What happend to car audio? My little rant

[RLJ676 10+ year member]

"I was told RF is still making everything in the US though......still true?"Who told you that , I don't think they make anything in the states anymore, and haven't in almost 10 years, maybe one or two High end pieces if anything , and they wouldn't have made it then ,it might be made in the USA but not by them, it would be outsourced

Local shop (that of course sells RF). They claim it's in AZ (or somewhere out there) and that employees have been out there for classes or something and have seen it.......

What is made in the US still then?

 

[tjjohnson91 10+ year member]

Mmats audio is in florida

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

What is made in the US still then?

Tons of things in home audio, which is still willing to pay the high prices for hand-made electronics. Doesn't hurt that a lot of the designs are simpler, too, so it doesn't require wave-soldered boards to be profitable.

 

[kr15 5,000+ posts]

Zapco?

 

[jakebf2 10+ year member]

Arent you guilty of the same thing **** near every shop I've been to carries as much low end no name stuff as they do the mainstream. Then 9 out of 10 shops have no clue about the internet subwoofers that blow away there mainstream equipment and this among other things they loose a lot of credibility, not to mention over pricing the installs.

$10 ground that i had to re-drill =/ (gave me a screw washer and nut... and drilled a hole and put anti corrosive stuff on it)

so.... i dont really like local shops.. i think the installs should be free just because im buying it from you and not offline..

 

[bugflipper 10+ year member]

Sorry, I don't agree totally with the OP. In the early 90's my first good system was powered by an orion hcca 225. I will admit it was a very good amp running 1/4 ohm at around 800 watts rms. But the price was $500. Today a good 800 watt rms amp will run $180-300 and do it at a much less demanding 1 or 2 ohm. Competition drove the price down. With inflation that amp would probably be $800-900 now.

Today I run mainly 500 watts rms to 10's for the most part. Just mainly sq oriented, but I do have an spl setup as well. The major brands slit their own throats. Every year there is a new brand doing it cheaper and better. I honestly can't see how spending less for a better product is a bad thing. If the big boys would have spent more on R&D instead of advertising things would be different. I can understand the stance of a brick and mortar shop. They rely on brand recognition. When a new product is cheaper and better than the major brand it creates a problem. Less of a profit margin. Today a lot of people are more interested in value for their dollar. So there is less of a draw to the dealer who carries the brand instead of quality. Now the in brand is the best quality for the money. One does not have to look very hard to find a quality product. They just have to learn not to play the name game. If you research the competition you can generally pick up an exceptional product for the same price as an entry level major brand product.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

What is made in the US still then?

Zed amps,

Zapco amps

Top end Arc audio

lots of the forum boner subs and speakers (though many from outsourced parts) like DD, Fi, TC Sounds, Sundown etc.

Credence speakers

Emminence speakers

Phoenix Gold's line driver (LOL)

Audiocontrol processors

Tru amps

Aurasound speakers (i believe) not sure if their amps still are?

Supposedly some of the Boston Accoustics stuff, but I've been up to their "factory" in Peabody and I think they don't really do much there besides building cabinets and packaging.

Possibly some of the higher end amps and subs from some of the big names.

There's a thread about this topic over at diyma.com that came up a few months back.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Sorry, I don't agree totally with the OP. In the early 90's my first good system was powered by an orion hcca 225. I will admit it was a very good amp running 1/4 ohm at around 800 watts rms. But the price was $500.

LMFAO. That was my first "good" setup too. Boston fronts and M&M Rose subs FTW!....oh and IIRC I paid closer to 550$ for my 225 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif and over 700 for my 250 when I scrounged up enough for that... And with inflation, I think price would be over double today.

 

[misfit138 5,000+ posts]

Uhm' date=' ok? Not sure what point you are trying to make about the enclosures? [/quote']

Didn't realize you weren't the OP. Moment of stupidity is stupid. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[RLJ676 10+ year member]

Zed amps,Zapco amps

Top end Arc audio

lots of the forum boner subs and speakers (though many from outsourced parts) like DD, Fi, TC Sounds, Sundown etc.

Credence speakers

Emminence speakers

Phoenix Gold's line driver (LOL)

Audiocontrol processors

Tru amps

Aurasound speakers (i believe) not sure if their amps still are?

Supposedly some of the Boston Accoustics stuff, but I've been up to their "factory" in Peabody and I think they don't really do much there besides building cabinets and packaging.

Possibly some of the higher end amps and subs from some of the big names.

There's a thread about this topic over at diyma.com that came up a few months back.

Thanks, I'll go look for it over there. I'll always buy American if the price penalty isn't too bad.

My home stereo setup is all internet direct Chinese stuff, great bang for the buck and unfortunately American made would have been several times the cost. Would have like American, but can only afford like 20% more at most, not several multiples of cost.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Thanks, I'll go look for it over there. I'll always buy American if the price penalty isn't too bad.
My home stereo setup is all internet direct Chinese stuff, great bang for the buck and unfortunately American made would have been several times the cost. Would have like American, but can only afford like 20% more at most, not several multiples of cost.

Forgot to mention I believe Atomic buids speakers here too.

Funny I sold a chinese Ming Da tube amp for a guy a couple years ago and that wasn't exactly cheap, and actually seemed to be a really nice piece of electronics.

I'm a big fan of the Zed amps. IMO great build and good value and some of the best customer support period... Not many companies that when you call the engineer/owner answers the phone and will actually talk to you and try to help you out.

 

[will3 10+ year member]

Yes, Atomic subwoofers are still made in the US / SJA build house in Socal

 

[Team Maxxsonics 10+ year member]

Zed amps,Zapco amps

Top end Arc audio

lots of the forum boner subs and speakers (though many from outsourced parts) like DD, Fi, TC Sounds, Sundown etc.

Credence speakers

Emminence speakers

Phoenix Gold's line driver (LOL)

Audiocontrol processors

Tru amps

Aurasound speakers (i believe) not sure if their amps still are?

Supposedly some of the Boston Accoustics stuff, but I've been up to their "factory" in Peabody and I think they don't really do much there besides building cabinets and packaging.

Possibly some of the higher end amps and subs from some of the big names.

There's a thread about this topic over at diyma.com that came up a few months back.

I'm not busting balls so don't take this personal.

Define legal description of "Made in the USA" (parts and labor content) please.

Or, can you define where the parts including motor assemblies, coils, baskets, spiders, surrounds, cones, dust caps, magnets, whole amplifier pcb's, extrusions, bottom panels, end panels.... are made?

I will guess your list will get more then a bit smaller.

 

[Mike465 10+ year member]

If you want to pay for fabrication skills that you may not have yourself, is it not fair to compensate someone for their time?

Thank you so much!

 

[The HACKER 10+ year member]

Hey this guy made a lot of F-ing sense it is so true, so many punks just got a bunch of BS they threw together didnt pay attention to any detail. I love installing for friend and family and im sorry but some of the "crap" people throw together embarasses me and its not even in my car. The guy owns a shop and he's speaking his knowledge there isnt any reason to knock him down, we are all supposed to be audio lovers here.