I have a Chord Mojo, which is claimed to be made in England, and I like the idea of supporting Britain. But would it sway my purchase of a product? Probably not, performance and price come first. The Chord Mojo just happens to be the best at that price IMO. I also have PMC speakers and I believe they are made in England in the true sense of the term. Again, it was the design and sound that attracted me. Still, it'd be nice if Made in England meant something.

I think most if not all of my ATC speakers is English made. As far as I can tell the drivers are made in the Gloucestershire factory when the whole speaker is assembled, whereas many use Vifa, Scanspeak and other European drivers. Not sure if the cabinets are made elsewhere though.

Harbeth is probably all British too. I thought PMC import some drive units, but not sure.

 

[spiny norman]

I think most if not all of my ATC speakers is English made. As far as I can tell the drivers are made in the Gloucestershire factory when the whole speaker is assembled, whereas many use Vifa, Scanspeak and other European drivers.

Ah, but where was the ore mined to make the metal used in the speaker chassis?

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Harbeth and spendor build the cabinets and the drivers in Sussex. Pmc use Norwegian SEAS drivers for HF unit, but have their bass drivers made for them. Other speaker manufacturers like kudos use SEAS drivers. I’d definitely say pmc, spendor and harbeth are ‘made in uk’.

 

[Al ears]

To be perfectly frank Made In Britain no longer has any kudos when it comes to hifi or most things apparently... end of.

There are very few things that are made in one country alone, many that are are cr#p. I own a Japanese chefs knife that was and I know the man that made all of it and it's brilliant, all else is an assemblage of parts that often works.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Made in Britain maybe not, but designed in uk does. That’s why the British hi-fi industry is one of best in world. The world and supply chain has shrunk.

 

[Infiniteloop]

To be perfectly frank Made In Britain no longer has any kudos when it comes to hifi or most things apparently... end of.

There are very few things that are made in one country alone, many that are are cr#p. I own a Japanese chefs knife that was and I know the man that made all of it and it's brilliant, all else is an assemblage of parts that often works.

Not entirely true. I’m the Creative Director for a company that has a large factory in the UK that employs around 700 people. We export to over 160 countries and we are certainly not the cheapest. Design plays a huge part in our success, but ‘Made in England’ still carries a lot of weight.

 

[Andrewjvt]

Harbeth and spendor build the cabinets and the drivers in Sussex. Pmc use Norwegian SEAS drivers for HF unit, but have their bass drivers made for them. Other speaker manufacturers like kudos use SEAS drivers. I’d definitely say pmc, spendor and harbeth are ‘made in uk’.

Also.use volt bass drivers

 

[stereoman]

Honestly ? With decent quality control - It does not matter anymore which country it comes from. Some UK and German products can be terrible for example. An exception is still "Made in Japan" that comes almost always the highest quality.

 

[andyjm]

Harbeth and spendor build the cabinets and the drivers in Sussex. Pmc use Norwegian SEAS drivers for HF unit, but have their bass drivers made for them. Other speaker manufacturers like kudos use SEAS drivers. I’d definitely say pmc, spendor and harbeth are ‘made in uk’.

As I posted above, it does rather depend on what you mean by 'made in the UK'.

Given the lack of component manufacturers in the UK, it would be safe to assume at least some of the crossover components are non-UK. Our climate doesn't support fancy hardwoods, so is all the wood UK sourced? What about the drivers themselves - are they really made in the UK? Where do the rare earth materials come from for the magnets, the steel for the baskets and the copper for the voicecoil?

Unless the product is made from materials 100% sourced in the UK, and 100% built by UK based companies then it becomes a question of how you define and interpret 'made in the UK'.

As this thread demonstrates, that isn't easy.

 

[Andrewjvt]

Is assembled in UK?

ATC are probably the closest to made in uk

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

I think it was established in an earlier post that you cant possibly get all made in the uk obviously as some electronic parts are going to be made elsewhere and made in the uk constitutes where the main transformation of all the bits takes place, not necessarily just assembly.

Id say that if the case is made elsewhere and it constitutes the main look or identity, it’s hard to put a made in uk sticker on it. Like with Cyrus stuff case made in Sweden, and the example given in this thread of the case made in Switzerland. I’d argue the main or significant transformation in the product is the case, esecpailly if a unique looking case.

 

[drummerman]

I think it was established in an earlier post that you cant possibly get all made in the uk obviously as some electronic parts are going to be made elsewhere and made in the uk constitutes where the main transformation of all the bits takes place, not necessarily just assembly. 

Id say that if the case is made elsewhere and it constitutes the main look or identity, it’s hard to put a made in uk sticker on it. Like with Cyrus stuff case made in Sweden, and the example given in this thread of the case made in Switzerland. I’d argue the main or significant transformation in the product is the case, esecpailly if a unique looking case.

Cyrus ... conceived in the UK, made in Sweden.

Good enough for me

 

[lpv]

it’s time to assambley some dinner using chinesse ingredients