The union bash is a red herring. While I agree that the labor unions in the US have been complicit in the mass exodus of industry from the US and have largely outlived their usefulness, it doesn't really factor in here. The cost of labor as a percentage of the cost of producing an audio receiver is relatively small. The bottom line is that small companies like Outlaw don't WANT to own their own production capacity. They are simply creating a product using a mixture of components already in production and designed by others to create a finished product with their name plate on it. Their value proposition is limited to a friendly service staff, quality documentation and (to the extent possible) software tweaks on top of the commodity hardware. So if they want to maximize their profit, they need to keep their supply chain lean and confine production to where all the components are produced. That doesn't mean they couldn't assemble things here, but that doesn't maximize their return on what is likely going to be units shipped in the low thousands.

To be honest, it hardly seems worth the effort when the large players in the industry are able to more quickly come to market with current product and enjoy more profitable economies of scale in the production process. I'll be curious to see what the Outlaw (and Emotiva) product looks like under the covers and see how it differs (if at all) on the software front from whoever is selling it to them as an OEM.

So it's ultimately up to consumers like us to decide if we want to feed this system that is encouraging a transfer of wealth to a hostile country or do we shop for brands that choose another path (potentially a more expensive path for the consumer) that results in trade with domestic companies and/or companies trading in countries that aren't actively trying to subvert our economy (and ultimately our ability to buy their gadgets).

Best,