Australian Manufacturers mean BUSINESS

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 21, 2 December 1932, Page 1

Australian Manufacturers mean BUSINESS

Says Mr. STANLEY H. SMITH Advertising Manager of the "Radio Record" and associate papers, on his return from a business trip to the eastern states of Australia.

There is every reason to believe that Australian-made receivers will be popular in this country. The designers and manufacturers are our neighbours and can organise and personally supervise servicing arrangements. Due to the factories being only young, better marketing facilities can be provided, and freight and exchange both tend to help the importation of the Australian article. Undoubtedly the Australian set is coming.

4 ; USTRALIAN manufacturers oe ‘mean business. While in Sydney arid Melbourne I visited over a dozen large factories, and ‘they all told the same. story-high-pressure work and increased output. And they are staffed by. young men, .some-of those at the helm, even of the largest firms, are not out of their twenties. Keen and: anxious to achieve success, these men who are pioneering a new.industry are eager to . increase production, and they are determined that the Australian-made radio set will lead all others. And I would not be at all surprised if they accomplish their aim, . ; ie To-day the Australian-made receiver is a creditable production. Ingenious in design, and executed in painstaking workmanship, the Australian receiver already more than favourably compares with the receiver manufactured abroad. Designers aim to make the complete receiver a piece of furniture of which the owner will be proud, and the success of this ambition can be realised when it is borne in mind that already a large number of radio cabinets are being exported to America. With American-made chassis, these sets command, in America, a higher price than the all-American set. I am not at all sur- prised at this, for the modern Australian-made console is a piece of really beautiful furniture. In this respect the Australian manufacturer is fortunate in having beautiful timbers at his command, for it goes without argument that some of the Australian woods are the best in the world for this

class of thing. This, I think, accounts for the console set being far more popular than the midget. The Australians tried the midget, but seepag that in any case it had to rest on something, they thought that it rhight as well rest on its own legs, and consequently developed the lowboy console. Fortunately Australian manufacturers did not join in what is called in radio circles "the superheterodyne school of thought," but kept to the T.R.F. circuits while the superhets were in a comparatively experimental stage. All the time, however, their engineers were working on the superhet.circuit, with the result that next season, which, by the way, is commencing now, they will be able to produce: sets of advanced design. Several big factories are already working on their 933 models, and among the first of the modern Australian supereterodynes to reach New Zealand are those made by the Kreisler "people. S,T.C. engineers are at present completing the designs of a set that is expected to eclipse their remarkable 1932 sales record in Australia and New Zealand. In my opinion, next year many more reputable Australian manufacturers will operate in New Zealand, selling to the benefit of the New Zealand radio public-at healthy competitive prices,

There are four good reasons why Australians made receivers should be popular in this country: 1. Proximity of designers and manufacturers. Part of the dissatisfaction created by overseas matittfacturers has been ‘that those who designed the set are a tremendous distance away and have more or less to leave the servicing of their sets to agents. But with the factories almost next door there the serviceman has a reasonable chance. He comes in direct contact with the designing and manufacturing’ repre-sentatives-often with the engineers themselvesand is in a better position to give satisfaction.) Furthermore, if a bad line is encountered, and this; happéns even in the best-regulated factories-it catt be recalled to the factory almost at a moment's notice. 2. Better marketing. The Australian factorieg are newly established and are not over-producing-4 in fact they are under-producing. There will not: be a glut and the inevitable dumped set. Already the radio market has been jeopardised by the unreliablé dealer selling to an tinsuspecting public sets dumped in the country by foreigners. The harm that thig kind of business does to the reliable manufacturer, who is willing to back his product by satisfactory, guarantees of service, can hardly be overw estimated.

3. The Australian article looks better, and is better. 4, Freight is less than it is from anywhere else, and at the preseng time the exchange is in the favour of Australia, with the result thaé sets can be sold here more cheaply than over there. N conclusion, I wish to stress the fact tha radio cannot be bought like any ordinary household commodity. There are too many dangers enshrouded in over-activeness of sellers of what turns out to be a dud set. In the past the "Radio Record" has saved many people from making suck blunders, and although it is. difficult actually to choose a set for a listener, and the "Radio Record" does not care to do this in fairnesg to its reliable advertisers, the Technical Editor will, I am certain, nod hesitate to give an opinion about any set that has not established ity