Dear Cato,

You are quite correct. In fact, when I opened my Made-in-the-UK AOR
AR7030 Plus soon after purchasing it (just to see what it looked like
inside), I was surprised to see several of the parts had "China"
printed on them.

I suppose that, with electronics, it's like with bicycles: certain
necessary parts are manufactured in one country only due to the fact
that it is uneconomical for companies to try to compete. In other
words, sales of a particular item are so low (and so specialized) that
it does not pay for someone to try to compete with an established
supplier, hence there is a virtual monopoly existing for that
particular part(s).

Nowadays, it seems that the countries of choice for certain low-
production, highly specialized electronic components are China and
India.

Frankly, there is nothing wrong with this. In fact, with such
products, it is possible for competition to actually raise prices.
Since the components do not actually "show," no one is the wiser
(unless you're like me - somewhat curious).

The Sony ICF-SW35, recently discontinued, was entirely made in China.
And I have to tell you (I own two of them, both purchased in April
2001) that they are made to the same high standard as any other Sony
radio. Mine are kept, winter and summer, in the glove box of our cars
(just to have with us whenever we might want to have a radio handy).
The batteries are removed. Whenever I do reinstall the batteries, the
radio just works. That's pretty robust, in my opinion.

While I have not opened up any of my Sony ICF-SW7600GRs, I am certain
that many, if not most, components therein are sourced in China. But,
I tell you frankly, that the ICF-SW7600GR (and its predecessor model
ICF-SW7600G)
is assembled better than any other compact shortwave receiver I have
personally seen recently, certainly better than any current Chinese-
assembled one (with the exception of the aforementioned ICF-SW35).
And, in general (especially due to the presence of a synchronous
detection circuit), the '7600GR outperforms most, if not all, others
in its class as well.

That, of course, is not to say that the Chinese-assembled radios can
not be made in a robust fashion. I think the Chinese (and Indian)
factories are just as capable of producing as high-quality electronics
as anyone. It's just that, so far at least, most of the importers, and
thus the factories supplying products to the importers'
specifications, seem more concerned with "low price" rather than "high
quality." (Research the quality problems with the Grundig Satellit 800
and the Eton E1, for example.)

One of these days, the Chinese government (and possibly the Indian
government as well) is going to realize the "negative" impressions
this sort of thing gives to their country and, like the Japanese
government many years ago, they will mandate that only high quality
(and government approved) products are allowed to be exported, at
least until such time as the actual manufacturers themselves insist on
producing only high quality products.

But, to get back to the general gist of this post, if one can afford
$150.00 (or sometimes less), the very best compact shortwave portable
radio currently being manufactured is, in my personal opinion, the
Sony ICF-SW7600GR.

Best,

Joe.

On Apr 17, 8:31 pm, Cato wrote:

The Sony ICF-SW7600GR is still Made in Japan - and to a very high
construction standard too, not even to mention its excellent
performance. It can still be purchased new for $150.00 or less.

Yes... sorry... I made a mistake..... I had read an article some
time ago about Sony, and China....turns out they just get a lot of
their parts from China now,,, although they still put them together in
Japan.