|
Who put your Eton E1 together?
Hmmm, so according to Passport to World Band Radio, the E1 was
manufactured at Bharat Electronics in Bangalore. Bharat Electronics website: http://www.bel-india.com/Website/Asp/HomePage.htm FAS profile on Bharat Electronics: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/india/contractor/bel.htm Jai Hind. junius |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
if wonder if Eton didn't like the poor construction quality of the 800 and
jumped ship to another manufacturer "junius" wrote in message oups.com... Hmmm, so according to Passport to World Band Radio, the E1 was manufactured at Bharat Electronics in Bangalore. Bharat Electronics website: http://www.bel-india.com/Website/Asp/HomePage.htm FAS profile on Bharat Electronics: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/india/contractor/bel.htm Jai Hind. junius |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
mike maghakian wrote:
if wonder if Eton didn't like the poor construction quality of the 800 and jumped ship to another manufacturer They probably didn't want to take a chance people would associate the new radio with the with the old factory. That and the fact that they've shown they WILL use another manufacturer if needed puts them in a much better bargaining position when negotiating the next pricing round. Hopefully the Indian sets are so noticeably better that they will become long term partners. It's always nicer buying stuff made in a democratic country than made in a totalitarian fascist State. China stopped being communist when the government adopted the Corporate State.system of commerce.It's still a police state, but the politicos are getting very wealthy. mike |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
Yeah, well, what was kind of interesting in the Federation of American
Scientist profile was the first paragraph: "Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) was established in 1954 to meet the Defence needs of the Government of India. Three units of BEL, located in Bangalore, Hyderabad & Ghaziabad, were included on the list of Indian entities that were subjected to US sanctions announced after the May 1998 nuclear tests. Added to the US sanctions, these units are also faced with passive sanctions from some European countries." In any case, the U.S. sanctions against BEL were subsequently removed. Business profile: http://in.biz.yahoo.com/p/b/baje.bo.html |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
junius wrote: Hmmm, so according to Passport to World Band Radio, the E1 was manufactured at Bharat Electronics in Bangalore. Bharat Electronics website: http://www.bel-india.com/Website/Asp/HomePage.htm FAS profile on Bharat Electronics: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/india/contractor/bel.htm Jai Hind. junius Welcome to the world of global manufacturing and trading. In this case whether the label says "Grundig" or "Eton" is really no indication of where it was made. At one time Grundig made radios first in Germany then in Portugal. The owners of the Grundig and Eton names now sell radios that were assembled in one or more locations with parts that come from all manner of countries. This is nothing new. Those two giants of Japan, Seiko and Sony both make many of their products in off-shore locations with parts from suppliers in many countries. Take a good close look at the country of origin for many parts in your car - you might be surprised at how multinational your vehicle really is. Is there a specific reason we should be concerned that "Eton" or "Grundig" radios are made in one or more of locations like: India, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil? |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
How many radios are actually manufactured in Amrtica now,two or three?
How long will that last? I suppose most of the parts are made in other countries.I believe that is something to be concerned about.China will be selling Chinese manufactured cars and vans in U.S.A.in a year or two at about thirty to forty percent less price than similar American manufactured vehicles,thanks to Malcom Bricklin. cuhulin |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
This is nothing new.
Well, the "Manufactured in India" part is rather novel for a shortwave set. I had posted the original message simply because I found the company's history interesting, not out as any commentary on global manufacturing/trade. In any case, it actually is reassuring that it's not being put together by the Tecsun folks. junius |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
|
Who put your Eton E1 together?
junius wrote: This is nothing new. Well, the "Manufactured in India" part is rather novel for a shortwave set. I suppose, but I wouldn't give it much thought. If the China and India combine into some sort of Asian Union then watch out, because it will be a real economic force. I had posted the original message simply because I found the company's history interesting, not out as any commentary on global manufacturing/trade. In any case, it actually is reassuring that it's not being put together by the Tecsun folks. I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied during production. junius |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
In article ,
mike maghakian wrote: if wonder if Eton didn't like the poor construction quality of the 800 and jumped ship to another manufacturer Eton is probably like all the other US "import 'em and sell 'em" consumer electronics "Brand"s. Every product in their line may be made by a different factory. And the reverse, every similar unit in a store may be made by the same factory, despite what company's name is on the box. One example I know of was the Koss CD/Cassette Boombox I had. The same unit was available from Radio Shack, RCA, and several other labels. Lurking in sci.electronics.repair a couple of years ago, just about everybody's VCR from Sony down to Walmart trash was the same Funai unit with a bit different packaging. One check is to look at the FCC ID number that anything that has a microcomputer in it has to have to show that it was tested for radio interference. Often the importer won't bother to have their own check done and will just leave the unit with the factory's registry number. Mark Zenier Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com) |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
Right, well, to jump in with some commentary now, it is a rather dismal
state of affairs...how the market for portable shortwaves has been inundated with these cheap Chinese portables. All the Kchibos, Kaitos, jWins, whatever other uninspiring offerings are out there... A real race for the bottom. Nowadays, it seems that competition among new offerings in this class of radio is, unfortunately, mostly on the basis of price, rather than quality/features. Amazing (perhaps not) that there are buyers for these substandard radios, many of which must have been designed for the domestic market in China, given their substandard performance and atrocious appearance. Perhaps one or two of the Degens are marginally acceptable...I dunno. I do ideed miss the days not too long back when there was a relatively vibrant competition between Sony, Grundig, and Sangean (even Panasonic and Magnavox were in the mix)...and you could expect regular upgrades in your favorite line of radio...with true improvements in performance/features. The day the Sony ICF-SW7600GR is discontinued will indeed be a sad day... junius wrote: How many radios are actually manufactured in Amrtica now,two or three? How long will that last? I suppose most of the parts are made in other countries.I believe that is something to be concerned about.China will be selling Chinese manufactured cars and vans in U.S.A.in a year or two at about thirty to forty percent less price than similar American manufactured vehicles,thanks to Malcom Bricklin. cuhulin |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been
Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied during production. Right, well, quality control was at the heart of my "better Bharat than Tecsun" comment. I don't think we need to go into Tecsun's problems in producing a quality Satellit 800. That went on for years...with constant threads in this forum on whether or not the 4th or 5th generation of the '800 had finally "worked out all the kinks", etc. It became quite meaningless in the end. I wouldn't want to be the guy looking to buy a used Satellit 800, that's for certain. It's encouraging that with the manufacture of the E1, there seems to be, from what is coming out so far, consistently decent quality control applied. junius |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
junius wrote: I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied during production. Right, well, quality control was at the heart of my "better Bharat than Tecsun" comment. I don't think we need to go into Tecsun's problems in producing a quality Satellit 800. That went on for years...with constant threads in this forum on whether or not the 4th or 5th generation of the '800 had finally "worked out all the kinks", etc. It became quite meaningless in the end. I wouldn't want to be the guy looking to buy a used Satellit 800, that's for certain. It's encouraging that with the manufacture of the E1, there seems to be, from what is coming out so far, consistently decent quality control applied. The 800 was overhyped vaporware for a very long time. When it was finally delivered the quality was poor especially considering the price. Given the multiple failed deliveries I would fault Grundig/Eton as much as the manufacturer. They appear to be little more than a marketing and distribution company. And yet the QC on more modestly priced radios like the Degen DE1103 and several of it's stablemates is quite good in my experience, as is the Tecsun PL500. |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
junius wrote: Right, well, to jump in with some commentary now, it is a rather dismal state of affairs...how the market for portable shortwaves has been inundated with these cheap Chinese portables. All the Kchibos, Kaitos, jWins, whatever other uninspiring offerings are out there... A real race for the bottom. Nowadays, it seems that competition among new offerings in this class of radio is, unfortunately, mostly on the basis of price, rather than quality/features. Amazing (perhaps not) that there are buyers for these substandard radios, many of which must have been designed for the domestic market in China, given their substandard performance and atrocious appearance. Perhaps one or two of the Degens are marginally acceptable...I dunno. I do ideed miss the days not too long back when there was a relatively vibrant competition between Sony, Grundig, and Sangean (even Panasonic and Magnavox were in the mix)...and you could expect regular upgrades in your favorite line of radio...with true improvements in performance/features. The day the Sony ICF-SW7600GR is discontinued will indeed be a sad day... The problem isn't a lack of supply of good radios. The problem is that there is little demand for pricey shortwave radios because there are few serious shortwave hobbyists. The lack of demand caused Grundig (the real one), Panasonic, Sony, Kenwood, Yaesu, Icom to stop supplying the really interesting radios that we all enjoy. Unfortunately the Sony 7600 is probably going to be cancelled in the near future. |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
John S. wrote:
junius wrote: I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied during production. Right, well, quality control was at the heart of my "better Bharat than Tecsun" comment. I don't think we need to go into Tecsun's problems in producing a quality Satellit 800. That went on for years...with constant threads in this forum on whether or not the 4th or 5th generation of the '800 had finally "worked out all the kinks", etc. It became quite meaningless in the end. I wouldn't want to be the guy looking to buy a used Satellit 800, that's for certain. It's encouraging that with the manufacture of the E1, there seems to be, from what is coming out so far, consistently decent quality control applied. The 800 was overhyped vaporware for a very long time. When it was finally delivered the quality was poor especially considering the price. Given the multiple failed deliveries I would fault Grundig/Eton as much as the manufacturer. They appear to be little more than a marketing and distribution company. ' Grundig AG is neither involved with, nor do they acknowledge the 800. And the Grundig to which you refer is actually Lextronix. Lextronix bought the right to use the Grundig name in North America, later calling themselves Grundig of North America, and Grundig USA, before being acquired by Eton. It was Lextronix which commissioned the creation of the 800. And you are correct, they are a marketing and distribution company. Lex was the North American distributor for products of Grundig AG. |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
Bangalore is in India.There is an article at (or there was this
morning) www.worldtribune.com about the economy of Bangalore,I don't know if that has anything to do with Eton though.Also,earlier today I did a www.devilfinder.com for,Shortwave Radio Manufacturers around the World There was a website there about some shortwave radio manufacturers going/gone out of business. cuhulin |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
D Peter Maus wrote: John S. wrote: junius wrote: I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied during production. Right, well, quality control was at the heart of my "better Bharat than Tecsun" comment. I don't think we need to go into Tecsun's problems in producing a quality Satellit 800. That went on for years...with constant threads in this forum on whether or not the 4th or 5th generation of the '800 had finally "worked out all the kinks", etc. It became quite meaningless in the end. I wouldn't want to be the guy looking to buy a used Satellit 800, that's for certain. It's encouraging that with the manufacture of the E1, there seems to be, from what is coming out so far, consistently decent quality control applied. The 800 was overhyped vaporware for a very long time. When it was finally delivered the quality was poor especially considering the price. Given the multiple failed deliveries I would fault Grundig/Eton as much as the manufacturer. They appear to be little more than a marketing and distribution company. ' Grundig AG is neither involved with, nor do they acknowledge the 800. That's certainly convenient for Grundig AG. They sold the rights to the Grundig name in a geographical area but refuse to acknowlege the cheap radios the distributor puts the name on. And the Grundig to which you refer is actually Lextronix. Lextronix bought the right to use the Grundig name in North America, later calling themselves Grundig of North America, and Grundig USA, before being acquired by Eton. It was Lextronix which commissioned the creation of the 800. And you are correct, they are a marketing and distribution company. Lex was the North American distributor for products of Grundig AG. |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
John S. wrote:
D Peter Maus wrote: John S. wrote: junius wrote: I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied during production. Right, well, quality control was at the heart of my "better Bharat than Tecsun" comment. I don't think we need to go into Tecsun's problems in producing a quality Satellit 800. That went on for years...with constant threads in this forum on whether or not the 4th or 5th generation of the '800 had finally "worked out all the kinks", etc. It became quite meaningless in the end. I wouldn't want to be the guy looking to buy a used Satellit 800, that's for certain. It's encouraging that with the manufacture of the E1, there seems to be, from what is coming out so far, consistently decent quality control applied. The 800 was overhyped vaporware for a very long time. When it was finally delivered the quality was poor especially considering the price. Given the multiple failed deliveries I would fault Grundig/Eton as much as the manufacturer. They appear to be little more than a marketing and distribution company. ' Grundig AG is neither involved with, nor do they acknowledge the 800. That's certainly convenient for Grundig AG. They sold the rights to the Grundig name in a geographical area but refuse to acknowlege the cheap radios the distributor puts the name on. The reason they do not acknowledge the 800 is precisely because of the poor quality. It's also the reason they did not let Lex market it as a Grundig outside of North America. It was, according to one Grundig AG designer I corresponded with, who was on the original German Satellit team, "an embarrassment." Lex also tried to slide it past EU regulations by declaring it CE compliant, which is required for European marketing. They even had CE stamped into the case. They did not submit Sat 800 for CE evaluation, however, and the CE had to be removed from existing castings, and remaining cases recast. As a counter move, Lex bought and distributed a number of CE compliant power supplies with 800 models. Some 800's made it overseas. None through legitimate channels. And the Grundig to which you refer is actually Lextronix. Lextronix bought the right to use the Grundig name in North America, later calling themselves Grundig of North America, and Grundig USA, before being acquired by Eton. It was Lextronix which commissioned the creation of the 800. And you are correct, they are a marketing and distribution company. Lex was the North American distributor for products of Grundig AG. |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
D Peter Maus wrote: John S. wrote: D Peter Maus wrote: John S. wrote: junius wrote: I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied during production. Right, well, quality control was at the heart of my "better Bharat than Tecsun" comment. I don't think we need to go into Tecsun's problems in producing a quality Satellit 800. That went on for years...with constant threads in this forum on whether or not the 4th or 5th generation of the '800 had finally "worked out all the kinks", etc. It became quite meaningless in the end. I wouldn't want to be the guy looking to buy a used Satellit 800, that's for certain. It's encouraging that with the manufacture of the E1, there seems to be, from what is coming out so far, consistently decent quality control applied. The 800 was overhyped vaporware for a very long time. When it was finally delivered the quality was poor especially considering the price. Given the multiple failed deliveries I would fault Grundig/Eton as much as the manufacturer. They appear to be little more than a marketing and distribution company. ' Grundig AG is neither involved with, nor do they acknowledge the 800. That's certainly convenient for Grundig AG. They sold the rights to the Grundig name in a geographical area but refuse to acknowlege the cheap radios the distributor puts the name on. The reason they do not acknowledge the 800 is precisely because of the poor quality. It's also the reason they did not let Lex market it as a Grundig outside of North America. It was, according to one Grundig AG designer I corresponded with, who was on the original German Satellit team, "an embarrassment." Lex also tried to slide it past EU regulations by declaring it CE compliant, which is required for European marketing. They even had CE stamped into the case. They did not submit Sat 800 for CE evaluation, however, and the CE had to be removed from existing castings, and remaining cases recast. As a counter move, Lex bought and distributed a number of CE compliant power supplies with 800 models. Some 800's made it overseas. None through legitimate channels. And the Grundig to which you refer is actually Lextronix. Lextronix bought the right to use the Grundig name in North America, later calling themselves Grundig of North America, and Grundig USA, before being acquired by Eton. It was Lextronix which commissioned the creation of the 800. And you are correct, they are a marketing and distribution company. Lex was the North American distributor for products of Grundig AG. I'm really amazed that Grundig AG so completely squandered the value of that brand name in noth america. It was apparently sold with few restrictions on it's use. I can only guess that the german Grundig was hurting for cash at the time. |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
John S. wrote:
D Peter Maus wrote: John S. wrote: D Peter Maus wrote: John S. wrote: junius wrote: I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied during production. Right, well, quality control was at the heart of my "better Bharat than Tecsun" comment. I don't think we need to go into Tecsun's problems in producing a quality Satellit 800. That went on for years...with constant threads in this forum on whether or not the 4th or 5th generation of the '800 had finally "worked out all the kinks", etc. It became quite meaningless in the end. I wouldn't want to be the guy looking to buy a used Satellit 800, that's for certain. It's encouraging that with the manufacture of the E1, there seems to be, from what is coming out so far, consistently decent quality control applied. The 800 was overhyped vaporware for a very long time. When it was finally delivered the quality was poor especially considering the price. Given the multiple failed deliveries I would fault Grundig/Eton as much as the manufacturer. They appear to be little more than a marketing and distribution company. ' Grundig AG is neither involved with, nor do they acknowledge the 800. That's certainly convenient for Grundig AG. They sold the rights to the Grundig name in a geographical area but refuse to acknowlege the cheap radios the distributor puts the name on. The reason they do not acknowledge the 800 is precisely because of the poor quality. It's also the reason they did not let Lex market it as a Grundig outside of North America. It was, according to one Grundig AG designer I corresponded with, who was on the original German Satellit team, "an embarrassment." Lex also tried to slide it past EU regulations by declaring it CE compliant, which is required for European marketing. They even had CE stamped into the case. They did not submit Sat 800 for CE evaluation, however, and the CE had to be removed from existing castings, and remaining cases recast. As a counter move, Lex bought and distributed a number of CE compliant power supplies with 800 models. Some 800's made it overseas. None through legitimate channels. And the Grundig to which you refer is actually Lextronix. Lextronix bought the right to use the Grundig name in North America, later calling themselves Grundig of North America, and Grundig USA, before being acquired by Eton. It was Lextronix which commissioned the creation of the 800. And you are correct, they are a marketing and distribution company. Lex was the North American distributor for products of Grundig AG. I'm really amazed that Grundig AG so completely squandered the value of that brand name in noth america. It was apparently sold with few restrictions on it's use. I can only guess that the german Grundig was hurting for cash at the time. The move surprised a lot of people. But then, the relationship between Grundig AG and Lex had been very good, and very profitable for years. So Grundig had no reason to think that such a natural evolution would turn so far south. But Lex is a marketing company. And without a product line of their own, it had to be fairly clear that a third party product bearing the Grundig name wasn't going to be the equivalent of Grundig AG quality. Grundig AG may have been building offshore themselves, but design was their own and QC was carefully monitored. A third party would not have the same interests, nor the same focus. Products would be different. And it would be tough to compete with Grundig's reputation for Quality. The use of the name was not unrestricted. But you know how corporate contracts can be interpreted. Every specification creates another loophole. And Lex, seeing cash at hand, exploited as many of them as they could. And yes, Grundig was hurting at the time. Fresh off their screwing by Philips, they needed the cash to rebuild. Licensing the name on a line of products in the lucrative US market, where Grundig AG has never had a profound presence, would have to look like free money. And to be fair, Lex turned out a line of products that were marketed to both the Grundig aware, and those to whom the name was not a household word. And Lex' marketing was non pareil. They created demand in both the nostalgia and the non SW markets for a line of retro radios marketed as 'updates' of Grundig classics. But the claims went beyone misleading. They even went so far as to claim they had found and hired the original designers and craftsmen, in their camera-ready ads, to faithfully recreate the hardwood cases of their retro products. This, despite the fact that their biggest retro product, the Classic 960 wasn't wood, but bakelite or catalin. With brass insert trim, not gold paint. The electronics wern't any better. I ordered a Classic 960 and found the quality to be so bad, I returned it at once. Dial calibration was off by more than a megahertz. It drifted. The dial backlash was almost half a channel's width. They sent me a new one. The replacement was worse than the first, and the second replacement was worse than the first replacement. Build quality was criminal. I"m not the only one who noticed this. Not exactly the result Grundig AG had hoped for from this arrangement. Grundig is currently under recovery in Germany. And a new product line is hitting the world market. Some significant innovations, too. But the name, in the US, at least, has been tainted. And isn't likely to be revived soon. |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
Its funny Grundig would be embarrassed having there name associated
with the 800...Maybe they should take a closer look at the S350 that bears there name...Now that is a radio to truly be embarrassed about... |
Who put your Eton E1 together?
D. Peter Maus wrote: John S. wrote: D Peter Maus wrote: John S. wrote: D Peter Maus wrote: John S. wrote: junius wrote: I don't know who actually designed the Eton E1 - it could have been Tecsun or Degen I suppose. I believe that Tecsun is part of Degen and that the Eton radios come from one or more of their factories. Whether Degen/Tecsun farms out production to another company in India probably isn't as important as the original design and quality control applied during production. Right, well, quality control was at the heart of my "better Bharat than Tecsun" comment. I don't think we need to go into Tecsun's problems in producing a quality Satellit 800. That went on for years...with constant threads in this forum on whether or not the 4th or 5th generation of the '800 had finally "worked out all the kinks", etc. It became quite meaningless in the end. I wouldn't want to be the guy looking to buy a used Satellit 800, that's for certain. It's encouraging that with the manufacture of the E1, there seems to be, from what is coming out so far, consistently decent quality control applied. The 800 was overhyped vaporware for a very long time. When it was finally delivered the quality was poor especially considering the price. Given the multiple failed deliveries I would fault Grundig/Eton as much as the manufacturer. They appear to be little more than a marketing and distribution company. ' Grundig AG is neither involved with, nor do they acknowledge the 800. That's certainly convenient for Grundig AG. They sold the rights to the Grundig name in a geographical area but refuse to acknowlege the cheap radios the distributor puts the name on. The reason they do not acknowledge the 800 is precisely because of the poor quality. It's also the reason they did not let Lex market it as a Grundig outside of North America. It was, according to one Grundig AG designer I corresponded with, who was on the original German Satellit team, "an embarrassment." Lex also tried to slide it past EU regulations by declaring it CE compliant, which is required for European marketing. They even had CE stamped into the case. They did not submit Sat 800 for CE evaluation, however, and the CE had to be removed from existing castings, and remaining cases recast. As a counter move, Lex bought and distributed a number of CE compliant power supplies with 800 models. Some 800's made it overseas. None through legitimate channels. And the Grundig to which you refer is actually Lextronix. Lextronix bought the right to use the Grundig name in North America, later calling themselves Grundig of North America, and Grundig USA, before being acquired by Eton. It was Lextronix which commissioned the creation of the 800. And you are correct, they are a marketing and distribution company. Lex was the North American distributor for products of Grundig AG. I'm really amazed that Grundig AG so completely squandered the value of that brand name in noth america. It was apparently sold with few restrictions on it's use. I can only guess that the german Grundig was hurting for cash at the time. The move surprised a lot of people. But then, the relationship between Grundig AG and Lex had been very good, and very profitable for years. So Grundig had no reason to think that such a natural evolution would turn so far south. But Lex is a marketing company. And without a product line of their own, it had to be fairly clear that a third party product bearing the Grundig name wasn't going to be the equivalent of Grundig AG quality. Grundig AG may have been building offshore themselves, but design was their own and QC was carefully monitored. A third party would not have the same interests, nor the same focus. Products would be different. And it would be tough to compete with Grundig's reputation for Quality. The use of the name was not unrestricted. But you know how corporate contracts can be interpreted. Every specification creates another loophole. And Lex, seeing cash at hand, exploited as many of them as they could. And yes, Grundig was hurting at the time. Fresh off their screwing by Philips, they needed the cash to rebuild. Licensing the name on a line of products in the lucrative US market, where Grundig AG has never had a profound presence, would have to look like free money. And to be fair, Lex turned out a line of products that were marketed to both the Grundig aware, and those to whom the name was not a household word. And Lex' marketing was non pareil. They created demand in both the nostalgia and the non SW markets for a line of retro radios marketed as 'updates' of Grundig classics. But the claims went beyone misleading. They even went so far as to claim they had found and hired the original designers and craftsmen, in their camera-ready ads, to faithfully recreate the hardwood cases of their retro products. This, despite the fact that their biggest retro product, the Classic 960 wasn't wood, but bakelite or catalin. With brass insert trim, not gold paint. The electronics wern't any better. I ordered a Classic 960 and found the quality to be so bad, I returned it at once. Dial calibration was off by more than a megahertz. It drifted. The dial backlash was almost half a channel's width. They sent me a new one. The replacement was worse than the first, and the second replacement was worse than the first replacement. Build quality was criminal. I"m not the only one who noticed this. Not exactly the result Grundig AG had hoped for from this arrangement. Grundig is currently under recovery in Germany. And a new product line is hitting the world market. Some significant innovations, too. But the name, in the US, at least, has been tainted. And isn't likely to be revived soon. I suspected as much with the sale of the Grundig brand name in North America. Companies don't normally sell a valuable intangible asset like a brand name unless they have to. Without tight controls on its use consumers end up being at best confused if not intentionally misled. Yes, it takes many decades to build up a brand image, but it can be lost so quickly. The name Gruding that I and many others once associated with expensive high quality sound equipment is now tied to the glitzy cheesy stuff that places like Sharper Image and ShopNBC peddle. |
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