[Rachel @ Grant Fidelity]

Chinese audio has been around us for quite a while, however most information about these products is only available through grapevine and consumers' internet forum discussions. There is hardly any official answers to some frequently asked questions about these gear.

In general, Chinese high-end audio comes from various tiers of manufacturers. Some are commercial scale with great quality control and excellent tracking record in OEM for some common brands we know in the west. Others are more like boutique shops without sophisticated management and quality varies. Lack of direct communication with the manufacturers has added great uncertainty for North American consumers to purchase Chinese high end audio products - many are of superior quality at very competitive price.

Grant Fidelity specializes in importing and distributing Chinese high end audio from a few hand-picked top manufacturers. Currently we distribute for Jungson, Shengya and Opera-Consonance's analog line of turntables and phono stages. We will be available to answer questions on behalf of these three manufacturers on AudioCircle or through private emails, however you wish.

You will see a stream of reviews coming out in the next couple of months from well-known audio magazines such as Positive Feedback Online, Enjoy the Music, Dagogo.com, Soundstage, 6moons.com etc on the products we distribute. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to ask here for any questions you may have.

Grant Fidelity

[FredT300B]

Rachel, this is a helpful explanation of the quality control issues of Chinese products. A few months ago there was an article about Chinese QC in Stereophile or TAS, I can't remember which, that said exactly what you are saying.

You might be interested to know that the topic for out next Houston Audio Society meeting is the Grant Fidelity Rita 880 with a high end analog front end and Esoteric speakers. I've heard this system before and the sound is mind-boggling. We're also hosting a few local musicians after the HAS meeting  to entertain us with some blues. Everybody in the Houston area is invited to join us:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/houstonaudio/message/3402

[Rachel @ Grant Fidelity]

Rachel, this is a helpful explanation of the quality control issues of Chinese products. A few months ago there was an article about Chinese QC in Stereophile or TAS, I can't remember which, that said exactly what you are saying.

You might be interested to know that the topic for out next Houston Audio Society meeting is the Grant Fidelity Rita 880 with a high end analog front end and Esoteric speakers. I've heard this system before and the sound is mind-boggling. We're also hosting a few local musicians after the HAS meeting  to entertain us with some blues. Everybody in the Houston area is invited to join us:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/houstonaudio/message/3402

Hi Fred,

Great to hear from you and know that the Grant Fidelity RITA-880 will be featured on one of your meetings. We have gone through many tube amps and still fond Rita-880 the most. I will be very interested to hear the group feedback on it after your meeting. We have a EL34 version of Rita (model number is Rita-340) with a reviewer in Texas now - he is about to be done with it in a week or so. If you would like to have your group check out that one during one of the meetings, I can arrange to have it send to your way.

I am glad to be able to act as a voice for the Chinese high end audio industry at this side of the world. The more consumers know about the products, the wiser they can be in making audio purchases. We visit China every year at least once - last year a Canadian music lover went with us on the trip and he was trilled with what he saw, not to mention the pile of gear he bought right out of the factory!

Rachel