ThomasB

Sad but true, and with the rise of open source, the development game is now just one of numbers, how many developers can you get per project, that with US companies reluctant to honor GPL agreements and we have a real problem. Bangalore, China and Eastern Europe are banging at our door, these areas have great developers. IMI took the avionics contract for the F-22 and what do have outside of a growing gap between our dumb and smart people. True, China is a nation of thieves in that they don't recognize internalional patent law, so the thing would be to keep state of the art stuff out of their hands. China has been the sleeping giant, but when the labor and production costs (fuel, etc) grow to burdensome, they will farm out to the Vietnamese, really the southern tip of China. An ounce of common sense should tell us that the political leaders of either of our political parties are not working for the greater good of the USA. Thirty+ years of increasing trade deficits and increased outsourcing states the obvious. They are working for multi-national corporate interests. Furthermore how could any patriotic DOD official justify giving the contract for our F-22 avionics to the Israelis? Every cent of taxpayer money spent on our military should be plowed back into the USA economy to US industries with US workers. this should be done based upon economic common sense and for security purposes. I see our our country being dumbed down by the media and by stupid policies (such as giving F-22 avionics to IMI) that leave us with less to spend on the education of our USA youth. The Chinese and others are going to eat our lunch within a generation because they encourage hard work and education instead of having their youth fritter away their spare time on foolishness such as gaming and reality TV. The media in this country works hard at increasing its own profits while undercutting the country.

1/ I've always made a strong effort to buy made in USA although my budget is not unlimited. I do prefer the quality that made in USA means. 2/ Companies that outsource to China and elsewhere do it only because it means more profits, not more quality. 3/ When it comes to CEO compensation the shareholders, not the BOD, should have the final vote/say in the matter as they are the ultimate owners. 4/ I am currently looking at the RF-83s and the associated Home Theater package primarily because they are made in America, not because they are Klipsch. If this speaker grouping is not made in USA, please let me know. I have no desire to sacrifice either my lifestyle nor my families so that that we can send US Dollars to subsidize China. Thank you

Bingo, and an excellent post I might add. You do have a way with words. I might suggest only changing one ... from "conscious" to "conscientious". But then again maybe not, as total awareness of the consumer (as in conscious) may be more appropriate . As you say there is so much more to being a smart consumer than merely finding the lowest price. You may find this an interesting take on your theory. http://www.storyofstuff.com/

I'd say we have some different beliefs in this regard my friend, esp on the macro level. It's likely that we didn't recognize the ramifications of lead poisoning from matchbox cars 30 years ago, nor the symptoms. They were damaging our bodies but we didn't know it at the time, just as with many other diseases such as Lyme Disease. We'll likely find out tomorrow that there are other scourges that will impact our lives. The only "consumers" in the USA that are truly demanding lower prices are the big box retailers such as Wal-Mart etc, so that they may increase their profit margins. Because they are big, they now have more market power than the manufacturers. Yet the USA itself still has more market power than all the exporters such as China and could have demanded trade concessions. Instead our trade policies were subverted by Wall St. interests that were more concerned about multi national profits today instead of tomorrow, and cared less about the interests of the USA as a country. I still support the neighborhood stereo shops that provide service and attempt to differentiate themselves by offering knowledge and other services. BTW I just bought a new Sony XBR 52 from a local dealer that offered exemplary service even though I could have saved $500 by going for lowest cost on the internet. The big box stores have ended up being the scourge of the USA because they have the power to demand huge price concessions from US manufacturers. This is what costs our country enormously in the long run. Free (but unbalanced and unfair) trade is a piece of fiction that benefits a few capitalist elites while it disrupts and destroys our middle class. I have to admit that I (as with Lou Dobbs etc) have had relatively strong feelings on this and have put my money where my mouth is. I will pay more to defend our country's economy, and to avoid the rush to the bottom that Wall St interests have pushed as the "new way", when what it really is is a new way for them to increase their profits for the few, at the expense of the many and the big picture that represents an overall strong US economy and self sufficient nation.. (btw i'm not sure that the grammar in that last sentence would pass muster)

I didn’t mean to open a can of worms on this subject. Yet corporations should understand that consumers see source and quality of the product as the single most important factor. It should mean that CEOs of manufacturers will brag about the source of their product (such as made in Hope, Arkansas) and not mask it. As a consumer we should appreciate companies that offer forums such as this, where we customers may candidly discuss their products. Such companies should also appreciate the feedback that they receive even if it isn’t 100% what they want to hear. The problem for products that are engineered in USA and made in China, is that it becomes only a small baby step to being totally designed, engineered and manufactured in China and where 99.9% of the value added processes are being done outside the USA. Typically engineering and production must always work hand in hand for efficiency and quality. When the total process is turned over, the US will have lost another of its many innovations. This is an excerpt from my previous post that was apparently accidentally deleted this AM. <Folks I’m now off my soapbox on this. Thanks again for the feedback although I was hoping the outcome was different. Fortunately when it comes to speakers there are still options….maybe. BTW I still have my McIntosh ML1s that as a young person I could afford in the 70s, and I’m absolutely certain that not one iota came from China. Could it be that the problem today is most Americans can only afford “Made in China” speakers and can only dream about “Made in US” speakers? That’s truly the quandary that the USA is facing and says something about where we are headed as an economy?> Amy BTW I agree that there is more to describing ownership of the process than simply Made in China. It can also be described as engineered in the USA, but made in China. There is assembled in USA from Chinese components, there is 50% USA content, and many iterations in between. Toyota today has more US content and assembly than many US mfrs. but these cars to my knowledge are made to sell in the USA, and are not exported to Japan. But……the most important characteristic of any successful company and product is still quality, and I don’t see that coming from China. If it was US companies would be bragging about the Chinese source of their products instead of cloaking it. The trend in the USA is for the history and provenance of a product to become something that marketers hang their hat on while the history is lost to outsourcing. I must look more seriously at the Reference line of Klipsch speakers.

Thank you Amy for the info. It appears then that those Klipsch home theater products made within my budget of 1500-3500 are made in China. That would include the systems as described on this page http://www.klipsch.com/products/lists/floorstanding-systems.aspx from the XF-48 system on down. Are the RF-83 and RF-63 made in Arkansas/USA? I would like to suggest that Klipsch (and all manufacturers btw) include the country of origin as part of the item specifications info on their webpage. This would benefit those who use the web to do preliminary product selection and those of us who consider country of origin as a major factor in that process. If manufacturers consider "made in China" as a product attribute, then proudly provide consumers with a convenient web source for that information. Please don't relegate it to only a physical Made in China sticker pasted on an obscure location on the product.

Are Klipsch home theater speakers USA made or made elsewhere? I'm going to be purchasing 6 speakers for a home theater system 5.1 expecting to pay in the $1500-3500 price range. If I wish to buy Klipsch speakers, must I accept Made in China or some other foreign made product? Or are they still made in USA? I did search this forum about this question, but most responses were from 2002 or earlier and at that time I saw some posts that indicated Klipsch was still US made. Other posts disputed that. I'm not here to make a political statement so I'll just make a flat statement and leave it at that. I refuse to buy Chinese made products that will cost our country today and my children tomorrow in many ways, just so I can save a couple of bucks with inferior products short term. My dollars will not be going to China if I can help it until Chinese trade is balanced and fair to US workers, their products made safely and with quality, and their workers not treated like slaves.