DIY Audio Projects Forum

I like your thinking of this situation Geek

There really isn't anything wrong with products being mad in china, it is just how they are made that puts a bad outlook on the generalized products being produced there, such as fake parts like semiconductors that blow up the instant you use them.

Transformers are a different category, a badly designed transformer with a low efficiency will run hotter and in many cases will short out or go open in due time, whether it be 2 year or 50 years. At least this is what I have noticed.

I have to say, I like the idea of transformers for low power tube circuits, good for small preamps or isolation use in old outlet driven radio's.

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My Mini 12AU7 Tube Preamp, Pioneer SX-D7000, JVC XL-V221BK, JBL L80T, DCM TF700

• Project Page - Mini 12AU7 Tube Preamplifier
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I agree, but it does raise an interesting point. Having built up their "brand" over many years it is probably considered a reasonable business approach to cash in on the name brand. North American car makers seem to do this all the time.

I really liked that the entire Hammond line was available locally for me. But even with paying for shipping from Edcor still works out to be a lower cost and I feel the Edcor quality is slightly better.

Cheers

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[ DIY Mains AC Power Cable Cord ] - [ K-12 Tube Amp Kit ] - [ Tang Band D4-1 Horn Speaker Kit ] - [ Monoblock Push-Pull KT88 Tube Amp Kit ]

What I liked about getting it from there, was if I needed one for a repair or something, Dave would drop it in Xpresspost or UPS and zoom! It was here, no brokerage nightmares

Cheers!

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-= Gregg =-
* Ratings are for transistors - tubes have guidelines*
Home: GeeK ZonE
Work: Classic Valve Design

A beginning

http://edcorusa.com/category/36-lvpseries.aspx

Cheers!

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-= Gregg =-
* Ratings are for transistors - tubes have guidelines*
Home: GeeK ZonE
Work: Classic Valve Design

Awesome!

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[ DIY Mains AC Power Cable Cord ] - [ K-12 Tube Amp Kit ] - [ Tang Band D4-1 Horn Speaker Kit ] - [ Monoblock Push-Pull KT88 Tube Amp Kit ]

Outsourcing is an interesting one. I work in IT here in AU so I am pretty used to it. I don't overly have an issue with stuff being made overseas, so long as it is the same quality and not inferior and, cheaper which is the driver for most shipping off shore.

Problem is, the price remains the same, and the quality decreases. I am told it's in aid of supposed 'shareholder value' - who cares about the customer?

I have noticed that trannies and the like overseas even in the US though are somewhat significantly cheaper than what we pay down under.

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LUCAS - god of darkness.

This is normal and just represents the electronic industry in general.
I lived through the same thing with Japanese manufacturing.
In the mid 60's, Japanese products were known to be cheap, unreliable, and, on the other hand, dangerously competitively priced.

The industry was roughly 15 years old at the time ... although like in every country there were old Japanese firms, the rapid growth and expansion did not occur until well after WWII ... were it not for the Korean war (1952~) where Japan was the main supplier of material and manufacturing labour for the effort, Japanese industrialization of the auto and electronics industries may well have taken much longer to develop, or perhaps not developed at all beyond a "branch-plant" level.

Today it seems as if they were always high quality, but that is not the case. For every SONY there were 10 companies that made, essentially, cheap junk, and all of it began to filter across the pond(s). Quality issues with audio amplifiers from Japan were so bad that the US Federal Trade Commission had to make laws regulating amplifier power output specifications (1974), for example. You could go to SEARS and see a "300 watt" stereo, clearly pure crap, selling for 1/2 the price of a 15 watt per channel Sansui (Japan) or Scott (US).

Memories are short, but I was in the industry in the 1970's and it was not until roughly 1975 that knowledgable consumers began to trust Japanese electronic products as a whole, about 10 years after domestic manufacturers began carefully sourcing some components and manufacturing there for their own products.

The situation with China is very similar and will play out in a similar way. There is very little domestic manufacturing in Japan anymore; virtually all the product range is made elsewhere. For them, this is a very recent development ... about a decade in the making.

Certain flagship products might be made on the island, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

China is capable of high quality manufacturing but care must be taken to assure quality of individual components; as a DIY'er you don't necessarily have the tools and contacts to assure quality yourself. That is where companies like Hammond come in. It's in their best interest to make the effort to develop relationships with the quality manufacturers in China, while deflecting criticism over pricing when an online search reveals cheaper quality parts abound at lower prices.

There is no win-win for Hammond; it's more a matter of maintaining a market share so that they can continue to manufacture some products in Canada (or wherever, if you use the example of a German, USA, UK, etc company). If they can't do so, it will all move offshore when the vultures buy the smoking scraps of the original firm and put the REAL bean counters in charge ... trust me, the Hammond management are very much drawing a line in the sand that a venture capital firm would not even think twice about crossing ... something we don't want to happen.

Quality transformers of the kind used in vacuum tube or many quality audio products are heavy ... they're made in North America so they're cheaper there. Were it not for that, they would all be made in Asia by now. That is why quality transformers are still made in Europe, in Japan, as well. The physical size makes domestic manufacturing a possibility in the face of offshore competitive forces.

With no domestic transformer industry in Australia that's just a reflection of your local market conditions.

And since OZ is relatively close to Asia, despite it being a small market it still has very decent access to parts. Just not the 50 pound parts.

Abandon the local manufacturers, by choosing based on small differences in price when equivalents are available from both Asian and domestic makers (even when the part is light and therefore can be made offshore but sold by your domestic manufacturer) and you will guarantee the demise of that capability in whatever continent it still exists.

I won't use Chinese products unless forced to (by the lack of any other manufacturer). They IGNORE international trade laws, patents, copyrights, etc. and get away with it. I'll gladly pay a bit more for products made on this continent (North America) and hope that others do the same. I would also hope that some companies would extend lowered rates to our brethren in Oz as well, to make up for shipping costs. I don't care if the Chinese stuff is of comparable quality (but it's usually junk), I'd rather that the money I spend goes into my friends & neighbor's pockets.

Okay, I'll get off the soapbox now. I know this is an old thread and perhaps no one will see it. But I gotta say it anyway.