How many more?

[nat8808]

Aye, as a half decent boxswapper myself, I can say that that is very true, Frank.

I've had some marvellous sounding kit that has been a real pain to sell on cos it hasn't got a famous name.
Similar can be said for the less well known American kit - it sells well in the US but not over here in the UK.

Amen to that !

And yet it is often the more exciting and interesting kit! Some people don't want to stray from the well trodden paths of their own local audiophile's micro-culture.

Other countries' hifi mags seem to have had a much more varied selection of kit and brands.

[julesd68]

Sadly, that's what happens when price, rather than quality, is the driving factor when manufacturers produce hi-fi equipment. Trust me, the quality of the internals often isn't any better...

Largely, I blame the obsession with price of 'Joe public' today, and it's not simply because money is tight. Some people are just inherently mean, but many others have also been brought up expecting things to be cheap (thanks to the effects of consumerism), and so their buying decisions are almost entirely price-driven.

Quality is rarely considered, as people these days don't expect things to last, so they buy the cheapest suitable items they can find, with the view of doing the same again when said items break or are worn out. The market then simply supplies the demand.

It's what fuels our 'disposable society' and also drives down standards for those of us who value quality over quantity, and for whom price is a consideration, but not the 'be all and end all'.

Marco.

Marco,

I think there is still a healthy section of the public that is actually interested in quality which is why shops like John Lewis still do well selling their higher quality stuff. I was a bit surprised when my mum shelled out what seemed like a lot of dosh for a Miele washing machine many years ago. However, hers is still going strong whilst our Bosch lasted about 5 years before being told it was 'uneconomical' to repair ...

The problem to me is that there has not been enough pressure brought to bear on manufacturers seemingly building in early obsolescence into their kit - we tend just to accept it as the ways things are. I'm still annoyed about my expensive iMac that they told me was unrepairable a few days after the warranty expired ... This is the most annoying thing for me, when you *think* you are buying quality but then it lasts the same short time as the cheap stuff ...

Sometimes quality is really important to me and sometimes it isn't ... For example, I would never spend a lot of money on casual clothes, but if I'm buying a suit, I am extremely fussy about what I buy and quality is my only concern up to a price point I can afford.

[icehockeyboy]

A few years ago, I swapped in a 70's Nikko integrated that had the facility to separate pre and power, to where my Classe pre was, I assume the Nikko would have been around £75, maybe a bit more, and the Classe retailed at almost £2.5 k.

To say I was astounded at the quality of the old thing is an understatement!

It has since returned to its home under my bed awaiting new adventures someday,

To show how old it is, it has Din speaker outlets, and 5 pin din inputs!