Swan M200

I have really enjoyed mine over the last 1.5 years. Exceptional build quality for the money but it is China and we all know what that means.

What does that mean?

Nothing all that major except: Sweatshop or near sweatshop labor that sooner or later drives down living conditions and rights of workers the world over and only places a premium on the CEOs that work hard to exploit every inch. And....essentially no service, or service so delayed and a pain to get it might as well be no service, if something goes wrong with the "low cost" Chinese product. Definitely no service 10 years out. Got my M200 as a gift or would never buy into the Chinese suppression, no rights and no voice for labor or the environment. Other than that buying insanely "cheap" Chinese stuff is great ! More stuff to show your friends and strangers to gain their approval so that they will work harder yet so they can get more "stuff" to "out-stuff" you. Face it how much stuff would the credit card debt laden American shopper buy if there was no one to show it to? It is the underlying basis of our economy: Insecurity (why else would people constantly and nearly universally in the USA live way outside their means, top lowest savings rate in the 1st world countries, work the most hours which means less time with their families. Why: Stuff. Stuff is how we define "Doing better than your parents" rather than having more time to live a reflective life. Hence, the reason behind education is, you got it, get more stuff. Note the "Job only Skills Mentality" of our University systems. Fast Track to Stuff). Tons of cheap stuff that ends up in our landfills (why service if you can just dump stuff and get another cheaper than the cost of US Labor to repair even if you could find replacement parts) or better yet the stuff gets send back to China in the thousands of metric tons of stuff monthly to litter the roadsides of poor rural areas. This phenomena is getting such worldwide press (ie. dumping the obsolete by design cheap electronic stuff laden with very toxic components in rural China countryside) that some major computer manufacturers are beginning proactive recycling campaigns. If interested see these links:

http://fpeng.peopledaily.com.cn/200202/26/eng20020226_90998.shtml

http://www.ban.org/ban_news/Environmentalists_expose.html

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-844195.html

http://www.fguide.org/Bulletin/electwaste.htm

There are boatloads (pardon the pun) more references and problems with seemingly "cheap" goods but these get across the idea.

Cheers!

I had a pair of M200's for several months...great speakers, will actually compete quite well with dedicated bookshelf speakers in the $200-$300 range. Great for PC use. No other PC speaker touches them under $300.

I can't wait to get them. One thing I think worth pointing out is this: not one television has been made in the U.S. since the 1950's. Do you know where they make them? Yup. We use products that take advantage of cheap labor every single day with companies you would not even realize.

Head Wall- There are tv's made/assembled in the US even today US Stuff Curtis Mathes was all American parts as well as made here into the 80s.

I have a pair hooked up to my office computer, they are great, finish on the speakers is better then the office furniture. The sound is what I like. I listen to internet radio mostly classical or big band while I work.