ppi frx456 crossover, u.s model vs china

I recently bought a Precision Power FRX-456 active crossover, a later model with the silver finish. It was old overstock from a stereo shop in S.F., I bought it new/unused. I already own an older version of the 456, but it has the flat black finish and I wanted a silver version that matches my other, silver PPI amps.

Here are the two together:

Now I had always been under the impression that all PPI product made in 2003 and older (before being bought by DEI) were made in the USA, but I learned only after purchasing it, the silver unit was indeed, made in China. The owners manual copyright dates, the only information I have to figure their exact year of manufacture since I bought both of them secondhand, are 2000 for the black unit, 2003 for the silver.

So I figured I'd take a closer look at the two and find any differences, and indeed I did.

-First off, the circuit boards. In the US unit, every resistor, diode and what have you (not the taller items), are perfectly lined up one after another like good little soldiers, flush to the surface of the board, not crooked or staggered at all. The China unit, not all of them are flush to the surface of the board and many are crooked left to right.

-Also, the spot welds are slightly larger in the US unit:

-The US unit has this extra glop of what seems to be silicone or some type of hot glue on this RED / BLACK/ copper colored spool of wire, and even though it is a slightly larger spool in the Chinese unit, they skipped the goop. It's there to avoid excessive vibration to the spool I'd guess:

-The US unit uses plastic covers for around the RCA plugs, the China unit uses pieces of felt:

....and take a closer comparison look at those resistors!

-Also, the frequency setting knobs slightly rise above the surface of the top panel for the US unit, the Chinese model they are flush with the surface. It improves the asthetics of the US unit with its raised up knobs, IMO.

Now for fitment. The circuit board mounts the same way in both units, it simply slides in along tracks in the body shell like so:

-When fully assembled, there in ZERO play in the US model of the board to the body of the unit, it is a tight, snug fit. When fully assembled, you grab ahold of those RCA ends with you fingers and try to move them side to side, they don't budge, in any direction. Very good for avoiding vibration of course, one the main life expectancy shorteners of all electronics.

-The Chinese unit has not just a little more, but alot of play, so much so that I toolk it apart initially to see if something was broken inside. There wasn't, and I could visually see the extra play wiggleing it back and forth by hand when the board was in the tracks, almost 1/16th of an inch of extra space. The US unit also had some play when the panels were off and I wiggled it by hand, but not as much as the Chinese unit, and when the US unit was fully put back together there is no play at all, the side panels held it snug. The Chinese unit slid back and forth inside the body even when it was fully assembled! Moreso up and down than side to side.

-The US unit uses larger screws for the side panels (US = allen, China = torx):

-US unit has larger screws for the top panel:

....and they sit flush to the surface of the panel of the US unit, the Chinese screws sit sunken in. Not nearly as attractive:

So needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, I'm sticking with my US model.