CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[beun]

I agree, strictly competing with China on cost is a bitch, competing on quality and service is another thing though.

I can be very philosophical about this but I think we are selling our souls to the lowest cost Walmart denominator devil, everything cheap but America is losing its manufacturing base. Ah well, by the time it truly hits the fan I probably won't be around anymore.

[macgyver655]

[Curt Palme]

It depends on WHAT crap factory the stuff comes from.

By and large, the commercial amps, whether QSC, Crown, or whatever, are lightweight, super complex (with DSP as you said earlier) that are throwaway.

I have a 3 year old Crown CDi1000 here. I'm sure it's made in China to Crown's specs. Nicely built, but the non incandescent backlight died after 3 years of being in a superheated rack with zero air space between units. THe main DSP cooked as well at the top of the rack, it was a dbx unit.

If the amp died, there's no way I could fix it. I'm going to try repairing the backlight next week sometime, but I'm not holding out much hope. Once I open the amp, I'll post pix.

[Curt Palme]

It depends on WHAT crap factory the stuff comes from.

By and large, the commercial amps, whether QSC, Crown, or whatever, are lightweight, super complex (with DSP as you said earlier) that are throwaway.

I have a 3 year old Crown CDi1000 here. I'm sure it's made in China to Crown's specs. Nicely built, but the non incandescent backlight died after 3 years of being in a superheated rack with zero air space between units. THe main DSP cooked as well at the top of the rack, it was a dbx unit.

If the amp died, there's no way I could fix it. I'm going to try repairing the backlight next week sometime, but I'm not holding out much hope. Once I open the amp, I'll post pix.

[MikeEby]

I did some more research on the XLS Series...The biggest one is 775 watts per channel and weights 8 fricking pounds.. With a switching power supply and all...I'm thinking its probably is as Curt describes, a throw away item.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM9K24CFPDA

Mike

[Curt Palme]

That clip shows SUCH poor installation techniques. 4 amps, and no rack space between them? I don't care what anyone says, those amps will get HOT.

[Curt Palme]

That clip shows SUCH poor installation techniques. 4 amps, and no rack space between them? I don't care what anyone says, those amps will get HOT.

[Ron W]

[beun]

Ron,

I am fully aware that this has been going on for quite some time. The IC industry that I have been working in for 25+ years has been busy shipping everything toward the east for as long as I have been in it. First it started with the wafer fabs, very few are still located in Europe or the US and then they started to ship the easy design tasks eastward. It is that I am in a field that is considered difficult that I still have a job in the west.

[Curt Palme]

While I'm dead set against disposable crap, I will say that the end result of crap being produced still has the onus on the name brand that sells it. The overall specs, quality control and life expectancy can all be controlled by the company that buys that 10,000 lot of electronics cranked out in China. No QC, and you get junk product. Put a manufacturer's representative in the factory to maintain QC, and you have a different product.

I completely agree with the WalMart example though, and I've been bitching about it for years.

BTW, as Bruce Willis said correctly in Armageddon (I think) 'We're flying in something that was built by the lowest bidder.

In sound contracting, my company won 1 job by tender bid. We jumped through all the hoops, did the install, and in the end, the consultant never even showed up to inspect our work, as they charged $150 an hour (this was 18 years ago) to come out after they awarded the tender, which is something that the city that hired them didn't want to pay.

We could have put in product completely off spec, and no one except for us would have been the wiser.

For me it's design/build all the way, which is the way manufacturing should work as well.

[Curt Palme]

While I'm dead set against disposable crap, I will say that the end result of crap being produced still has the onus on the name brand that sells it. The overall specs, quality control and life expectancy can all be controlled by the company that buys that 10,000 lot of electronics cranked out in China. No QC, and you get junk product. Put a manufacturer's representative in the factory to maintain QC, and you have a different product.

I completely agree with the WalMart example though, and I've been bitching about it for years.

BTW, as Bruce Willis said correctly in Armageddon (I think) 'We're flying in something that was built by the lowest bidder.

In sound contracting, my company won 1 job by tender bid. We jumped through all the hoops, did the install, and in the end, the consultant never even showed up to inspect our work, as they charged $150 an hour (this was 18 years ago) to come out after they awarded the tender, which is something that the city that hired them didn't want to pay.

We could have put in product completely off spec, and no one except for us would have been the wiser.

For me it's design/build all the way, which is the way manufacturing should work as well.

[beun]

dturco,

I found enough parts to make two mono block 150W Class-D amps for you on short notice. If you are interested I can ship them in a week or so. Like I said, they won't be pretty but they work perfectly.

Curt,

It was Steve Buscemi who said "You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?" A great quote and oh so true.


Kim

[Curt Palme]

Dammit, now I have to watch the movie again!

[Curt Palme]

Dammit, now I have to watch the movie again!

[dturco]