janki Posted January 10, 2011 Share #1 Posted January 10, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) In my county, located beside a fjord, is a company that produces small batches of exclusive and expensive Hi-Fi devices. In today's newspaper is to read, that low-cost country China is the top export market for their products, from high-cost Norway. This company's most popular audio amplifier for the Chinese market has a price level almost like a Leica M9 camera. According to Managing Director, there are 300 000 people in China who are so-called U.S. $ millionaires, and these people prefer just buying exclusive products from Europe and the U.S. And here comes the most fun. "But these expensive audio devices that you produce, is probably filled with cheap Chinese components", asks the journalist, in the article. No,.. is the brief and clear answer from the Marketing Director. “It would be seen as an insult, if we used Chinese components. The Chinese importer only allows the use of components made in Europe, USA and Japan, in our products. This is to ensure the exclusive feeling. And they disassemble and check the products.” Further advice from the Marketing Director to other similar companies in high-cost countries, is not trying to compete on price, but be without compromises on quality. Against this backdrop, the future looks more than bright for expensive Leica products in China. At least if Leica can guarantee they are made without any use of Chinese parts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Hi janki, Take a look here No Chinese Components thanks!. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
earleygallery Posted January 10, 2011 Share #2 Posted January 10, 2011 China is apparently already a lucrative market for Leica, and you can bet that many components in the digital Leica's are made in China. Your hifi manufacturer, and Leica, and countless other firms sell to more markets than just China, and if that happens to be the best place to source certain components then so be it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivar B Posted January 10, 2011 Share #3 Posted January 10, 2011 I take it we are talking about Electrocompaniet? I have a CD player, amp and pre amp made by them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falstaff Posted January 10, 2011 Share #4 Posted January 10, 2011 I take it we are talking about Electrocompaniet? I have a CD player, amp and pre amp made by them. A man of discerning taste. I have had their CD player for about six years, and it is excellent. Falstaff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted January 10, 2011 Share #5 Posted January 10, 2011 Remember, lenses for many cameras "made in Japan" are actually made in China. Link a bit dated, but data likely accurate: digitalkamera.de: Besuch im Pearl River Delta, dem "Optical Silicon Valley" Chinas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
janki Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share #6 Posted January 11, 2011 China is apparently already a lucrative market for Leica, and you can bet that many components in the digital Leica's are made in China. Your hifi manufacturer, and Leica, and countless other firms sell to more markets than just China, and if that happens to be the best place to source certain components then so be it. As small as the world has become, I guess no one knows the real origin of anything anymore. Who can guarantee that a component that for instance is stamped with the brand SIEMENS, does not have its origins in China? What this really is all about is vanity, I believe. And as an industrialist said, it's the same robots that produce the parts whether it be here or there. It does not really matter. But I think it's a very good story. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
janki Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share #7 Posted January 11, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) I take it we are talking about Electrocompaniet? I have a CD player, amp and pre amp made by them. It is of course exactly what we do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbretteville Posted January 11, 2011 Share #8 Posted January 11, 2011 I take it we are talking about Electrocompaniet? I have a CD player, amp and pre amp made by them. I have an ECI1 made at Kjeller when Electrocompaniet was Electrocompaniet and everything was manual. Abrahamsen does know his stuff even if he lost his company. Carl Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizard Posted January 11, 2011 Share #9 Posted January 11, 2011 I wouldn't be so sure about "cheap Chinese components" anymore. I have recently bought what supposedly is the best keyring mountable flashlight available today, a Fenix LD01 in stainless steel. I was amazed to see that this is by no means a copycat product, but instead a genuine product developed and manufactured by a Chinese company aiming at producing top notch flashlights of variable sizes. I was also amazed at what I had to pay for the product (around 50 Euro, which I consider a stiff price for such a product), but I am entirely pleased nevertheless. So watch out, the times they are a'changin' . Cheers, Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozenace Posted January 11, 2011 Share #10 Posted January 11, 2011 Many of these rich people's children come to the West to study. The amount of money being splashed is ridiculous. I know this girl who finished her studies and then went on to do this 3 month Michelin star cooking course for 15k pounds, just for fun... the amount she spends on her penthouse apartment is 3k / month + 1k for food ingredients for cooking Her parents are in the property business... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgk Posted January 11, 2011 Share #11 Posted January 11, 2011 So watch out, the times they are a'changin' . Several years ago the company that a friend worked for went out of business. One of the reasons given by my friend was that their products were being undercut by similar products from China. My friend, who was involved in test procedures for safety equipment, added when he told me about it, that the real problem was that not only were the Chinese copies cheaper, they were also just as high in quality, carried appropriate safety designation and bluntly, were just as good. I'm told by another fiend that there are very few glass manufacturers in the world today and that optical glass is generally sourced by glass using companies based on which manufacturer supplies a relevant product and has it in stock. I would say that the world has shrunk and anyone being overly pedantic about sourcing will find probably it increasingly difficult to source in specific locations (or excluding specific locations if requiring specialist components). Time have changed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_n Posted January 11, 2011 Share #12 Posted January 11, 2011 I wouldn't be so sure about "cheap Chinese components" anymore.Indeed, two or three years ago I bought a Fotoman 617 panoramic camera and it's a mechanical work of art. Last year I bought a Benro travel tripod and it's better than my equivalent Gitzo. If you're selective you can get tremendous quality from China. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlindberg Posted January 11, 2011 Share #13 Posted January 11, 2011 I too have had Electrocompaniet:o I had a 4.7 pre and 250 R for around 5 years and enjoyed the combo! However, it does not stand a chance to the Burmester (001 + 011 + 956mk2) combo I am currently totally in love with Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adan Posted January 11, 2011 Share #14 Posted January 11, 2011 Lenin said, "The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." Beginning with Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese have revised that to read, "We will sell the Capitalists the rope with which we will hang them." I don't have any problem with Chinese products, talent or quality. I do not bear them (or the Indonesians or the Koreans) any ill will. I do have a problem with about $1,000 per man, woman and child in the US vaporizing out of our pockets every year en route to China - that is not sustainable. (And that is even after they buy jets from Boeing and financial services from Wall St.) The old "giant sucking sound you hear..." is us sending 227 billion net to China annually (and then borrowing it back from them). So I try to make it a personal policy to spend my money where it will stay in the US. Not easy (especially since we gave away the camera industry (such as it was) 50 years ago). But I do check labels and try... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfage Posted January 11, 2011 Share #15 Posted January 11, 2011 I used to do loudspeaker modifications. One of my (cheaper) favorites was to go in and rip out every piece of cable in the cabinet. Then, I would hard wire (solder connections) tara labs rectangular solid core throughout. The loudspeaker sounded like you spent 500-800 bucks more on it. I never "did" understand why someone would build and expensive loudspeaker with wire that I wouldn't use on a light bulb... and those cheap little crimps to slide on to the the terminals. The $30 worth of cable -and the 50 bucks worth of labour- could have turned around to be a better loudspeaker and they could just charge the customer $250 more for it. I used to do that to everything from JBL to Polk, KEF, Magnepan... all kinds of them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joop van Heijgen Posted January 11, 2011 Share #16 Posted January 11, 2011 BMW and Mercedes uses 'made in China' parts for producing their cars... Many products uses parts 'made in China'. It says nothing about the quality of the products. There is a big chance that Leica also uses electronic parts of their cameras 'made in China' But it are still excellent cameras.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Henry Posted January 11, 2011 Share #17 Posted January 11, 2011 I take it we are talking about Electrocompaniet? I have a CD player, amp and pre amp made by them. Electrocompaniet is very welknown in Europe.It gives a good sound I do not know if there are components (or some components) that are made in China Ivar,look at this amplifier : http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/film-forum/159003-back-home-back-film.html Today almost all electronic components are manufactured in Asia or S-E Asia like China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines etc ... Henry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon42 Posted January 11, 2011 Share #18 Posted January 11, 2011 Indeed, two or three years ago I bought a Fotoman 617 panoramic camera and it's a mechanical work of art. Last year I bought a Benro travel tripod and it's better than my equivalent Gitzo. If you're selective you can get tremendous quality from China. I can only second that. My Benro Traveler is really a great tool. Rgds Ivo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jan_brittenson Posted January 11, 2011 Share #19 Posted January 11, 2011 It was the same with Japanese products in the early 70s. Or Korean in the 80s. This phase is usually short lived. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 11, 2011 Share #20 Posted January 11, 2011 With the amount of outsourcing of western companies, and corporate takeovers from the far east, the day will surely come when the Chinese are using cheap American or European labour, and they will look down on our goods as inferior/cheap merchandise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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