There is no definitive answer to your question. I will say that several reviews Ive seen on the Elysian 4 say they are a bargain, competing with speakers at twice their price point. That is what being made in China does....
Peformance at price point for speakers manufactured in China?
Lately I've been doing some "window shopping" for speakers on various sites, and this question pertains to how much more speaker one can get for the money when they are manufactured in China.
Specifically, I did some browsing on Music Direct and came across the Wharfedale Elysian 1. I see a listing for a pair with stands that claims it has been marked down from 5800 to about 4k (this does not appear to be an open box) which is interesting, because a pair WITHOUT stands is listed at 5k; but regardless, if these speakers were not manufactured in China, how much more would they probably list for?
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More likely more profit from the product. With consistent quality control, the final product is the same no matter where it’s manufactured. There is only one business reason to outshore manufacturing/assembly; greater company profit. From a purely financial standpoint, it would be foolish not to. |
The starting point for profitability in retail speakers is to sell them for 10x the driver cost. Everything after this is "bonus." Off shore manufacturing, and "in house" drivers are two ways to achieve this. The last thing you want to do is offshore, and built in house drivers while ONLY achieving a 10:1 ratio. That way lies barely hanging on. Custom, one person shops like Fritz are rare exceptions. I also want to say that I think being a bespoke speaker manufacturer in this economy is one of the most challenging gigs you can have. |
@thecarpathian , I guess that's kind of what I meant, as don't they all want to make as much profit as they can? In other words, if a company manufactures their speaker in China and sells it for 4k, what would that speaker sell for if manufactured in the US or in Europe? So what I was wondering was could you take that 4k speaker which was manufactured in China and say it is "as good" as an a speaker manufactured in the US or Europe for X more amount of $. |
There’s the obvious risk that if you build a product in China but price it as if it’s made in Europe or the US you’re taking a bit of a risk as many people may choose to not buy a China-based product if it’s priced comparably to something produced in the US/Europe. My guess is that most manufacturers who choose to produce some or all of their products in China will feel compelled to pass at least some of that cost savings on to consumers because they’re getting something with a bit of less “perceived” value and/or quality. How much of the savings to pass along is purely an individual company’s business decision, but they should be careful lest they just come across as greedy and/or selling “lesser” products at a high price — neither of which is good from a PR or customer perspective. Just my take. |
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