What current China import sounds like a CJ??

Chinese stuff is cheap because there is no R&D. They simply steal designs from companies who spend thousands or millions of dollars to come up with real designs. If you don't mind funding thieves, then by all means buy the chinese garbage... and yes I've heard it lots of times!

The chinese gear I have heard reminded me of celebrity look-alikes. Just a lesser quality version of something else. Some of those designs didn't deserve to be ripped off! Who wants to see a Paris Hilton impersonator??? I'm sure I don't have as much experience as a lot of people here, but none of it sounded good to my ear. Some of it was okay, but I'd opt for the US, Italian, or German original.

I'm not a fan of Cary gear, but I'd rather have the Cary than the knockoff. I was walking around CES last year and went to a room that if it were not for the color of the amps, I would have sworn they were Cary. They looked exactly like the original!

Chinese tubes are not as good as the better stuff available, the builders skimp on internals while making nice cabinets. That's probably a good idea, for all the people who buy with their eyes rather than their ears.

Fools can write this off as political rhetoric. When I want to make political statements about China (as I have in the past) I will. This is not one of those times, this has to do with the quality of products coming out of China. When companies from the west go to China to have products built, they retain control of the quality. When the Chinese turn around and rip those same products off, they make them as cheaply as possible hoping to fool the people too cheap to buy the originals. So who's the real fool???

Eldartford the way to rip off a tube design is not just to follow the same basic circuit design which has existed for years, but to follow the exact same layout and cabinet design to the point where even the knobs and switches are in the same place. What's so hard to understand about that???

Tommy, accusing people of political discussion does not change the fact that they have answered your question but you didn't like the answer. Pay attention!

Eldartford (you never change) my comments clearly and obviously did not say what you have wilfully misinterpretted them to say. When a piece of gear is from top to bottom an exact copy of someone elses design, it is pretty clear to those with a mind that it was a stolen design. You probably wouldn't understand that though...

Zaikesman I saw a number (not sure how many of them exactly) while walking through CES last year, 2005, not 2006. I doubt that there were any less this year. I didn't write down names or model numbers as I had no intention of ever looking at them again, much less buying them.

Eldartford, poor attempt at trying to CYA, I understood exactly what you were asking, but you must not have!