I recently Purchased a new pair of Dynaudios. The floor model I auditioned were 'Made in Denmark' but the pair which was shipped out by the dealer was 'Made in China'. They are still boxed. Whats should I do:
1. Swap with the showroom floor model (they were probably a yr or 2 old)
2. Unbox and use my 'Made in china' pair ?
My main concern here is the quality of the product from China. Resale values.
The real problem lies in the fact that Dynaudio gets a real world break on manufacturing costs , but does not pass on one penny of that to their customers. I knew when I bought my Denafrips dac where it was made, but fully realized the price would be much more if made elsewhere. I can live with that risk, and the build quality and sound is first rate.
So it’s not just about country of origin. But two identical speakers made in different countries (one being China) should not cost the same. IMHO…..
NOTICE that as soon as Dynaudio started making their lower tier speakers in China,like the transition from Excite series(made in Denmark) to Evoke series(made in China)....
China is most probably the most technologically advanced country in the world these days and their manufacturing prowess would be superior to manufacturing in Denmark.
So, if your speaker said "Made in China", you could count your blessings because it is probably better made now than when it was "Made in Denmark"....(due to China’s superior manufacturing prowess). Hence...don’t worry so much and enjoy the music.
@ mickeyb said it & I agree 1000%!!!
NOTICE that as soon as Dynaudio started making their lower tier speakers in China,like the transition from Excite series(made in Denmark) to Evoke series(made in China)the premium finishes like my Tiger Rosewood DISAPPEARED,yet the PRICE WENT UP!!!
Take them back & make sure Dynaudio knows full well WHY,then go buy MADE IN ITALY Sonus Fabers!
Couple years old now, but more and more of a reality as our favorite companies get swallowed by giant corps and start competing at the mass level. I bought a dining room set from a company named Pennsylvania House, a $11k set that I thought meant I was paying a premium for 'made in Pennsylvania', weli.... unless there's a Penn China I got boned!!! Every piece has a made in CHINA stamp on it. Doesn't make my food taste different when we serve in there, doesn't make the hardwood finish any less real, BUT when I pay more for a product marketing made in country of origin, I do it deliberately with the intention of supporting home employment and a living wage, NOT corporate greed. rant over.
I’m very late to this thread. I bought an Evoke 25C from an authorized online retailer recently to replace the center channel on a secondary system that I hardly use. I had an Excite X28C that was an 8 ohm speaker and quite frankly the dialogue sounded muffled whenever I watched movies. The MIC Evoke 25C is much better sounding than the X28C that was made in Denmark. I can understand the dialogue now. I do have Contour 60Ci and Contour 25Ci on my main system that are all made in Denmark. I love those Contour so much that I’ll use them under they don’t work.
I have had several sets of Dynaudio speakers. Going back to 2017, I had a set of S40's made in Denmark, The contour 20i made in Denmark. Then recently I bought the confidence 20 and now I have the confidence 30 speakers. All made in Denmark. I have a 2 year old pair of Emit 20's out in the garage on a third system, those are made in China. I am under the impression that the Contour and Confidence series are made in Denmark the rest in China. For $1000.00 for the Emit 20's, I wasn't expecting much, at the same time they sound great out in the garage.
I have a slew of american made audio equipment from speakers to amps, preamps, subs etc. Also have a number of japanese and european made equipment. With very few exceptions I have been very pleased. I try to buy US made for the most part. Modwright, CJ, McCormack, Rythmik etc.
Now, I found a used pair of Dynaudio Evoke 50’s at a great price. Listened to them and purchased on the spot. Putting this out there for those considering the speakers. I knew they were made in China but I would have had to spend several thousand more to get into their league. Lots of premium manufacturers have their mid line speakers or components made in China. It allows them to provide better quality components at a competitive price. Good for audiophiles on a budget imo.
Instead of racism a reluctance to buy MIC gear might be related to a desire not to do business with a totalitarian communist dictatorship which oppresses its people and steals others intellectual property.
Hmmm. Saw this thread and realize no-one has posted since the origin of manufacture became a main focal point here. I looked at one of my systems recently and without regard to place manufacture, I realized the following:
American made doesn't mean the best of hi-fi;
Chinese made (via a First World manufacturer) doesn't mean it is unreliable;
Simply put, the quality control of Bowers & Wilkins maintains its reputation wherever the item is assembled. Example: The $4,000+ 705 Signatures. I bought these to replace KEF LS50s and while they are 2.5 times the price, these are outstanding. The quality control, the luscious Italian wood veneer and finish and the sound---these are simply outrageous when coupled with proper amplification. For my office kit, I have the 705 Sigs being pushed by a McIntosh MA252 hybrid Valve/SS unit (USA). The Rega P8 is from the. UK, the Marantz ND8006 is from Japan and the Magnum Dynalab tuner is from Canada....Nonetheless, the sound is global: simply "Out of this world". Chinese manufacturing is based on the specs and quality control/budget of the company employing their massive population.
@twoboysI think you wanted to say many companies in the PRC are Unethical and lack Integrity, as opposed to being Uncivilized. Many here will take your words out of context and make you look like a Nationalistic Xenophobic person.
Not sure what the point of the video by Kevin Deal is supposed to make, other than that Pathos uses all Italian content in their product and others may buy content from offshore suppliers and assemble in the US, EU or Canada. So what?
I've been kind of speaker shopping. The first thing on my list is not MIC. As someone mentioned, they are not a civilized country to buy from. Between their complete disregard of intellectual property rights and outright theft of them. I was involved with a phono stage project where we had the design nailed but needed a manufacturer. Got a lot of great advice as we ran around CES talking to a bunch of companies we were sent to. First words out of many mouths was that many companies over there will run your product for 8 ours a day, then ren a repackaged variant of it for another 8. I try not to buy from them
It works for me, although truth be told at the time I purchased my Node I was not thinking at all about the country of manufacture.
But since the Ukraine war I am making an effort to not purchase anything that can in any way benefit the communist party of any country, where there are alternatives. I figure the CP gets their share from the sale of every product manufactured in their country.
And in my humble opinion we're heading for a showdown.
I remember the feeling when I pulled my Revel M106 out of the box and read Made in Indonesia..... gave me a pit in my stomach.
I have had a few components made in China, Velodyne SMS 1 which has been trouble free and it's 15 years old. Bluesound Vault 2 I, OPPO 103. I totally get it that some products are built overseas.... when it comes to speakers and amps, MADE IN USA please.
My tuner is made in Canada, one DAC is Germany, the other Greece. So please don't think I am a xenophobe but I do avoid made in China when possible . Especially with tools and HiFi.
I service medical instruments and can say this, the best microscopes are Swiss and the worst are Chinese. It is not my opinion , it is fact. The Swiss build without regard to the final cost. The Chinese trim costs starting with the B.O.M. and every other facet of production. That is why the Swiss one is $15k and a Chinese one is $4k. The Swiss one can be repaired , for decades. No part support for the knock off......
Actually I assumed all Dynaudio was MID, did not know that quite a bit has moved to China. Even dealers who have old stock like the floor models had MID versions. Its only last yr that most of it moved to China. Had I known I would have insisted on MID at time of purchase. Not the dealers fault IMHO. They won't keep track where each speakers is made unless customer makes a specific request.
The world is flat kids. No I am not a true flat earth subscriber, only in the the business world. More worried about what is going on with farmers in that part of the world than speaker production moving to China.
Happy they resolved your issue. Was kind of cheesy of them or they really are that daft about the lines they sell.
Hello everyone, its been a crazy few weeks and I think I owe everyone who contributed to this thread an update.
Its been quite a journey since my first dynaudio Audience 52 pair.(almost 20 yrs ago). I wont go into the list of manufacturers that have been part of my rig (too many). A few months ago I wandered into a local audio showroom in PA. Listened to a bunch of speaker purchased and exchanged a few as well because I was just not satisfied with the sound specifically integration with my dual subs.The dealer was the very best to accommodate my demands. Mind you I was only listening to bookshelves. I then started to look into floorstanders that went deep low 30hz to high 20hz min. But I also wanted something with high WAF.
Long story short I auditioned some Sonus Fabers, Dynaudio contours, JBL, Dali, and Focals at various other dealers that fit my budget. Out of all ,the Dynaudio evoke 50 satisfied me most with it's deep bass and rolled off highs. If a speaker can play Heavy Fuel at say 80db-85db without sounding harsh to me then they made my short list. I love snare as well. AnywaysI exchanged my Dynaudio SP40(one of the many soeakers I exchanged) and ordered the Evoke 50.
When they did arrive the carton read Made in China. Now since I really like the pair I heard in the showroom that was Made in Denmark I was not too happy with the situation and hence began this thread to get fellow members input. Your opinions led me to talk to the dealer again. To my surprise the dealer was more than happy to help out. In their defence he did say at the time of purchase that they have been getting Made in China Evoke models of late. But seeing that the floor model was Made in Denmark (MID) I assumed (wrongly) that the Evoke 50 were still being made in Denmark.
When I raised my concern the dealer checked his warehouses and could not locate a MID version. He had the MIC versions. He then proceeded to call the Dynaudio rep located in IL. After about 30min later he got a call back and the Dynaudio rep said they had only 1 pair that was MID in gloss white. I decided to take that and 2 weeks later it was at my doorstep.
The reason for me going with MID model is 2 fold:
I liked the floor model sound and I wanted the exact same sound signture. Although lets say that MIC could even sound better I did not want to risk it. I previously had the Emit 30 from the same dealer which was MIC and although it sounded nice with regular records but when I tested it with 30 hz warble tone you could immediately tell that the woofers in both speakers would distort even at 5mm excursion. This leads me to believe that it was a qc speakers since both speakers exhibit the same issue. It was like the center coil was not centered right ,so any excursion would cause it to rub against the center pole core. Just horrible. That put a rear sour taste in my mouth.
Next reason, I was told that this was probably the last available pair in the model range that was MID within the US. Now Ive seem other reviewers on youtube and they also had the MIC version.Also I expect depreciation to be much lesser than the MIC models. I am pretty sure thats the case because about 10 yrs ago I sold my MID Dynaudio Audience 52 for more than I paid for. So there you go. Thank you everyone for your inputs and Happy listening
I think the new dynaudio’s sound like crap not because the manufacturing but because bad engineering. Cheap wooden box sound. No matters who builds them.
I say this because i owned for two years the old contour 3.3 from 2001 and then the contour 60 from 2018. The contour 3.3 sound fantastic instead the contour 60 are simply awful in every aspect.
It has probably to do with the new management philosophy more as with the manufacturing.
By the way Chinese manufacturing is today often way better as EU manufacturing.
The quality has nothing to do with the COO. It has to do with the specifications outlined by in this case Dynaudio and the quality control post production. The Chinese are quite capable of producing world class quality products in 2022.
If that is an issue, you should move away form DA all together. What happen if you need replacement parts in the future? Are they coming from China or Denmark?
Just the fact that your asking this question you've answered it yourself.
You feel cheated. Trade them for the floor model. If they won't, you've Becker up your suspicions. It would be interesting to see if they use the MIC as floor/demo models.
Good sensible posts nonoise. Of course you are correct. There is an old adage, "Never argue with a fool. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience."
However, completely avoiding Chinese parts in audiophile equipment is very very difficult. Accuphase, Gryphon, Nottingham come to mind. Maybe Lamm, D'Agostino and Boulder, I don't know.
But if we insist and are prepared to pay more things will change.
Complicated subject, yeah. Anyone ready to buy iPhone Pro Max for $4k or so ? It's already $1.5k.
I think at the end of the day you have to be happy. Regardless of what anyone says. BUT, here’s my opinion:
Unless you are spending $6/7K minimum possibly more you are going to be receiving a mass produced speaker. Regardless of what country it’s made in. China just happens to have the most manufacturing in the world and usually at good rates. Your local dealer, Dynaudio, Distributor are all making profit here so it’s not like 100% is going to the manufacturing plant here…As others have stated plenty of extremely high quality products are made in China. The quality is overseen by the parent company. In many cases quality improves! The poster that mentioned Bob Carver product could have been a one off…hopefully.
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