svart-hvitt
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The American audio industry is on a decline. Real innovation happens elsewhere.
If you are looking for integrated, innovative audio systems, you need to go to Europe. Just think about the integrated systems of B&O, Genelec, Kii Audio, Devialet etc.
The American audio industry is going the same way as the American auto industry. Think about the more rational, technologically advanced European models compared to big, bulky, old-fashioned American cars. The Europeans make Porsche 911s, while the Americans make Ford Mustangs.
One of the latest innovation of the American audio industry is JBL's M2. Unsurprisingly, it's big, noisy and old-school where its European counterparts are sleek, silent and innovative.
Rant over...
However: Is this just ranting or is there some truth there?
So let's get some science into this discussion.
Four years ago, MIT published a huge research effort into understanding the industrial landscape of the USA. Here's an excerpt from the report on Production in the Innovation Economy (PIE):
"The wave of disappearance of many small- and medium-sized suppliers creates worrisome and still relatively unknown degrees of dependence on foreign suppliers for U.S. military contractors. Across the entire industrial landscape there are now gaping holes and missing pieces. It’s not just that factories stand empty and crumbling; it’s that critical strengths and capabilities have disappeared that once served to bring new enterprises to life. Economic progress may be preceded by waves of creative destruction, as Joseph Schumpeter claimed. But we need to know whether the resources that remain are fertile enough to seed and sustain new growth".*
The report is recommended reading for everyone who tries to understand how industrial strength is built and is concerned about the decline of industry in America and certain other Western countries.
My point is this: Is the American audio industry losing to competitors in Europe and Asia where you still have clusters of engineering and production expertise that can design and build a product from A to Z? Can the decline of for example JBL Pro be seen through the lenses of the MIT study? Does the MIT report have relevance for the audio industry?
*Link to the report: http://web.mit.edu/pie/news/PIE_Preview.pdf
Link to the MIT PIE web page: http://web.mit.edu/pie/
Link to the book "Making in America": https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/making-america
If you are looking for integrated, innovative audio systems, you need to go to Europe. Just think about the integrated systems of B&O, Genelec, Kii Audio, Devialet etc.
The American audio industry is going the same way as the American auto industry. Think about the more rational, technologically advanced European models compared to big, bulky, old-fashioned American cars. The Europeans make Porsche 911s, while the Americans make Ford Mustangs.
One of the latest innovation of the American audio industry is JBL's M2. Unsurprisingly, it's big, noisy and old-school where its European counterparts are sleek, silent and innovative.
Rant over...
However: Is this just ranting or is there some truth there?
So let's get some science into this discussion.
Four years ago, MIT published a huge research effort into understanding the industrial landscape of the USA. Here's an excerpt from the report on Production in the Innovation Economy (PIE):
"The wave of disappearance of many small- and medium-sized suppliers creates worrisome and still relatively unknown degrees of dependence on foreign suppliers for U.S. military contractors. Across the entire industrial landscape there are now gaping holes and missing pieces. It’s not just that factories stand empty and crumbling; it’s that critical strengths and capabilities have disappeared that once served to bring new enterprises to life. Economic progress may be preceded by waves of creative destruction, as Joseph Schumpeter claimed. But we need to know whether the resources that remain are fertile enough to seed and sustain new growth".*
The report is recommended reading for everyone who tries to understand how industrial strength is built and is concerned about the decline of industry in America and certain other Western countries.
My point is this: Is the American audio industry losing to competitors in Europe and Asia where you still have clusters of engineering and production expertise that can design and build a product from A to Z? Can the decline of for example JBL Pro be seen through the lenses of the MIT study? Does the MIT report have relevance for the audio industry?
*Link to the report: http://web.mit.edu/pie/news/PIE_Preview.pdf
Link to the MIT PIE web page: http://web.mit.edu/pie/
Link to the book "Making in America": https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/making-america