@larsman
The Sony Walkman was a revelation. Could not afford it, but borrowed an AM/FM one for some time and thought it was the bees knees. My first real purchase when I had any money to speak of was a Sony Trinitron TV, I think, 19". Not long after that, I purchased a Honda Prelude. Japan was engineering some great products at the time.
I didn’t mean the car industry went under, but their economy did via the real estate stock bubble burst.
@ghdprentice
You are a bit of an expert on China, correct? If their real estate bubble (all reports I have read is that it is far bigger than Japan’s of that time) does burst, will they enter "lost decades" ala Japan? A communist country may have levers to pull in order to minimize damage, but an economy does not care how the government is organized. Bad decisions lead to failed markets.
Anyway, human failure is at least consistent. America had the auto and tech peak from the 50’s to the 70’s, then Japan ruled, now it looks a lot like China has the same upper hand.
Of course, the oil crisis is what brought America down to earth as if we need anymore parallels of oil dominating the world order. I have read where over 50% of a car is made up of oil products. Most, I would guess, being made of plastic.
@willywonka
Good point on Deming. I guess he thought sharing would be reciprocated, or that one country could work in good faith with another.
That quality control you talk about is what is in doubt with China audio products, there is no American at the end of the production line (certainly would be for Apple products, right?) confirming measurements are fittingly correct to meet a standardization. No representation means one should not expect validation when it comes to measurements.
I am not an ASR fan, but do read Stereophile and appreciate the time and effort they take to cover all aspects of a component.
