Good Morning,

 as I was "inspecting" my lovely Beosound 3 radio, I noticed that there is a chinese print on the bottom label.
Does B & O manufacture in China now?

This would be a very bad indicator as we seem to pay only the name in future products!?
Hopefully B & O stays traditional and produces in Denmark like everyone expects from a luxury company like this!

 

no, b&o is not made in china. the chinese label is for the chinese market, i think.

 

I am not sure if it applies to all beosound 3, but i am sure some of them are "made in Austria", written by chinese words in the bottom of beosound 3.

Aha, and the other ones are "made in China" or "made in Denmark"?

well, do not mind "made in china" or not...

not everything made in china is of inferior quality

Very good! Quite a lot of the components are made in the Far East...

Can't say it bothers me as long as I am happy with the results. 

Made in China no longer means. This product will fail within weeks of you buying it. Believe it or not there is some good qulity stuff now made in China. If my memory serves me correct I think it was Lee who had an E-mail from a company in China who said they could make anything you wanted in Steel or Plastic. The quality of the work was said to be very good, and the costs.

 

Craig

Strange I just posted a reply and it said it needed to be approved by a Moderator. Not sure why though.

 

Craig

Craig:

Strange I just posted a reply and it said it needed to be approved by a Moderator. Not sure why though.

 

Craig

Tut tut tut! Have you been using bad language?

Andy T.

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Can't say it bothers me as long as I am happy with the results. 
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 It bothers ME: B & O is always rising their prices but if they moved production to china where it is VERY VERY cheap they can't ask for that much money. The products aren't worth it.

You see the difference on other products like BOSE (which feels very cheap nowadays) or the first production line of the Sony PSP.

1st Generation was manufactured in Japan and then they moved to China: You can definetely feel a difference between both versions.
In case of a PSP it doesn't bother me that much: It's a kind of toy but B & O is an expensive and reliable product. I don't want that stuff coming out of China. Perhaps it's just a copy ;-)

It's not fair to say that China cannot make good quality products, because that is completely incorrect nowadays. However, I agree with TWG in some respect. I spend a lot of my spare money on B&O, much more than double what I could spend on if I just went to the Sony Centre, so I want my B&O to be made in Denmark full stop. The recent factory in Czech hasn't really bothered me, but please keep it in Europe!

If B&O made their products in China / India, I would not be happy to spend the same amount of money on their products anymore. The other fear is that B&O if they did such a thing, would then ease their prices quite a bit, which would be equally disappointing as everyone would know and have B&O. Already over the past 10 years B&O has become 'cheaper' and less prestigious.

Just keep making your bits in Denmark and I'll shut up!

Exactly how much is MADE in Europe these days ?

Or, perhaps a more accurate question (or statement) would be:

Is it a matter of FINAL ASSEMBLY in Europe ?

I have been to large furniture distributors from China who market, and can and do make anything currently out there. No names on the outside of the building, but large container amounts of Barcelona Chairs, Arthe couch, Eames chairs, tables, etc. inside.

I have seen reps of well known companies there, taking custody of said items, and placing metal decals (asset numbers) on each piece, as though it was made by the orginal designer.

The loss of jobs in Europe and elsewhere to China does concern me, but this has been the reality for a decade or more. If the product works properly, and the company backs the warranty, so be it. I will not lose sleep over it.

I would rather see a thriving, flourishing and expanding company such as B&O do well, including subcontracting out to a third-party manufacturer, than listen to a Trabant-like stereo, with all the beauty and luxury of a church-pew, for the sole reason it was entirely made in Europe.. 

These days it's hard to find  a product NOT made in china.

well, i wanna share my opinions on this matter a little bit. Nowadays, China can make spaceship, china can make INTEL microprocessors, I believe china has the skills and technologies to make every things.

TWG:

These days it's hard to find  a product NOT made in china.

But have a look:

- Nokia: Made in Finnland

- Sony: Made in Japan

- Porsche: Made in Germany

...

You get it? ;) If B & O Products will be made in China or Czech etc. they will loose a customer. Than the Beosund 3 was the last piece of B & O Hardware I bought.

I had a friend of mine from China look at the label and she said it translates to Made in Koprivnice.   Which means the Czech factory.

The Chinese economy is probably the strongest and most stable at the moment so dismiss at your peril!

They are no longer producers of all things rubbish and are rivalling the best which can only bre a good thing as this will help competition etc. 

So why did B&O print "Made in Koprivnice." with a chinese label? Are they ashamed to print it readable on their products? :) It's not only a matter of quality where a product is manufactured. So you pay 7000 Euro for a B&O Television which is made for 300 Euro in Czech ... It's a difference in my opinion: If they can produce cheap, they can sell cheaper! But they don't. It's ok if B & O decides to produce in China or any other cheap country; but then they should give the cheaper cost through to their customers. Think this discussion woud be much easier for me in german ;-)

Manufacturing costs rise annually. Supplies of materials rise annually, and in some cases monthly. What would you think R & D expenses are they days with any world-known designer and his staff ?

If Bang & Olufsen develops a good looking, functional and integrated design ( costing unknown millions of Euros ) why can't it be manufactured, or subcontracted out ?  And if it is, why is middle Europe somewhat more acceptable than Asia ?

In fact, Sony does subcontract out assembly parts, and I can state that Porsche does also. Anyone take a look at the Porsche balance sheet these days ?  It is very profitable, and more importantly the product is very good.

So is Bang & Olufsen..

My Lab 4s have a chinese label on them and i never really got an answer about where they were made...Czech seems to ring a bell...they still look and sound fab though.

I wear a Breitling watch...anything to do with you T.W.G? After i bought it i had a problem immediately and Breitling said that they would change the face and the whole automatic works in it...so basically the only original parts left of my watch would be the case, glass and strap. I refused having paid a couple of grand for it...i told them that i wanted a watch that was manufactured in Switzerland not the UK...and they finally changed it for a new one!

I don't care that much about where my B&O stuff is made, as long as it's qualitiy is at the same high level and it sounds just great. We live in a globalised world, so does B&O...

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TWG:

So why did B&O print "Made in Koprivnice." with a chinese label? Are they ashamed to print it readable on their products?

Because they sell quite a lot of products to wealthy Chinese. And it is readable in other languages, depending upon where you bought your unit. 

Quite a few high-end audiophile manufacturers are getting their production done in China. And some of the world's absolutely most extravagantly expensive audiophile gear has been made in China for many years, for the Chinese, but also available for outside buyers, of course. You would have been amazed by what was on display at the Guanzhou AV Fair in 2006.

Here's a brief survey from 2003 listing which well known Hi-Fi brands are just rebadging Chinese components and reselling them in the West. You'll be surprised.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~viver/chinese%20hi-end/iwanttoknow.html 

If you can stand the wild graphics, then cattylink gives you a big overview of the best in Chinese Hi-Fi:

http://www.cattylink.com/

 
China is the world's second biggest Hi-Fi market, and they are avid for the super high-end:

http://www.smarthousenews.com.au/Real_Hi_Fi/Industry?Article=/Real%20Hi%20Fi/Industry/W4F7N2T8 

http://www.stereophile.com/news/040405china/