So How Much Are These Chinese Mics Costing To Make?

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Vikki said:
Hmmm I was watching a programme on TV the other day and it was saying that the average Chinese worker hopes to take home the equivalent of 60 dollars each month. So how much do these Chinese mics actually cost to make?

I was talking to a company rep who deals in Chinese made musical equipment, he was saying if you want to make money go and have a product made in China, stack 'em high and don't sell 'em too cheap! He reckons a valve mic (not stating any brand name here) can be produced virtually to your own spec and sold for about 25 dollars from the factory.

I believe they are usually sold by the container load, so you have to buy quite a few! Then of course, there's the transport and distribution costs and import taxes depending on the country. So perhaps 50 dollars per mic, could be a good business to get into? Yes, I know the mic business is getting swamped by loads of different brand names, perhaps I can see why!

The same company rep was saying on a recent visit to China, the particular company he was visiting were advertising for workers, by the job deadline around 450 people had formed a queue at the gates of the factory. One of the directors of the company told the managers to leave the people standing outside the gates for a couple of days, stating "the ones who go without food and water for a couple of days must be prepared to work hard" i don't know how true this is, but he seemed pretty knowledgeable. If it is true it's a sad world isn't it?
Vikki(uk)
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Good question, and one that I've asked before and never got an answer... my guess is... something like a B1 cost somewhere around $2 to make in China.
 
DJL said:
Good question, and one that I've asked before and never got an answer... my guess is... something like a B1 cost somewhere around $2 to make in China.
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Wow!
Where does one find this type of info?
 
Bowisc said:
Wow!
Where does one find this type of info?
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Good question. I guess you'd have to have first hand experience to get that type of data. Word of mouth wouldn't be too reliable.
 
A while ago there was this guy who said that the Bose satelite speakers are being made in Mexico for $0.50 and the are sell as a set with a sub for $799.

This guy is a pro who seems to know his shit.
 
Han said:
A while ago there was this guy who said that the Bose satelite speakers are being made in Mexico for $0.50 and the are sell as a set with a sub for $799.

This guy is a pro who seems to know his shit.
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That I believe. It's two pieces of molded plastic, a scrap of fabric, the connectors (which seem OK), and the crappiest driver you can imagine. Oh yes, I forgot the polyester stuffing.

The Bose cube is too small to retrofit the 3" Fostex full-range driver, but I found some similarly crappy company on eBay that sells cheap cubes (3 for $30 or so) & the Fostex is a direct drop in to their case. That makes a really nice sounding satellite system.
 
DJL said:
Good question, and one that I've asked before and never got an answer... my guess is... something like a B1 cost somewhere around $2 to make in China.
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DJL,

Could you provide a source for this information. Otherwise this info would be misleading. And somewhere I heard that you hate misleading info... except when it's coming from you.
 
Han said:
A while ago there was this guy who said that the Bose satelite speakers are being made in Mexico for $0.50 and the are sell as a set with a sub for $799.

This guy is a pro who seems to know his shit.
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I worked as an engineer at a well known Home Theater Systems company eons ago when they were making top-of-the-line stuff. The speakers cost about $25 each (12 inch woofers) and the smaller speakers were varied around $10-15. The 100W power amps cost $100 each. These systems sold for like $2000 and up. The cabinets were particle board and the whole system was slammed together in about an hour (maybe less). Speakers were tested and the bad ones thrown out. The power amps were fixed by techs and thrown out if the time was more than 1 hour. This was in America. We lost much more $$$$ than the chinese manufs.because we paid the shipping for the crappy parts. As usual, everyone loved the sound but the QC was another story.
 
acorec said:
As usual, everyone loved the sound but the QC was another story.
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I'd guess the cost of manufacturing for the mics in question is probably about 20% of retail. If it was much less somebody else would undercut 'em too easily.

Say the distributor gets 50% retail on a good day, that gives 'em 30% retail to pay shipping, G&A, marketing, R&D if they have any, warranty claims, and a few extra pennies to the factory for their share of the profit. That would be roughly typical for many manufactured goods. It's also fairly close to what anybody here could build buying parts off digikey or mouser in the thousands, except of course for the labor.
 
Yep and the biggest joke is that loads of people put their fine sounding speakers in the attic and buy a "home theatre system", in order to enjoy "surround sound".

Small problem though is that many of these expensive systems sound like crap.

Manufacturers are laughing so loud you can hear them in Nepal.
 
Hey Han,

I know exactly what you mean, I got my friends old KEFs when he 'upgraded' to a sony surround system. He still says 'I never heard proper audio till I got this in the house' - I guess we're both happy then :))
 
KEF you say? What type of Kef's? great sounding speakers!

I've got a number of IMF transmission line speakers which are all equipped with Kef drivers. Look at te RSPM's http://www.imf-electronics.com/

These are the best sounding speakers I've heard so far, they're so detailed it's scary. Freq response 17hz-40khz in an almost flat line.

These were banned to the attic as well because mom wanted these big speakers (103 cm) out of the living room. I've bought them in near mint condition for $350.

They beat most 'studio monitors' including the big Genelecs.

I also have the Compact2, Compact Monitor2 and the ALS40II.

I've said it a number of times, even the small Compact2 which can be found for $50 the pair, will smoke most nearfield studio monitors in freq response and detail.

KEF baby! :D
 
Awesome,

so what your saying is i should sell my DyanAudios and get me some of these? Imi at least extremely interested in buying a pair of the compacts or something to use as a mobile speaker or something.

How hard is it to find a pair of these things?

Sounds really interesting.

Danny
 
I'm not saying you should sell your monitors. I have a pair of NS10's next to the ALS40's om my board and when I switch to the NS10's it's shocking.

The problem is that many home recording engineers with a limited budget buy some cheap "monitors", while there are speakers like KEF Calinda and IMF Compact Monitor 2's out there for $70 that sound way better than the cheap BehringerAlesisorwhatevershit.

Last week we compared the small Compact 2 to the big RSPM's in the big room. These little babies go very low, you can almost feel it, not any boomy sound, just a very deep and calm low end, amazing for such a small speaker (this is due to the transmission line priciple) and the detail is striking. They have the KEF T27 tweeter which is a little too loud, but you can tweak that with a little eq.

I've bought the pair for 50 euro and there are lots of them, try ebay.

The Compact Monitor 2 and 3 sounds even better because of the bigger low/mid driver and the better tweeter, a great speaker for mastering also.

But to return to the topic, these Chinese mics are cheap! :D
 
DJL said:
Good question, and one that I've asked before and never got an answer... my guess is... something like a B1 cost somewhere around $2 to make in China.
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My guess is that the Behringer B1 that you refer to probably costs about 10 times your $2 guess, or more.
 
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DJL said:
Good question, and one that I've asked before and never got an answer... my guess is... something like a B1 cost somewhere around $2 to make in China.
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I'd reckon the only guy who posts on these boards who knows jack shit about the question is Alan Hyatt - he could tell you the costs to the penny. But it'll be a cold day in hell, or pigs will fly, o cuando la rana crie nalgas y el sapo pelo before he'll be crazy enough to touch that subject with your asshole lying in wait here. So live with it - you ain't gonna know, and your guess is just pure unfounded bullshit conjecture.
 
None of those IMF speakers on Ebay, atleast that I could find. :( They seem quite interesting, especially since I could likely afford just picking up a pair for the heck of it. :)
 
Does it really matter what the "cost" of manufacture of a particular mic is? What costs are included? Which are excluded? Logically, by the time anyone purchases such a mic at the user end, every bit of that price is part of the cost, which includes dealer markup (for its overhead and profit), shippers, etc., etc., etc.

What I observe is that Chinese mics are very inexpensive and, although they have performance issues, they are almost unanimously viewed as excellent for the price.
 
I ONLY buy stuff "from" and work for companies "that" neither produce goods "for" nor do business "with" companies or countries that have somehow or at sometime offended me, my family or friends, my religion, my political party, or my country.

I'm basically naked, unemployed, and homeless.

I still have my principles, though.
 
tdukex said:
I ONLY buy stuff "from" and work for companies "that" neither produce goods "for" nor do business "with" companies or countries that have somehow or at sometime offended me, my family or friends, my religion, my political party, or my country.

I'm basically naked, unemployed, and homeless.

I still have my principles, though.
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Well said.
 
crazydoc said:
I'd reckon the only guy who posts on these boards who knows jack shit about the question is Alan Hyatt - he could tell you the costs to the penny. But it'll be a cold day in hell, or pigs will fly, o cuando la rana crie nalgas y el sapo pelo before he'll be crazy enough to touch that subject with your asshole lying in wait here. So live with it - you ain't gonna know, and your guess is just pure unfounded bullshit conjecture.
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The reality is there are mics you can get for about $20.00, but these are mostly dynamics and some very cheap LD's.

So, crazydoc, it is a cold day in Hell....I don't know why I am doing this, but we land, that is after shipping, duty, customs fees and other documentation fees about $42.00 for a Studio Projects B1. We sell it to the dealer for about $64.00, and the user, that is you guys pay about $99.00. There is not as much profit as you would think there is. I have a good amount of employees to pay, insurance, rent, advertising and the list goes on.

There may be a few dealers pissed off that I have given this information, but the B1 is worth all of the $99.00 you will pay for it, and the dealer is not making a killing, and neither are we.

We pay much more for our other mikes, and there is no way you will get a tube mic for $20.00. You can buy crap anywhere from any country. As for us, we make some money, but we also back up our product with service at a level that no one else does. Sure, we need to sell more to make more, but we are doing well, and I think our product is above many other brands, but it really does not matter where it is made. You either get a good mic, or a bad one no matter what the cost.
 
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