Originally Posted by Carl_Huff
Apparently not.
Look at the recent re birth of Vinyl.
Apparently not.
Look at the recent re birth of Vinyl.
The oft quoted story of the original Ford Mustang (1965/6 ?) comes to mind...it was so overbuild that the maintenance shops weren't getting their normal work, est abt 250k miles b4 rebuilds...so Ford decided to cheapen the cars down (FWIW)
REALLY OT: with McNamaras recent passing, it was discussed how auto safety design was an afterthought in the 50's/60's...seat belts were not available until Robert Strange mandated them in FoMoCo vehicles.
The "High End" ones still do use film.
I think so... along with , and photographers who used darkrooms...
Widget
Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles
Check this out for one of the most important and interesting evolutions of a Weltbild (world view) in modern history. Learn from this history or repeat it, your choice. I wish all one issue voters would see this before presidential elections...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/
Be prepared for your hair to stand on end as you enter the inside track RE: the Cuban missile crisis.
By the way, at present we are still mostly repeating it despite recent progress.
Apply these lessons to the economy, please. But see the film. It is way more than the lessons, which are only section titles. I have seen thousands of films. This is the most important of them.The "Eleven Lessons" listed in the film are as follows: - 1. Empathize with your enemy. - 2. Rationality will not save us. - 3. There's something beyond one's self. - 4. Maximize efficiency. - 5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war. - 6. Get the data. - 7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong. - 8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning. - 9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil. - 10. Never say never. - 11. You can't change human nature.
Back on topic, I think many more small audio related companies will fail. It is sad, as having something great to offer (vs overpriced bs) will be of no help in this economic shakeup. The great mom & pop operations are dying like lemmings; WalMart and Bose will survive and prosper.
Clark
Information is not Knowledge; Knowledge is not Wisdom
Too many audiophiles listen with their eyes instead of their ears
Continuing with the OT angle:
50 things that are being killed by the internet
11) Music stores
In a world where people don't want to pay anything for music, charging them £16.99 for 12 songs in a flimsy plastic case is no business model.
...and the past. Not an original concept. As I recall Henry Ford adopted it in Ford's Model T era. He was product price obsessed about the Lizzie so he constantly put pressure on his suppliers to keep prices down. The public bought into the concept then, as well. Sold millions of Model Ts and changed the landscape of America.I got it.
"Walmart", has become a metaphor for the now, and of the future.
David F
San Jose
LOW PRICES, seems politically incorrect in today's world.:dont-know
If Pro is the opposite of Con,
then Progress is the opposite of Congress.
Its not low prices that are wrong, its artificially low prices, low prices due to merchandise made under criminal or slave-labor type conditions. If you have prison labor making products at prices that normal business cannot match - that not "politically incorrect" its "morally incorrect".
Sweatshops just aren't decent sources of product.
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460
Wal-Mart actually claims to have pretty rigorous guidelines that preclude them purchasing from suppliers that don't maintain a certain amount of social responsibility (c.f., walmartstores.com/download/2727.pdf.) How vigorously they enforce these, I don't know.
The problem with exerting significant margin pressure on your supplier base is that they inevitably look for ways to cut corners in order to remain profitable. Even in volume scenarios, it's quite often not possible to turn a profit when you're constantly facing stringent pricing demands from your largest clients. The end result is sub-par products manufactured in an attempt to meet client guidelines while maintaining an acceptable level of profitability. In the end the consumer suffers - even the consumers who don't shop at big-box outlets since, if a supplier is going to re-tool to meet the demands of their largest client (which Wal-mart almost invariably is) they're not going to run separate lines for other clients who might not exert the same pricing pressure. The quality of the product therefore is diluted irrespective of where it's sold.
So, inevitably, people go to Wal-Mart because they can get the same crap product cheaper there than they would elsewhere. Vicious cycle...
I always thought it was about ME getting the best deal possible FOR MY FAMILY OF FIVE. Not whether some third worlder is getting union wages. Really don't have the time, nor the concern. I NEVER will shop according to someone elses' made up moral litmus test.
If Pro is the opposite of Con,
then Progress is the opposite of Congress.
I don't think you'd feel that way it was your family of five that was working in sweatshop like conditions for an unlivable wage to benefit American consumerism. How you can say you have no concern for "third worlders" and completely lack any sense of social conscience is incomprehensible. Americentrism at its worst..........I always thought it was about ME getting the best deal possible FOR MY FAMILY OF FIVE. Not whether some third worlder is getting union wages. Really don't have the time, nor the concern. I NEVER will shop according to someone elses' made up moral litmus test.
It's not me and I don't give a damn.
If Pro is the opposite of Con,
then Progress is the opposite of Congress.
I don't think that's an absolute. Check out the Levi's line at WalMart. They call them something like "Signature" but they're not the same quality and have unique model numbers not found anywhere else.
Where Levi's quality in general has slipped since moving all assembly out of the U.S., the stuff WalMart sells is noticeably "cheaper" still. I've been buying 501 button-fly Levis for over forty years. The 501 was supposedly the last jeans model made in the Levi's San Francisco factory before they shuttered it. I remember maybe twenty years ago when they first became "assembled' in places like the Dominican Republic from "U.S.-made parts" and one leg would be twisted. Those were in the old "XXX" denim days of "shrink-to-fit".
Now the same size in the same store will come from four different countries and I can no longer trust them to fit the same. The current worst ones seem to come from Egypt where the watch pocket sticks too far out of the normal pocket and the inseam length isn't even correct. And they're now "XX" denim. The best now come from Haiti, Mexico, and Dominican Republic but tariffs and quotas move production on all textile pieces around on a regular basis. I didn't check the country-of-origin on the WalMart "private label" Levis but I will next time a gun is held to my head and I have to go there!
". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers
I have heard the most important aspect of these consumerism that is destroying quality here...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=106431468
I think the it is pointless for people or for companies to point fingers of their demise on a competitor. If you listen to the show and perhaps read the book, we will notice that the blame for the fall of quality and for the demise of long lasting value on our society. Everyone expects things to continuously improve, for companies to forever quest of profits every single quarter. The same attitude goes for all sort of institutions, be it governments, schools etc... Nothing can continuously go up, as it is unnatural. Economists and other economic charlatans have convinced the masses that EVERYONE can progress, become wealthy, spend up to oblivion and face no consequences.
Now that the economy is supposedly stabilizing, the immediacy to at least brake the advance of this "Cheap" culture seems to be getting drowned out. There is no incentive for companies or other influential institutions to retool and remodel what our future economy and society should be.
It is sad that great companies like Hovland and other are the victims of the times. Until people learn to really appreciate quality once again, we will see more and more epitaphs for audio companies that stood for quality.
It's not me and I don't give a damn.
Someday you'll have to explain that attitude at the Pearly Gates. He'll probably say "give him back his sawbuck and tell him to go to Hell."
Speaking for God now, are ya?
If Pro is the opposite of Con,
then Progress is the opposite of Congress.
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