Any opinions on this Taiwanese made ceramic tweeter?

[ShinOBIWAN]

I feel that were starting to turn around the crisis that first started in the 80's with europe and the US going head to head in a pricewar. Trying to lower costs and increase profit and this in comparison to 60's and 70's where great design and a philisophy to further the art were prevalent. Now the best stuff has become extremely expensive and the sensible stuff undernourished up until the Chinese entered the Market around 3 years ago.

There's a large divide between highend and mid-end products price wise (usually 2x as much!) yet the performance divide is minimal. I know about diminishing returns and all that but that's just plain greedy.

Its China and Taiwan that are forcing these greedy folks like Seas/Scan/Theil etc. etc. to rethink to keep competitive. Either they lower prices on their range topping products or they must come out with something to justify that cost.

I'd say some of THE best drivers in the world are comming out of China right now.

Aurum Cantus anyone?

 

[pinkmouse]

When I was touring as a guitar tech in the late 80's one of the guys I worked with had a genuine Paul Reed Smith, and a Korean Ibanez copy, at about 30% of the price. The US built PRS was appalling, the neck was unstable, the finish very rough, and the electronics very unreliable. I swapped out the PRS pickups into the Ibanez, and we gave up on the PRS completely. A year or so later, the neck on the Ibanez was broken in a stage diving incident, and he gave it to me. I fixed it up properly, still have it, and it's still going strong. It was easily worth the same money as the PRS, if not more, because it was well built and reliable. That is how goods should be judged.

 

[ShinOBIWAN]

When I was touring as a guitar tech in the late 80's one of the guys I worked with had a genuine Paul Reed Smith, and a Korean Ibanez copy, at about 30% of the price. The US built PRS was appalling, the neck was unstable, the finish very rough, and the electronics very unreliable. I swapped out the PRS pickups into the Ibanez, and we gave up on the PRS completely. A year or so later, the neck on the Ibanez was broken in a stage diving incident, and he gave it to me. I fixed it up properly, still have it, and it's still going strong. It was easily worth the same money as the PRS, if not more, because it was well built and reliable. That is how goods should be judged.

Pinkmouse, we know that the best built stuff is made in the UK Shame about the prices though

 

[soongsc]

First, I would feel like a fool for paying that much and second, no china or Taiwan made drivers deserve a six months of sweat in box design and build and four months of crossover design and tweak.

Low price, they get penalized for dumping, high price, the get criticised by buyers. I thing the Government and the people need to figure things out together.

 

[soongsc]

I feel that were starting to turn around the crisis that first started in the 80's with europe and the US going head to head in a pricewar. Trying to lower costs and increase profit and this in comparison to 60's and 70's where great design and a philisophy to further the art were prevalent. Now the best stuff has become extremely expensive and the sensible stuff undernourished up until the Chinese entered the Market around 3 years ago.

There's a large divide between highend and mid-end products price wise (usually 2x as much!) yet the performance divide is minimal. I know about diminishing returns and all that but that's just plain greedy.

Its China and Taiwan that are forcing these greedy folks like Seas/Scan/Theil etc. etc. to rethink to keep competitive. Either they lower prices on their range topping products or they must come out with something to justify that cost.

I'd say some of THE best drivers in the world are comming out of China right now.

Aurum Cantus anyone?

Actually, most of the Taiwan brands are manufactured in China now. If you learn enough Chinese, even the better HiFi Chinese forums are in China. They are actually growing at more than twice the rate that Taiwan grew at in the past.

 

[Andy G]

one thing you also have to remember...

if only the tinyest fraction of the Chinese are in the "Audiophile" category, that's still one heck of a lot of people !!!

yes they build a lot of cheap crap at bargain basement prices, but they are also capable of very high quality stuff just like anywhere else !

A few months ago, the local HiFi store had a class A amp designed built in China, and it was very yummily designed, solidly built, and sounded very very nice !!!