Which country has the best hi fi industry in the world

[Dynamics]

I'm maybe bound to say this because I'm British but my strong impression looking at the makes we have, that we have the best Hi fi industry in the world. I'm talking about amps,speakers, turntables etc but in audiophile classes. Or anyone who cares about sound and spends say at least £2k on hi fi.

I also wonder by market share, how much are our British products exported compared to American hi fi etc, as a total share of the world audiophile market. Clearly the Japanese and Chinese probably have the mass market consumer market still, but what about the audiophile market.

If you listed all audiophile makes from the UK and those from the US, they'd be more well known British makes used in America than American ones. This is just my impression.

What do people think about this question. It could also be which country produces the best audiophile hi fi products.

[Beobloke]

I think this could be too many questions in one becasue it is too dependent on what your definition of "audiophile" is. Yes, Britain produces some great kit, but wandering around the Munich High End Show will reveal that we are smoething of a goldfish in a very big pond!

[Macca]

The Yanks seem to be fascinated by British kit but I get the impression they don't actually buy that much of it compared to their home-grown and Japanese stuff

[Arkless Electronics]

Many of our most well known brands are no longer UK owned....

We don't make that much "high end" stuff (I'm talking about the £20K+ for an amp and £50K + for speakers etc) either, which is probably a good thing as it's mainly shiny trinkets for millionaires IMHO. There's no real extra engineering in such products... you're paying through the nose for inch thick fascias with gold name plates etc and rare hand carved and polished hardwoods etc etc

[southall-1998]

Sugden is still British....Good!

S.

[Infinitely Baffled]

I'm not sure what the answer would tell us, either. For starters there is the fundamental unanswerable that Jez has pointed out - what actually constitutes British kit any more? Beyond that, all we would learn is what sector of the market each country's manufacturers have chosen to slot themselves into. There are a good number of "British" manufacturers, for example, who cater for the mid-fi to low hi-end market. But that is just a business decision. It's not as though that is all they can do. It's just that they - or their bean counters - have determined that that is the market position they want to occupy, that gives the best return for their outlay, given who they are and where they are. My guess (coming from a position of total engineering ignorance, admittedly) is that any company, in any country, could make the choice whether they want to cater for the mass market - pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap, oligarch top end, or anything in between. Then you staff-up with the appropriate product designers, production engineers, workforce, and advertising consultants. Brand positioning follows accordingly. No country has a monopoly on talent (and even if they did, the mobile nature of the workforce would negate that).
IB

[Yomanze]

Depends on what components. In terms of amps and speakers am a big fan of the "minimal British school". My plain LFD boxes will put most stuff to shame.

As for my British gear, preamp power amp and speakers it is all 100% British designed and made even down to the driver units of my Royd speakers. As for the individual components themselves such as caps, resistors and transistors, then there is only one answer: Japan.

[Neil McCauley]

Depends on what components. In terms of amps and speakers am a big fan of the "minimal British school". My plain LFD boxes will put most stuff to shame.

One perspective if I may. LFD Audio. Bona fide British. One bloke doing it all. Design, build (albeit outsourced board loading) and all the rest in what is apparently a large shed in Clacton-on-Sea. Credentials all in place then.

Once lfd4u.com (his primary, possibly only UK retail outlet packed it in earlier this year; “no longer fun” said the lfd4u.com owner) these world-class sounding designs are difficult if not impossible to purchase in the UK.

http://www.lfd-audio.co.uk/

Dr. Bews (LFD Audio owner) has, it seems pretty much given up on the UK market because of ‘the antics of some buyers’, ‘impossibility of getting a fair review because of refusal to advertise’ and …. believe it or not, refusal to have a proper website. Try Goggling this.

He makes what apparently is a very substantial income – some say >£1m turnover (no staff overheads, possibly owns the freehold, zero marketing and so on) by selling into “more sophisticated markets”. USA and Canada – obviously. Belgium too.

Make of this what you will.

[MikeMusic]

I have a mix of nationalities. British, Japanese, American.

I once regarded Japanese speakers as not worth bothering about. Had to be British.
Then I heard the TAD E-1s. Stunning speakers, which I bought !

[AlexM]

I think the British audiophile market is slowly dying due to the obsession with endless recycling of old gear and a refusal to engage in the kind of market that makes audio gear as a veblen on good where a high price is a virtue of it own. We are too tight fisted and too poor

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