Most diehard Sonor Geeks know the Force 3000 hardware series was originally manufactured in Germany at the Aue plant. Production has since been moved to China at the new joint JMT/Sonor facility.

I've read the reviews and for the most part agree with the assessment that the new Force 3000 overall is as good as the old European produced variety - with a few exceptions. -- see below...

Observe 2 Sonor force 3000 stands. The one on the right is old stock German production. The one on the left is new Chinese stock.

The tripod bases and chrome are identical. It can be argued that the Chinese plating is slightly better because they have brand new machines that perform the traditional Sonor copper/nickel/chromium triple plating process more efficiently.

Above : the weak spot in the Chinese made stands, in my humble opinion of course:

The two round castings that hold the three "arms" are identical to the German made castings. The arms and bracing are not. The metal stock is thinner on the Chinese arms than the German - see below. Since the casting was designed to accept a different thickness than is being used, the arms have an unacceptable wobble from side to side due to the extra clearance remaining (again, in my opinion).

Below - the German arms. They completely fill the space. The Chinese have a gap of about 1.5mm.

Below...

A rivet holds the top casting firmly and permanently to the rest of this German made assembly. Obviously someone in Germany thought this was a good thing to do.

Now look at the same area on the newer stand BELOW - this part is pressed on. No rivet. No fasteners at all.

This stand came apart on the job in the middle of a set 4-5 months after it was purchased. How much money was saved by not drilling a hole and installing a 2 cent rivet? How many other stands failed on the job like mine did? My kit is in a semi-permanent setup, the basket was adjusted fewer than 20 times before it came apart. In the real world, it would have failed after 2 months of weekend gigs. I was able to repair the stand myself with a hammer, a block of wood and some super glue, but it never should have occurred in the first place. I expect it to come apart again unless I drill and rivet it myself.