This terrific-value hi-fi system is great, British – and punches above its weight

[What Hi-Fi?]

This vinyl and streaming system combines some top separates to create a stunning system that punches well above its weight

This terrific-value hi-fi system is great, British – and punches above its weight : Read more

 

[FJmack]

Terrific-value and great it may be. But British?

Wharfedale was bought by the Chinese over a quarter of a century ago and its run out of their head office in ShenZhen. The Diamond 12 series is designed by Karl Heinz Fink – a German engineer who works in Germany. It is made in Wharfedale’s factory in China.

Audiolab hasn’t been describable as British since Philip Swift sold it in the last millennium. Like Wharfedale its Chinese owned and run and the product is built in China.

I doubt if either of these products has a British component between them and ones sold outside the UK will never have visited these shores being shipped direct from China. Just because a brand started its life in Britain doesn’t make it British now.

If British is a positive marketing term in the hi-fi world then a consumer magazine/website should not be describing a Sino/German collaboration as British. Its unfair to the brands that actually are.