[Deckard79]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif I disagree! Probably don't take to much time or cost a lot of money, for someone with the correct gear and knowledge, to reproduce the woodwork. I am sure its possible to reproduce the GS1000 for far less than $1000 a unit. The material costs are not that high.

Indeed, if you look at the component cost of building a quality loudspeaker it quickly becomes clear that material cost is usually only around 5-10% of the final retail price... the profit margins are huge, which is one reason why there are so many DIYers out there.

I would bet on a pair of GS1000s costing no more than about £80 to manufacture. And in addition to that, you need to take into consideration that counterfeiters don't actually care about the quality of the final product, so they will cut corners and use inferior materials... all providing it looks ok, they are able to fool bargain hunters into parting with their cash....

 

[grawk]

The point isn't the cost to produce, it's the # of sales you can generate. It's easier to justify counterfeiting if you can sell 10000 of something than if you can sell 100 of them. Even if you make 10x more profit on the more expensive item.

 

[Deckard79]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif The point isn't the cost to produce, it's the # of sales you can generate. It's easier to justify counterfeiting if you can sell 10000 of something than if you can sell 100 of them. Even if you make 10x more profit on the more expensive item.

The Grado brand is legendary - other lesser known audio brands have been immitated. I'd say the fact that Grado hasn't suffered the same (so far) is due to two things:

1) Manufacturing process remains in Brooklyn NY - production hasn't off-shored to somewhere like China.
2) Luck.

 

[grawk]

imitation and counterfeiting are 2 different things.

 

[Deckard79]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif imitation and counterfeiting are 2 different things.

When it comes to far eastern markets, not necessarily. The only difference would be in the adoption of brand name. Both immitations given subtly different (often laughably similar) brand/model names and full counterfeits disragard western copyrights, patents. But this is besides the point - where a mass market exists, so does the potential for this. Grados are mass-produced.