MrWorldwide

Rattler, surely you are aware of the battering that Quad's reputation has taken with the faithful since they moved production to China ? I dont have a problem with 'Made In China' as long as the quality control is in place, but it's not a happy ending for a company with Quad's pedigree.

In September 1997 the company changed ownership again as Verity Group sold off businesses to finance its development of flat panel loudspeakers. With Wharfedale it became part of the International Audio Group under the management of Bernard and Michael Chang. Since Walker's death in 2003, the firm has had only its design ethos—"the closest approach to the original sound"—in common with the British hi-fi firm he founded in 1936.^[2]

The International Audio Group (IAG) is a Chinese manufacturer of consumer and professional audio & HiFi components. It is based inHuntingdon in the UK. It is owned and run by twin Taiwanese brothers Bernard and Michael Chang.

What goes up must come down and when dealing with currency the fall could be devasting.

As long as its not devastating. devasting - well, I can live with that.

I had been flirting with very good looking cashier when she asked me if i prefered breasts or legs. Emboldened by this suggestive comment I replied that actually I liked the look of her nice round bum. They kicked me out of the KFC and won't let me back in.

I'll bet I know what your mum said when you told her that tale.

.

I'm with Naam - what a total load of <deleted>. 'Need to convert their billions into another currency' ? Please ....

A big part of the reason for cheaper prices in the US is that it has been molded over the years by Big Business into a capitalists dream. Despite the ravings of the Tea Party types, the US now has some of the lowest taxes in the entire world. Big Business, with its drive for profit, detests import duties and embraces free trade. So it is not necessarily the product that is cheaper in the US so much as the invisible taxes do not exits there.

For example, how many people know that when they by a vehicle in Thailand, it carries a whopping 30% excise tax? Folks, on a 800,000 ThB car ($26,,600USD), there is a whopping 240,000 ThB excise tax ($8,000USD) The buyer sees the 7% VAT on the invoice, but the excise tax is invisible. If the vehicle is imported, add another 100% import duty. With 137% in tax on a imported BMW motor cycle, for example, it is no wonder that the price is less that half in the US. States like Alaska, Oregon and New Hampshire do not even have any sales tax. And these invisible excise taxes are levied on almost everything sold in Thailand, at varying rates depending on the product category.

Also, the US has laws against anti-competitive trade practices, like price fixing. They are reasonably well enforced, and even if not enforced by the government, class action suits by consumers strike fear into the hearts of those that would flout the law.

Thailand has the same laws -- very good ones, in fact. However, they aren't enforced -- don't even get lip service. And there are not any consumer class action suits here. Even if there were, you would need a jury system to get traction and Thailand doesn't have that either. Thus, monopolies and price fixing reign supreme. Most of the business here is controlled by a few giant family cartels.

So, you see, the reason for low prices in the US is not so hard to understand. It has some of the lowest taxes in the world and a jury court system, which some call the fourth branch of government.

I saw something a while back about businesses moving to Delaware because they were pushing themselves as a 'low tax state'. I dont know if that still holds, but I do see complaints from various American audio folk re the state taxes they have to pay on their toys. I think income tax also varies from state to state, or have I got that ballsed up ?

Some good info in this thread, and I will definitely take a look at shipito. Thanks to all who have taken the time to post.

I saw 3 beer Chang toting, beer brand singlet and thongs wearing aussies (presumed... I'm aussie so f off if you going to challenge that comment) wandering around the top floor of paragon..

Wonder how far they got

But you don't write like an Aussie...

Sadly, he does. If I have to move to Kygyrzstan, I will find a country which has no more than 5 Australians total - I expect they will be extremely unhappy to see me, but we all have to make sacrifices.

"Ever been told to leave a Thai-owned shop?"

No, but I've been told by a few posters to leave Thailand.

How's that working out for you ? Did any of them take your advice ? Only one has taken my advice to GTFO - so far, he seems happy to be back in the UK, but I'm guessing that we will see threads about the many things that have 'gone downhill' since his last stint in the old country.

Read the post again, Sherlock. The poster didn't give the advice. He was on the receiving end of it.

And he clearly hasnt taken the advice - my mistake. Apologies for ruining everyone's day, your majesty.

Denizen, is there any chance - however remote - that you might post something relevant to the topic instead of simply engaging in mind games with other BMs ? You have singlehandedly made this thread a whole lot larger than it would ever have been, and we have both discussed this in other threads at considerable length, The 'strength' of the baht is a double-edged sword - I doubt that there is a single BM left who doesnt get that by now .....

"Ever been told to leave a Thai-owned shop?"

No, but I've been told by a few posters to leave Thailand.

How's that working out for you ? Did any of them take your advice ? Only one has taken my advice to GTFO - so far, he seems happy to be back in the UK, but I'm guessing that we will see threads about the many things that have 'gone downhill' since his last stint in the old country.

Maybe they had bad experience with other "farang" before, why would you be different? After all you are just farang, all farang is same, farang, farang, farang.

I think most of the shorts and flip flop farangs are same same....

Basically, you'd be happier to entertain Bernie Madoff in an expensive suit than Gandhi in sandals, right ? How very Thai of you.

meatboy, you are either a glass-half-empty guy or clinically insane - given that I have no formal qualifications to gauge the latter, looks like I'll have to go with the former.

He's Welsh.

Suddenly, everything becomes clear...

Gotcha. My father's side were originally Welsh, mother's side Irish and both sides came to Australia in the 1800s - try to imagine what it's like going through life with that combination running in your veins, Half of me wants to get drunk and bark at the moon, and the other half strongly disapproves of such wanton tomfoolery

Thats the way to keep the tourist away... With the Pound the Euro and the Dollar Exchange rate No one can afford to come to Thailand on Holiday. So many other countries the rate is Much better. Thailand is hurting it's self.... Wake the F&*% up!!!!!!!

Given who the majority of tourist are

maybe not really much of a concern ?

GBP just barely made the top 10

USD & EURO did not

tourism Thailand.jpg

Also This,

>>A study of tourism 'leakage' in Thailand estimated that 70% of all money spent by tourists ended up leaving Thailand (via foreign-owned tour operators, airlines, hotels, imported drinks and food, etc.). Estimates for other Third World countries range from 80% in the Caribbean to 40% in

India.

http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Business/SectoralActivities/Tourism/FactsandFiguresaboutTourism/ImpactsofTourism/EconomicImpactsofTourism/NegativeEconomicImpactsofTourism/tabid/78784/Default.aspx

If you look at the top 7 countries, their only a few hours flight time from Thailand.. The cost of air travel makes a huge difference. And also the majority of the top 7 come in on tour operations. where as mostly those from Europe, Australia and the US come in single or in small groups, and the cost of coming in single or small groups are finding the costs not worth the travel. I can speak only about the US, but most of those holiday travelers are now finding better travel bargains to the Caribbean, especially those holiday seekers of nice beaches.

Australians are reportedly still travelling overseas in record numbers, and more get into trouble in Thailand (assaults, jail, death) than anywhere else according to the stats. As long as Bali and Phuket remain their choice of destination, that's fine with me.

Beetlejuice, where does it say that *I* was the person waved out of the audio store ? Please give me a quote I can work with - perhaps I have dyslexia and typed 'MrWorldwide' when I meant to type 'CarlBKK', or that last crack pipe really has taken its toll.

you quoted CarlBKK', you are supporting CarlBKK', you have become CarlBKK', whoever he is.

Right - of course, that would be the logical answer, wouldn't it ?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/user/19469-carlbkk/

'Whoever he is' has been here since 2005 - clearly, he hasn't had the pleasure of making your acquaintance. We should all be so lucky.

In comparison to the strength of the Thai baht I thought this presentation on ABC TV the other night about the concerns that the Indonesian Rupiah may be falling too quickly and too much was quite an interesting contrast…..

Particularly as one of the problems they cite in Indonesia is their huge bill for importation of oil. And yet I would have thought the conditions would not be dramatically different in Thailand ( particularly with the Thai government promoting more cars on the road ) where they also subsidise the cost of this to the public?

There will no doubt be more Aussies flocking to Bali again for their vacations

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-12/indonesias-rupiah-rapidly-falling/4569024

The biggest economy in SEA has a weakening currency despite double-digit economic growth year-on-year ? Could it be that someone is questioning whether the fundamentals match those numbers ? Beats me, but I will definitely search iView for the program you mentioned.

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=IDR&view=5Y

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=EUR&to=IDR&view=5Y

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=AUD&to=IDR&view=5Y

I wouldn't be too quick to write Indonesia off - how many regional economies have 230 million consumers and an almost endless supply of cheap labor ? Potential problems - sure, but they aren't alone in that regard. Interesting times ahead.

I have found on occasion the staff have not been there to meet my arrival on the helipad with refreshments but mai pen rai.

Hopefully someone was flogged, Your Highness.

Beetlejuice, where does it say that *I* was the person waved out of the audio store ? Please give me a quote I can work with - perhaps I have dyslexia and typed 'MrWorldwide' when I meant to type 'CarlBKK', or that last crack pipe really has taken its toll.

iamotopo, all I know is that I have to get gear configured for 230/240V mains with the Euro plug - I've used several Aussie appliances with an adaptor in Thailand without issue. That is one area where Piyanas and other locals have a major advantage over bringing stuff in from the States.

Give me the 3-pin Furutech plugs over anything with 2-pins.

http://piyanas.com/shopping/product.php?cat=123.345〈=th

I mentioned Boulder earlier - these guys know how to build a power supply:

http://www.psaudio.com/shop/p10-power-plant/

Good luck getting that on the plane in your carry-on luggage

I'm with Kilgore Trout - Thai people seem to share something with drunks when they become enraged : there is simply no reasoning with them. I have met Farang like that in the past, and they are usually referred to as 'mad bastards' - in Thailand, it just seems to be accepted that anyone who pushes a Thai's buttons to the point where they lose it needs to be prepared to deal with the result. Others point to the Thai male's tendency to repress a great deal in their daily life and completely unload on the unfortunate who 'pops the cork', but I'm fortunate in that I've only witnessed the women losing it. Having seen two Farang try to kill one another on Soi 7/1 because one dared to wear the 'wrong' football shirt, I don't believe the Thais have a monopoly on short fuses or irrational anger - YMMV. I don't follow Man U either, but I'm not willing to spend decades in a Thai jail for killing someone over his choice of shirt, <deleted> .....

For those who see this thread as a thinly veiled excuse for 'Thai bashing' (or Chinese/Chinese-Thai bashing). that wasn't my intent at all. I was trying to find out if anyone else had suffered a similar indignity to CarlBKK - some indicated that they had and others indicated that they have been in Thailand for years without any problems - great. Others have seen this as a great opportunity to sink the slipper into Thais - regardless of their ethnic backgrounds - and the odd Chinese shopkeeper. I doubt that anyone here has had uniformly good or bad experiences in Thailand - I certainly haven't - but the prospect of being waved out of a shop for no apparent reason still sits very uneasily with me, regardless of my legal rights or whatever. To those who see absolutely nothing wrong with a merchant treating you in that fashion, I hope you can walk that walk if and when the situation arises.

meatboy, you are either a glass-half-empty guy or clinically insane - given that I have no formal qualifications to gauge the latter, looks like I'll have to go with the former.

Probably because no-one's reported it or no mods have noticed yet.

Don't worry, Fookhaht is on the case and may even get the buttons he's dreaming of.

<deleted> that, indeed.

Hey, you win - I clearly don't know any hi-so Thais, and I definitely wont be invited their private islands. 3 million baht remains a substantial amount of money in my world, but for Richard Branson it's a nice bottle of wine.

The term is 'high end audio', and we aren't talking the latest whizbang creation from Bose. How many people (Thai or otherwise) do you know who would be willing to pay this sort of money for a pair of speakers ?

http://piyanas.com/shopping/productdetail.php?cat=80.90&id=3274〈=th

3 million baht for a pair of speakers (a little over if you need them delivered ..) - unless you know a street vendor who has that kind of money sitting in a drawer, I'm going to guess that it's very much a 'hi-so' thing. Add the 5-10 million you would probably spend on the electronics and cables to drive those speakers and I expect that you could buy a rather nice car for the total outlay - yep, even in Thailand.

(yep - Thai prices are inflated over what you would pay in the US for those speakers, but that's not really the point here)

-

Many people, especially from the UK and non-farang Commonwealth cultures, maintain that social class has nothing to do little connection with cash wealth.

North Americans and Aus/NZ tends to just think of class in purely economic terms, except in the slang sense "classy broad".

Right, and these egalitarian chaps send their children to your average taxpayer-funded school, right ? Short of the odd greenie, I dont know anyone who genuinely believes that - in any case, it absolutely does not apply to Thai people who have an obsession with class that goes way beyond the ability to buy toys.

The term is 'high end audio', and we aren't talking the latest whizbang creation from Bose. How many people (Thai or otherwise) do you know who would be willing to pay this sort of money for a pair of speakers ?

http://piyanas.com/shopping/productdetail.php?cat=80.90&id=3274〈=th

3 million baht for a pair of speakers (a little over if you need them delivered ..) - unless you know a street vendor who has that kind of money sitting in a drawer, I'm going to guess that it's very much a 'hi-so' thing. Add the 5-10 million you would probably spend on the electronics and cables to drive those speakers and I expect that you could buy a rather nice car for the total outlay - yep, even in Thailand.

(yep - Thai prices are inflated over what you would pay in the US for those speakers, but that's not really the point here)

Jesus, meatboy - why dont you just knee the guy in the nuts and again in the face as he slumps to the floor ? One little ray of hope from someone who has tried to build a sustainable future in Thailand and you throw it back in his face ? Tough crowd.

shipito.com Oregon address

Believe it or not, some of the dealers refuse to ship to any business address which they believe to be a 'freight forwarder' - pathetic, but it's all part of 'protecting the brand'. The big boys argue that the cost of doing business in Sydney is much higher than Sacramento - beats the hell out of me.