Chinese Made Speakers, the real deal or total BS?

beatdownvictim · « **on:** 23 Sep 2005, 06:07 am »

First off, lemme introduce myself, i've been on AC for a while mostly because of the SI craze, and more recently the teac al700-p craze. As y'all may already gather, i'm a "thrifty" or outright cheapass person. I'm a college student, ergo the thriftiness.

As most people know there's a lot of stuff coming out of China right now that would rival a lot of american stuff. But being produced in china makes these things insanely cheap for the price.

I have a question about a brand of speakers. It's a pair on www.sekei.com (sorry, i can't link anything over, the site wont let me). If you could PLEASE do me a huge favour and take a look at the speaker section, and look at the ELITE EXCELLENCE 1 MARK II MONITOR speakers for me, and tell me if it's a decent model. I've seen it in person, and it looks magnificent.

here's the specs on it:

Finish: Birdseye Maple or Burl Maple.

Drivers: Scanspeak 3/4”+7” 2-way, 2 unit bass-reflex

Freq. Resp. 40Hz-20 KHz

Dimensions: 420H*315D*226W (millimeters)

Impedance: 8 Ohms

Sensitivity: 86dB

Power Handling: 50 – 150 Watts

High Density Multi-layered cabinet board.

Internally braced

Precision Crossover design uses heavy diameter Oxygen Free Copper, Spatial Core

Inductance, Solen MKP, Bennic XPP Caps, Imported OFC wires, and Gold plated Connectors.

What suprises the heck outta me is that these use Scanspeak units, which are pretty decent (i think) and the specs look really damn good. Could anybody chime in and let me know what you think about these speakers?

Thanks all,

warnerwh · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Sep 2005, 06:35 am »

Scanspeak sure makes good drivers. Specs don't mean much with speakers. You have to listen to them. Good drivers help but once again you have to listen to them. I have no doubt that some good sounding speakers for the money come out of China but have no idea which ones. My Vmps speaker cabinets were made in China and are as nice as I've ever seen on a speaker. I also heard a Chinese integrated tube amp in my system that sounded excellent especially for the money. I was quite surprised actually at the build quality too as it was outstanding and at least half or 1/3 the price of any american gear commensurate.

bubba966 · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Sep 2005, 06:40 am »

The only real Chinese made speakers I've had any contact with are the Rocket by Onix ELT CSE's http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=39.1

I was rather impressed with them. The finish on them was a whole lot better than you'd think by looking at the pics. And they sounded pretty damn good too with very few hours on them.

I don't own them personally, and the speaks I'm talking about haven't gotten much use yet. So I can't comment much on any type of longer term impressions of them.

Guess I'm saying that I don't think that one should stay away from Chinese speaks just because they're made in China. And those speaks that you're referring to seem like they'd be pretty decent.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Sep 2005, 06:48 am »

I heard a pair of Aurum Cantus speakers at PhilNYC's "Holiday Rave" back in December '04. Sounded pretty good. Here's a link to the company... http://www.aurumcantus.com/ .

Some photo's and comments in the NY Audio Rave circle....Phil's Holiday Rave - Dec. '04.[/list:u]

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 Sep 2005, 07:05 am »

I auditioned a pair of Chinese made Onix Ref 1's for a week and a half- while they weren't my cup of tea, the build quality was immaculate. And they had some very good qualities; I can see why people rave about them, even though I don't.

I don't think you can judge a product soley by country of origin. There's good and bad stuff being manufactured everywhere.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 Sep 2005, 07:17 am »

BDV,

Link for info....

http://www.odysseyaudio.com/loudspeakers.html[/list:u]

jhenderson010759 · « **Reply #6 on:** 23 Sep 2005, 01:07 pm »

I have a pair of Aurum Cantus Leisure 5s in Rosewood in my den - 7 in. woofer and G3Si ribbon tweeter. The build quality is fantastic, and the sound is superb for a bookshelf speaker.

Carlman · « **Reply #7 on:** 23 Sep 2005, 01:57 pm »

My guess is that the 'excellence' speakers aren't bad but may not be a long-term speaker. So, they'll be hard to resell. If you could audition the speaker and see if it's what you like, you could then decide whether it's for you long-term or not.

I have a pair of Ushers with a similar driver compliment and I'm mighty impressed.

BTW, I think you should replace 'Chinese speakers' with 'Speakers Sekei sells' and it would make for a more accurate generalization.

-C

beatdownvictim · « **Reply #8 on:** 23 Sep 2005, 07:23 pm »

i should! i'm going down there to see if i can swindle it for some ludicris price. Damn, that thing is deceptively big though, 16 inches tall! yikes, but i've heard that speaker in action before, dynamics and soundstage = excellent. But Carlman(g), got it right, i was thinking about selling it after i'm done with it. Also, what did you pay for your ushers?

Regards

BDV, (The El Cheapo Audiophile)

datman · « **Reply #9 on:** 23 Sep 2005, 08:17 pm »

I have heard the Elites and can say they are a really fine speaker. Actually, amazingly so. They image beautifully and are smooth with excellent detail. The friend who owns them, his wife and daughter prefer the Elites to his Infinity bookshelfs with the powered woofer. I don't remember which model Infinity but I know they used to retail for about $2800/pr. Also, Andrew from Sekei is a real gentleman and a pleasure to work with.

Rocket · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 12:17 am »

Hi BDV,

You should seriously consider lonewolf's recommendation of the odyssey speakers. They are built and designed in canada, have had a number of very good reviews and i'm sure could be sold for a reasonable price in the future.

Regards

Rod

Carlman · « **Reply #11 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 12:41 am »

I agree that Andrew/Sekei is a good guy to deal with. He responds quickly to emails and provides as much info as he can for you.

My point about resale was that you may not need to resell them if you really like them. I really liked my Taiwanese Usher's and I've liked Chinese-made Von Schweikert's... these are home-dealer lines typically in the US and I've never seen them at a hifi shop... However, they will resell better on Audiogon.

I've gotten to the point that I'm just not buying anything without considering living with it forever. There have been too many instances where I wish I still had x... whatever x was I need now... or would like to hear again for whatever reason.

I think the Usher's I have (X-718) retailed for 1100 but there are some S-520's that are about $400 which are very good... but nowhere close to the X-718's.

-C

sethk · « **Reply #12 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 01:46 am »

I don't think we will be able to generalize "made in china" speakers for much longer (if we can even do it now) because a lot of quality names in the high end world are and will be making their speakers in China.
The Von Schweikert VR-4s are actually not especially outstanding from a build quality standpoint despite their very good sound quality, but the Usher Dancers that I saw were totally stunning in every aspect, and some other speakers I've seen at sub $1000 prices for made in China bookshelf speakers have been totally unembarassed sitting next to the best (multi-K) Danish cabinetry (and besting the Danes for looks, IMO.)
Pretty soon, made in China will not have much meaning since a wide range of American, European and Asian companies will build their speakers there.

suits_me · « **Reply #13 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 02:53 am »

I think the replies miss a key point: What market are the speakers designed for and in what market are they selling well? Who voiced them?

I don't want speakers designed by ears not familiar with the North American or European markets, or designed for a far east market, or that has the bulk of its sales there. Like Zu, incidentally, although their speakers are not the most loathesome examples.

As for where the speakers are actually made I could care less, although I know some people do for labor or political reasons.

beatdownvictim · « **Reply #14 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 09:37 am »

Before heading down to the shop again, i did some research and found that each speaker used the Usher 8945 7" drivers ($70 each), and T-9950($60) tweeters, both of which are NOT cheap. (140 + 120 usd = 304 cdn, this will matter later on.)

Anyway i went down again, and they were all laughing and jawwing away at each other until this 24 year old punk (unshaven......... 3 days) walks up to them. I point to the Elite speakers and start spouting off trash like "i know how much these cost, i could buy them online, but i'd end up pissed off waiting, do you want my money?" and the salesmen run to the back as if they were hopping into the batmobile. They look and say that the cost of these speakers cost their boss 4500 RMB, which was $650 CDN. Reasonable, but being in Chinatown, i used my excellent skills of persuasion and utterly laughable cantonese to negotiate. It also helped that another salesman i didn't see, but knew was there. He on the other hand wasn't so quick to check the prices. He hated this job and was hellbent on pissing off the bossman. Here's a conversation i had with him.

BDV "mang, so what did the boss do to you now? you look pissed, did he cut your hours? lower your wages?"

Angryemployee "fuck him, that stupid whore, he fired vince (ex employee) and he's going to fire me because we know more than he does, fuck him and his ugly wife. He's scared of me, HE'S SCARED OF ME"

BDV "mang, he sounds like an ass, so about these speakers, how much can you do? i'd rather give you commission instead of giving it to your boss, here's $20 dollars, and here's a middle finger for your boss"

Angryemployee "tell you what, give me $500 and that'll be no tax"

I'm all like "holy shit, he offered me a pair of $650 (COST, inflated as hell, but who cares) for $500

BDV "no tax my ass, he'll pocket taxes, you know that bastard!"

as you all can tell, i'm trying to piss this guy off about his boss even more than he's already pissed. Subtle wouldn't you say?

"$350 and i'll pay *wink* taxes"

Angryemployee "fuck him, okay"

BDV "okay mang, i'll give you $400 tm"

Angryemployee "if i'm still here tommorow, i'll give you some speaker cable for free"

BDV "can i take the kimber 8 on those speakers there"

Now i'm thinking i can take all sorts of liberties

Angryemployee "go to hell"

So, within 5 minutes of walking into the store, I did:
a) Ignored 2 salesmen
b) Pissed off an already pissed off salesman
c) Paid $350 ($400 after taxes) for a set of speakers

So in essence, i paid 46 dollars for those damn nice cabinets with damn nice binding posts (bi-wireable).

WOOT!

dynaudios · « **Reply #15 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 10:03 am »

Many of those Chinese speakers only look good, but not all of them. Aurum Cantus is definitely the best. I have heard their Leisure 3 SE, and very few can beat its performance, including American and European 2-way bookshelf's. Well, the crossover is designed in US.

bunky · « **Reply #16 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 10:19 am »

Quote from: beatdownvictim

First off, lemme introduce myself, i've been on AC for a while mostly because of the SI craze, and more recently the teac al700-p craze. As y'all may already gather, i'm a "thrifty" or outright cheapass person. I'm a college student, ergo the thriftiness.

As most people know there's a lot of stuff coming out of China right now that would rival a lot of american stuff. But being produced in china makes these things insanely cheap for the price.

I have a question about a brand of speakers. It's ...

the drivers are great but who knows what they sound like.try searching for reviews and if you cant find any i would steer clear of them.

beatdownvictim · « **Reply #17 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 11:05 am »

Tested them several times, they sound excellent, not excellent for the price, but excellent in an absolute sense. I might dump my maggies for these things ha ha

Bill Baker · « **Reply #18 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 01:37 pm »

Quote

BTW, I think you should replace 'Chinese speakers' with 'Speakers Sekei sells' and it would make for a more accurate generalization

This is true. There are far too many Chines speakers manufacturered with some being bottom of the barrel crap and others kicking serious but such as those by Usher and Aurum Cantus. Obviously, the same holds true for US made speakers. With any country of origin, you are going to have your good and your junk.
The speakers sold Sekei have the potential to be very good values but as many have mentioned, do not go by specs and or looks as this gives you absolutely no indication of how they sounds. The one good thing about their price point and build quality is that any decent DIY'er can make them sound exceptional with a few modifications. At worse, they are a good platform to start from.
I am not that familiar with these speakers you are speaking of and wonder if they are truly Scan Speak drivers? No accusations, just honestly don't know.

Fife12 · « **Reply #19 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 05:28 pm »

Beatdown victim,

I went to chinatown too and I looked at their speakers. I felt the cabinet and knoecked on them. Not sure if it was just me but those cabinets were hollow as hell. They must of used some really CHEAP wood to built them. I hope your cabinets were nicenly made.
All I can say was their Bird's Eye Maple was good from far but far from good.

Poll

Good speakers or Crap?

Chinese Made Speakers, the real deal or total BS?