Peformance at price point for speakers manufactured in China?


Lately I've been doing some "window shopping" for speakers on various sites, and  this question pertains to how much more speaker one can get for the money when they are manufactured in China.

Specifically, I did some browsing on Music Direct and came across the Wharfedale Elysian 1.  I see a listing for a pair with stands that claims it has been marked down from 5800 to about 4k (this does not appear to be an open box) which is interesting, because a pair WITHOUT stands is listed at 5k; but regardless, if these speakers were not manufactured in China, how much more would they probably list for?

immatthewj

Showing 1 response by waytoomuchstuff

It seems that there are those who want to assign some level of greed and unethical behavior  to those in the pursuit of "profit(s)."  Cost cutting measures, whatever that might be, are implemented at many levels, for many reasons.  Many times, it's simply a reduction of waste and excess.  Sometimes cost reductions allow one to compete in an arena of price driven products that they could not successfully participate in otherwise. Or, if they made the attempt employing current processes, they would die trying.  Sometimes the math works, and the manufacturer can lower the cost to the end user, who directly benefits from those cost reductions.   

Some also believe that "profit(s)" go dollar-for-dollar directly into the owner's pockets adding a new exotic sports car or beach home to their collection(s).  Most often, these individuals are true entrepreneurs and take a chuck of those "profit(s)" and invest them into developing new products (or improving old designs) to bring us the new stuff we'll be bragging about owning in future forums.

As for Chinese manufacturing, I've dealt with a number of manufacturers who have product built "off shore."  As some believe, this is not always a hand off where all the responsibility to shifted to the off shore entity.  In many cases, the manufacturers actually have personnel assigned to supervise manufacturing onsite, thus assuring the same quality standards if built domestically. The reasons for reduction of cost of Chinese manufacturing has many components.  Our level of complicity related to those reasons is a discussion for another day.