IS NOTHING MADE IN THE WEST ANYMORE

[Gil Boyd]

I don't think anything is safe from being copied, however, they still need the wherewithall, to produce stuff to the same standard.
This might open your eyes............Rolls Royce were NOT amused, and they denied they were trying to copy the car!!!!

[Flying10uk]

I know that Rolls Royce guard their name and brand very jealously.

[browningautorifle]

Rolls Royce were NOT amused, and they denied they were trying to copy the car

I'd like to see how it compares...take it four wheelin' and then to the rocket range.

[Gil Boyd]

I was over there a couple of years ago and was taken round an "engineering" works, CNC machines flat out, with UK famous names on the sides and clearly auction marks still obvious on one or two, so they bought the best technology on the back of failing UK manufacturers, which you can't blame them for.
The downside for them, all the computerisation was in English, but I am sure that wasn't a challenge for a thifty software brain to sort in quick time!!
They seem to spending a lot of time on Solar products mass produced, not just your garden lights that last for a year, but bigger stuff too, and I was told the the CE mark means China Engineered.

[Youngblood]

I remember when the first news stories started appearing (~15-18 years ago?) about the United States Army headgear being changed to a beret.

One of the smaller reports mentioned that the initial HUGE order for the berets had been placed with a Chinese company.

[Bob Womack]

In my field (recording engineering), the most expensive tools we use are all built in the U.K. For years I worked on Neve mixing consoles, made in Cambridge, England. Then we added a Solid State Logic console, built in Oxford, England. I've been to that plant - they really are built there and sub-assemblies are built in an adjoining town. And finally, we've recently added a couple of excellent Calrec consoles made in Hebden Bridge England in the Pennines. These are all $250,000 and above custom, hand-built consoles. The best mics are still built in Germany and Austria and everyone knows it.

Where China enters into the fray is in three areas:
1. Component creation
2. Assembly of Western-designed products (notice that the brain trusts are still in the West)
3. Knock-offs of established products (notice that the brain trusts are still in the West)

That third category is the most interesting of the bunch. An example: My company owns a vintage Neumann U-47 tube powered mic made in Berlin in 1957 that has an exquisite sound and is worth somewhere around $10,000 amongst recording engineers who revere it. It really is a wonderful, musical mic. Last month I plunked down $399 and bought for my personal use a reverse-engineered, tube-powered knock-off mic that is made in China for an American company. It is amazing. I mean amazing. Is it as good as the U-47? No. Not quite. But it is amazingly close. As an experienced recording engineer I can make recordings with it that sound just as good as those I make with a U-47. Think about that. For 1/20th the price I can near equal the best tool available.



People buy these things and record at home. With some study, preparation, and experience they can make great recordings. We are seeing the democratization of recording. For years it could only be done in expensive studios that cost in the range of $200 per hour in order to support the incredibly expensive collections of gear and specially treated rooms. Now musicians are recording their own music at home. Voice actors are recording their own work at home. Recording studios are fighting for their lives and artists are learning to make their own products. Fascinating.

Bob

[Gil Boyd]

Bob,
Yes agreed. As a musician when I'm doing nothing else, I have often been offerd the new VOX amps, of course made in China. Not the reliable valve sets but transistorised knock offs.
Whatever is said about them, they still can't get that final quality edge on this type of kit. A bit like those NO4 tins and the telescopes they tried to copy. All the measuremenst were slightly off, but they did come from Taiwan where things tend to be made better.

I tried out a pair of real Sennheiser headphones yesterday and tried them against this lot that arrived.
The ear cushions are made well, (but so are their 3 piece suites made in leather and sold as fine Italian suites), the downside IMHO you can hear a more treble sound delivery in both ears that you don't have in a real pair. Minor, but major if you like pure sounds from a good mic.

[Bob Womack]

Bob,
Yes agreed. As a musician when I'm doing nothing else, I have often been offerd the new VOX amps, of course made in China. Not the reliable valve sets but transistorised knock offs.
Whatever is said about them, they still can't get that final quality edge on this type of kit.

Yep. I'm a guitarist as well. I look at my guitar gear and discover that the vast majority of it is made in America, Canada, or the U.K. I haven't insisted on that, it just happened. Oh, there might be sub-assemblies made in Japan (as in the amp circuit board on a Leslie rotary amp) or China, but the majority of it is made in the West. There is cheaper stuff, but I can feel and hear the difference. My site, The Musician's Room, is HERE, by the way. It's an attempt to harmonize musicianship and recording.

Bob

[Peter Laidler]

The UK Military trialled Bushnell sniper scopes and really liked them for quality and value OVER the S&B. A lot more to it than that of course, including the fact that while optically the S&B was better, the price meant that you could get 6+(?) Bushnells for one S&B. But when a small change was required before any deal was finalised, Bushnell couldn't comply - because the scopes were made in , you've guessed it ....... China!

[henry r]

Bob, thanks for posting your site. Fascinating stuff, thought 90% of it was way over my head.
I will certainly point a few friends that might understand a little more in its direction.