HEGEL - Is it really made in Norway ?

Though I've kept quiet, I feel a bit surprised it took this many years for folks to see Hegel simply appears as Consonance gear with both the Hegel logo and much increased price tag applied.

Other than possibly choosing the already existing aesthetic for economic reasons, I cannot see how Hegel influenced the cosmetics.

The pattern I see is too many dealers and manufactures treat their customers like crap. And in this case, Hegel is to blame.

You're getting one side of the story, how do you know it's not customer to blame?

Hegel has excellent customer service. I own a Hegel H30 and speaking from PERSONAL experience. Have you ever dealt with Hegel customer service or speaking out of your &^* again?

If Hegel was doing a better job, this thread probably wouldn't exist.

Name one company that has 100% customer satisfaction. There are bad companies and bad customers!

Kbuzz,

That's an excellent suggestion.

Knghifi,

You make a great point here.

Zd542,

You stated, "The pattern I see is too many dealers and manufactures [sic] treat their customers like crap. And in this case, Hegel is to blame ... If Hegel was doing a better job, this thread probably wouldn't exist."

Personally, I have had very few problems with high end audio manufacturers. I guess I have been lucky -- up till now. But, in this case, I agree with you completely. If Hegel had simply used common sense and seen that they had everything to gain by standing behind their product and, on the contrary, a lot to lose if they did not do so then we would not be talking about this here. To me it shows there is something very wrong with how they run their company -- where company pride takes the front seat and customer care takes the back seat. Very odd.

Trelja,

An very interesting revelation. I did not know this before you mentioned it.

Knghifi,

You stated, "Hegel has excellent customer service." That may be so -- until you have a problem. I am not the only one who has observed this personally.

Possibly related to Trejla's comment....
I did not know of a (possible? actual?) Hegel/Consonance connection. Had no idea until reading this thread. I bought my used Consonance Cyber 800 amps and demo Ref 50 pre-amp a good few years back. Subsequently, bought a used Hegel H200 simply based on good reviews and to have a solid state back up. As an owner I'd always wondered about the significance of the Cyber and Hegel remotes being identical (which they are, apart from the word Hegel on one and Consonance on the other). Guess I know now. Does any of this diminish my enjoyment of the Hegel? Not at all. For any prone to China-bashing. I remember a day when "Made in Japan" was synonymous with the word "junk". How long has that NOT been true? To any prone to automatically associate Made in China with low quality, I'd encourage them to take a look inside a Ref 50 pre-amp. I'm not an EE but even to my untrained eye, it is a thing of beauty. And it sounds pretty good too. Not connected to either company (or China!)...just a happy owner enjoying music through equipment from both these companies.