Rotel Products "Designed and Manufactured in China"??

[HAL_9000]

According to the Web site (below), Rotel products are "Designed and Manufactured in China". Is this statement true?

http://www.audiofx.com/audio.html

I'm more interested in where the products are actually "Designed", since this is the most important qualitative step. The quality of the engineering is what puts these products into the top (or bottom) of their class.

This is an important question since the quality of engineering varies from country to country.

Thanks.

[Nolan B]

Not sure about designed, but they are made in in China. Its to bad. I have to admit I was disapointed to see "Made in China" on the side of my RSX 1067 box which I paid big $ for.

A little of topic but I remember reading an article about what people "thought" the best companies were regardless of industry and the two brands that stuck out which were #1 and #2 was Miele and Porsche. Both companies have all their products made in the company they originated from.

There is something to be said for not outsourcing to the cheapest developers on the planet. B&W makes most if not all of their speakers in China now too.

[Kevin D]

Rotel is a Japanese company, whether designed in the factory or Japan.

The difference is Rotel owns and operates their factory in China. From what I've seen of it, it's so far removed from the stereotypical 'Chinese factory' that I don't really think the label means much. Hell, I highly doubt there's a stereotypical factory any more anyway.

Kevin D.

[kurtholz]

I think there is to much negative thoughts on " made in China", they are responsible for cutting edge developments in many different areas

satellite technology,plastics,ceramics,electronics of all kinds,

personally i dont think made in China with a high end parent company is any big deal

My son-in-law's family owns weslock, they make door knobs etc, there plant is in China, and some of there hardware is the best i have ever seen

of course my other thoughts are to my other passion,as i have a website selling Japanese samurai swords, this technology was imported from China, along with there Ceramics, and many other luxury items, for thousands of years, China led the planet in there advances in almost every category of life, some have never been duplicated they are so far more advanced than what anyone else can make

ever heard of the book Sun Tzu , the art of war, written 2000 years ago and still a very important book

i don't think of Chinese made as just a bunch of peasant labor making the worst junk, there culture is very old, and they are still one of the strongest nations on the planet, it would certainly be a toss up for the good old USA to go to war with them even today

there is some very high end audio equipment made in China

and junk, just like some of the Junk that is USA made, judge it on it's own merit, not on where the assembly plant is

Kurt

my humble opinion

[Marcel B]

Not sure about designed, but they are made in in China. Its to bad. I have to admit I was disapointed to see "Made in China" on the side of my RSX 1067 box which I paid big $ for.

A little of topic but I remember reading an article about what people "thought" the best companies were regardless of industry and the two brands that stuck out which were #1 and #2 was Miele and Porsche. Both companies have all their products made in the company they originated from.

Porsche does not. Valmet in Finland manufactures the Boxster, maybe as a second factory (they also manufacture Mercedes SLK and Saab convertible) and many parts of the Cayenne are bought from Volkswagen (Touareg).

Marcel

[AMPER]

very true kurt. some of the best electronic equipment that I have ever seen has come from China. As far as the war thing I hope it never comes to that. Seeing how I'm in the military right now. If we went to war with China they would destroy us in there front yard. Their big negative is that they can't mobilize like we do(in fact we do very well). It well never come to that though, Why you ask? Their making way to much money off of us. It would be silly to kill or just piss off your best customer.

[kurtholz]

i agree,the Chinese and the USA leadership are way to smart to let that happen anyway, my comments were just that they are a country worthy of respect as far as there ability to produce goods

i think wars are over, it's terrorism that is our only threat'

my two cents

sure would like to have one of those Shanling CD players someday, seen a few triode amps that are China made that certainly look good

so much to buy, so little time, hahahha

Kurt

[HAL_9000]

Thanks for the comments.

As I mentioned before, the quality of engineering varies from country to country.

As a person who has I lived in China for a period of time (which was a very good experience), I saw first hand their standards of engineering. I’ve also lived in other countries, such as Japan, and I observed their standards of engineering as well. The fact that each country has different standards is not a judgment, it’s an objective reality.

[kurtholz]

Hey Hal

i deal with both China and Japan a lot, isnt it amazing the cultural differences, after thousands of years of being enemies and huge trade partners, they are so different

not sure China would be my thing,though Hong Kong rocks, but Japan is most certainly a country i could live very happily in,

well, if i had about 50 more million dollars, hahaha

kinda like NYC, great city if your ultra loaded, sucks if your not

Kurt

[Andrew M Ward]

Not sure about designed, but they are made in in China. Its to bad. I have to admit I was disapointed to see "Made in China" on the side of my RSX 1067 box which I paid big $ for.

A little of topic but I remember reading an article about what people "thought" the best companies were regardless of industry and the two brands that stuck out which were #1 and #2 was Miele and Porsche. Both companies have all their products made in the company they originated from.

There is something to be said for not outsourcing to the cheapest developers on the planet. B&W makes most if not all of their speakers in China now too.

You are either poorly informed or trying to spread some crap...

90% of all B&W products are either made in Worthing England or Denmark... please apologize for your transgressions.

Some specialty products are made in china (very few)

[Andrew M Ward]

According to the Web site (below), Rotel products are "Designed and Manufactured in China". Is this statement true?

http://www.audiofx.com/audio.html

I'm more interested in where the products are actually "Designed", since this is the most important qualitative step. The quality of the engineering is what puts these products into the top (or bottom) of their class.

This is an important question since the quality of engineering varies from country to country.

Thanks.

Rotel products are designed all over the world, some products are driven for the european market and will be basically "Born in England" many Rotel employees work in England (for a reason) some products will be designed for the USA or North American market and will be basically Born in the USA, (see the RKB line for the latest US designed products) some products seem to be completely designed over seas, with some work being done in Korea and some in Japan... All of it is manufactured in Rotel’s own facility in China, not a leased or rented factory line but Rotel’s own factory!!!


Hey Vancouver:
that's the process (above) read that twice if you get confused...

I'd hate to see more B.S. being disseminated

[shadow]

I am fascinated by drivel such as "engineering quality varies from country to country." Exactly what principals of engineering do they miss in China that we do differently here, esp since this is an "objective reality?" This is even more fascinating since the vast majority of Chinese engineered products are not sold in China. Apparently all those trade partners of China do not understand your critique of engineering quality either since they foolishly buy these goods of all kinds and description. Perhaps you can provide specific examples to support your bald statements, or is this another oriental bashing message disguised as objective observation?

Ausie Geoff here - a gentle reminder - lets not let our language get to emotive or personal.... This is a hobby... People are entitled to their opinions...

[Andrew M Ward]

I am fascinated by drivel such as "engineering quality varies from country to country." Exactly what principals of engineering do they miss in China that we do differently here, esp since this is an "objective reality?" This is even more fascinating since the vast majority of Chinese engineered products are not sold in China. Apparently all those trade partners of China do not understand your critique of engineering quality either since they foolishly buy these goods of all kinds and description. Perhaps you can provide specific examples to support your bald statements, or is this another oriental bashing message disguised as objective observation?

Ausie Geoff here - a gentle reminder - lets not let our language get to emotive or personal.... This is a hobby... People are entitled to their opinions...

Fantastic!
Well stated and pin-point accurate... (I love this forum)

[Nolan B]

You are either poorly informed or trying to spread some crap...

90% of all B&W products are either made in Worthing England or Denmark... please apologize for your transgressions.

Some specialty products are made in china (very few)

I dont knwo the exact %, but they do make speakers in china. I sent an email to them asking about it and they said while drivers etc are made in england many of their products are assembled in china.

[Nolan B]

Hey Vancouver:
that's the process (above) read that twice if you get confused...

I'd hate to see more B.S. being disseminated

more B.S? It says right on the side of their box "Made in China"

[Kevin D]

Vancouver, I think Andrew was talking about B&W's being not being made in China (90% of them). Just for reference, do you have a B&W speaker with 'made in China' on the box?

Kevin D.

[Andrew M Ward]

more B.S? It says right on the side of their box "Made in China"

The product you own, called FPM is made in china! and the PV1 shell is made in China... a few of the the very bottom line in-walls and nothing else.

B&W has over 150 SKU model nubers and about 6 are made in China, do the math...not "all" or "most" or even "alot" six out of over 150 models...

[Andrew M Ward]

I dont knwo the exact %, but they do make speakers in china. I sent an email to them asking about it and they said while drivers etc are made in england many of their products are assembled in china.

show me the email and from whom... if they used the word "many" i'll eat my hat!...

Vancouver,
For the most part the B&W business model has been "to do the opposite of what every other speaker mfg. in the world has done." and that means, in house design and Mfg. of virtually all of it's products.

Because you own 4 of the 1/2 dozen or so products that happen to be made in China, don't assume that the remaining one hundred plus itmes made by the company are also made in China.

You will notice that the Aluminum shell for the PV1 is made in China, B&W has no facility to make that enclosure, and you will notice that the FPM, also Aluminum is made in China.

Ask your B&W dealer if they have ever been on the factory tour...they will explain to you just what they saw.

(Yeeesh)

[KAP]

I'm rather stupid and know very little about the quality of goods made in China as opposed to any other country.

However, I have a Rotel RSX-1067 running my theater system and I think it sounds great and was well built (heat issue aside).

In another system I have B&W N804's and N805's. Again, they look and sound great.

I guess I'm saying that I don't care where they were made as long as they function as advertised..........and I believe they do.

[Bostonears]

I can remember back to the 1960's, when "made in Japan" meant that something was junk (because it wasn't made in the USA). Now, "made in Japan" means high quality. Perhaps "made in China" will achieve the same status one day.

[gd]

The most dismaying aspect of outsourcing is that jobs in our own country are lost.

As for product quality, it should not make a great deal of difference -- in the long term.

In the transistional stage, there are always issues of quality control in a new environment, acclimation to the expected low tolerance for mfg flaws/failures, and language/culture barriers... as usual it's up to the prospective buyers to do their homework and stay current on trends... if a brand has just recently moved mfg out of the country, it may be wise to hold off buying until feedback is registered.

But by and large, the transition is complete, and outsourced goods should be settling down to some measure of reliability by now... the biggest brands (Sony, Panasonic etc) will likely require extra scrutiny as they routinely switch facilities, but as noted above, Rotel QC should be fairly stable at their self-owned-and-managed Chinese plant.

And regardless of whether mfg is outsourced, there will always be the unseen factor of installing increasingly cheaper components and circuitry to make various price points... (i.e., how little can we give 'em for $500, in a world where we're competing with the internet and a zillion other entertainment options?)

I was originally disappointed that my favorite electronics manufacturers were outsourcing to China and Malaysia... but there's not much I can do about it, except shop even more carefully than before.

Or buy used.

[Andrew M Ward]

I'm rather stupid and know very little about the quality of goods made in China as opposed to any other country.

However, I have a Rotel RSX-1067 running my theater system and I think it sounds great and was well built (heat issue aside).

In another system I have B&W N804's and N805's. Again, they look and sound great.

I guess I'm saying that I don't care where they were made as long as they function as advertised..........and I believe they do.

And that's great,
But what I'm talking about is speaking about something on an open forum when you really don't know anything, or have only part of the information, but try to come across as though you know.

If you know what your talking about, fine, if you're talking out your a$$ then this happens...

[stewfoo]

Wow, my Audio God is feisty today. I hear the diamonds for B&W are all mined and assembled by slaves in Liberia. Classe is fully assembled in Tijuana. Can't you tell?

[Andrew M Ward]

Dude,
I'm wiped... Sorry, i'll relax.

I got into Memphis late and then drove through the snow (after a full day of meetings) to Nashville, tomorrow after all my meetings I drive from Nashville to Atlanta...

So I'm a little crabby...

Hey, how did you know Classe' gear was made in Mexico

[HAL_9000]

I am fascinated by drivel such as "engineering quality varies from country to country." Exactly what principals of engineering do they miss in China that we do differently here, esp since this is an "objective reality?" This is even more fascinating since the vast majority of Chinese engineered products are not sold in China. Apparently all those trade partners of China do not understand your critique of engineering quality either since they foolishly buy these goods of all kinds and description. Perhaps you can provide specific examples to support your bald statements, or is this another oriental bashing message disguised as objective observation?

Ausie Geoff here - a gentle reminder - lets not let our language get to emotive or personal.... This is a hobby... People are entitled to their opinions...

I don’t appreciate your insulting and puerile hyperbole. Next time do me a favor and don’t respond to my forum questions. If I see your name again, I’ll skip over whatever you’ve written rather than waste my time.

Moving on.

To the other viewers of this thread, if you read through my original post and you feel I implied something negative about China (or any other country), my apologies.

[Kevin D]

Moving on is right Paul. I'm sorry your thread turned that direction, but I'm actually surprised it lasted this long.

At least we got some opinions (good and bad) and some answers.

Kevin D.