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View Full Version : Century Gold Parts ,made in tiawan WHAT!!!



dblaxter
08-15-2007, 03:33 PM
i recently bought a nos x-overs for the century golds and they came in the box ,but they were clearly marked made in tiawan ,is this true , they look to be true jbl items ,northridge california etc, but i am very suprised , i know harman ,jbl etc have items made in chine but century golds !!!
can someone comment on this ,i will post pics to show what i have in a short
thanks michael

dblaxter
08-15-2007, 03:49 PM
pictures

dblaxter
08-15-2007, 03:50 PM
pictures

Storm
08-15-2007, 09:53 PM
Wow, what a mess!

Glad I did not win the ones on eBay just a few days ago...

;)

-Storm.

clmrt
08-16-2007, 03:46 AM
First sniff tells me they are counterfeit, but I'm suprised at myself - what market would there be for such an endeavour?

Don C
08-16-2007, 07:50 AM
The box is identical to the one that my XPL200 crossovers came in. I think it's genuine.

dblaxter
08-16-2007, 10:57 AM
i would say they are genuine also , i compared them to other items i have and it looks to be the same workmenship, and it was from ebay but he said he was a jbl dealer with new old stock that he needed to get rid of, second the other items he sells, seems he is some kind of audio dealer
more info , would be nice to see if what i feel is a sorry situation, but again ,the almighty dollar was involved ,so i guess the work went to the lowest bidder, but for 5000.00 century golds i would be pissed to buy a pair and findout the tiawan,china etc factor was in effect
thanks michael

Storm
08-16-2007, 11:03 AM
Were they really $5K a pair back in 1996?

Wowza.

-Storm.

;)


but for 5000.00 century golds i would be pissed to buy a pair and findout the tiawan,china etc factor was in effect
thanks michael

dblaxter
08-17-2007, 09:11 AM
yes, if memory and brochures serve me correctly ,that was the retail price,
amazing isnt tit LOL

4313B
08-17-2007, 09:23 AM
i recently bought a nos x-overs for the century golds and they came in the box ,but they were clearly marked made in tiawan ,is this true , they look to be true jbl items ,northridge california etc, but i am very suprised , i know harman ,jbl etc have items made in chine but century golds !!!
can someone comment on thisUm, JBL has outsourced networks to China for many years... It's Harman International, not Harman SoCal. Besides, I think it is illegal to solder anything in CA and it takes solder to make crossover networks (yeah, yeah, I know, some people just wire nut everything together).

Added trivia - it is also illegal to paint anything in CA and that's why JBL had to paint all the M9500 enclosures in AZ and then ship them to Northridge to load them with components. :)

John
08-17-2007, 10:32 AM
Um, JBL has outsourced networks to China for many years... It's Harman International, not Harman SoCal. Besides, I think it is illegal to solder anything in CA and it takes solder to make crossover networks (yeah, yeah, I know, some people just wire nut everything together).

Added trivia - it is also illegal to paint anything in CA and that's why JBL had to paint all the M9500 enclosures in AZ and then ship them to Northridge to load them with components. :)


So I guess all the california custom hot rod guys
are moving out of socal:blink:

edgewound
08-17-2007, 10:41 AM
Um, JBL has outsourced networks to China for many years... It's Harman International, not Harman SoCal. Besides, I think it is illegal to solder anything in CA and it takes solder to make crossover networks (yeah, yeah, I know, some people just wire nut everything together).

Added trivia - it is also illegal to paint anything in CA and that's why JBL had to paint all the M9500 enclosures in AZ and then ship them to Northridge to load them with components. :)

That's a broad paint brush statement....probably for brevity's sake...but not true. Restricted, yes.

It's not illegal to paint anything in CA. Mfgs can't use paint that has high VOC's in large volume. Water based is fine. Lot's of furniture mfgs have switched to powder coating/baking. So are car manufacturers. If it was illegal to paint in CA there would be no custom car biz at all.

High volume solder must be RoHS compliant.

It's a matter of cost's. Harman would still outsource to China regardless of the solder material used.

As far as the Century Gold crossover goes....you can bet that was a bean-counter decision and not the engineering dept. Maybe that's why biased crossovers were born. To make cheaper caps sound better.

4313B
08-17-2007, 12:31 PM
That's a broad paint brush statement....probably for brevity's sake...Tongue in cheek. We're all familiar with the CA warning labels on products including paint and solder.

edgewound
08-17-2007, 01:21 PM
Tongue in cheek. We're all familiar with the CA warning labels on products including paint and solder.


I caught your pre-edited response...and that was funny.

Thanks for the much needed laugh today.;)

scott fitlin
08-17-2007, 01:22 PM
It's a matter of cost's. Harman would still outsource to China regardless of the solder material used.

As far as the Century Gold crossover goes....you can bet that was a bean-counter decision and not the engineering dept. Maybe that's why biased crossovers were born. To make cheaper caps sound better.Ya, I agree.

But I still think its kind of sad to know that what we buy under the guise of " High End " has assmembly of certain items made in China.

edgewound
08-17-2007, 01:25 PM
Ya, I agree.

But I still think its kind of sad to know that what we buy under the guise of " High End " has assmembly of certain items made in China.

That's what we used to say about Japan.

scott fitlin
08-17-2007, 01:30 PM
That's what we used to say about Japan.Umm yeah, thats true. But, from the 60,s and 70,s, when the stuff " Made In Japan " was considered to be the low end stuff, when you bought TOTL Amercian Audio, it was " Made In The U.S. "

Audiobeer
08-17-2007, 04:10 PM
Scott.....welcome to America. It's not what we make anymore, but how much we make off of selling what someone else makes for us to resell! You can buy it from Dell or see it at Walmart. Can yo imagine what an outsourced made in China K-2 Amp would run?

Bernard Wolf
08-17-2007, 04:14 PM
X'overs in my S/3100 are made in Mexico... surprised me first time I saw them. That was also a $5000.00 speaker... should I worry ?? They sound pretty damn fine to me !

dblaxter
08-17-2007, 05:12 PM
i hate the fact that some of the so called what is now vintage and the higherend items have parts made elsewhere, but most of what i have does sound fantastic to me
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Zilch
08-17-2007, 05:17 PM
Look at it this way: If JBL can save half the cost of building the crossovers, they can then afford to put some Aquaplas on the diaphragms.... ;)

scott fitlin
08-17-2007, 10:04 PM
Scott.....welcome to America. It's not what we make anymore, but how much we make off of selling what someone else makes for us to resell! You can buy it from Dell or see it at Walmart. Can yo imagine what an outsourced made in China K-2 Amp would run?


X'overs in my S/3100 are made in Mexico... surprised me first time I saw them. That was also a $5000.00 speaker... should I worry ?? They sound pretty damn fine to me !Yes, I agree with all statements.

Truthfully, we have been listening to foriegn manufacture for a very long time now.

Made in Mexico, and Made in Japan when it came to potentiometers and resistors for a long while now! So, its really nothing new.

GordonW
08-27-2007, 05:47 AM
So, some people seem to be implying that the Taiwanese CAN'T make good quality products?

Look at a JBL 15" woofer, and look at a similar Usher Audio woofer. Tell me which one has better machine work...

There's quite a difference between many mainland Chinese factories (many of which are JUST coming on line and have LOTS of teething troubles and problems relating to government and other corrupt influences), and many of the Taiwanese factories, that have been building equipment (while gathering lots of experience and knowledge, and working under a much more transparent and competent governing structure) for many decades...


Regards,
Gordon.

edgewound
08-27-2007, 01:16 PM
... and look at a similar Usher Audio woofer.

Gordon.

I do believe that Usher Audio has a fine consultantcy under the tutelage of...

Joe D'Appolito.

Most of the good asian players are getting help from seasoned, proven audio vets.

Read about it here:

http://www.usheraudiousa.com/company-information.php5

pelly3s
08-28-2007, 05:30 AM
there are a lot of good products that come from overseas they just need to be monitored to make sure they are being built to the standards we expect. There is a certain company not going to name names right now who is having a lot of problems with their amp production in china because of a few reasons but then you have EAW who has moved shop to China and is still producing the same products they did before