Here in Norway some of the bands have started to buy Chinese built instruments to 1/5 of the price of other brands according to Norwegian prices. I have always regarded the known brands that we discuss on this site to be the best and most safe to buy, and still I'm convinced that I myself would always buy Besson, Wilson, Yamaha, Sterling and all the others. (Ref thread Euphonium Comparison)
But... there is always a market. And if a school band or amateur band can save a lot of money buying a professional trombone at the cost of $1000 or so I'm sure that they would go for it.
I have tried two of these trombones myself and they sound pretty well. I just saw that they have a couple of euphoniums on their site now. They look very nice and I would like to have played one to see if the quality is as good as the trombones.
To be honest; when I first heard of this I was very skeptical. I still am, but in the light of my other thread here about 'killing the bastards' these instruments may well have a place in the market, given that the quality is good and that they can perform well also after a couple of years.
Is this sort of thing taking place in the US as well?
This is a link to the Norwegian site that is selling them. I'm sure you can find a currency converter to discover the prices in USD. I've also heard that these people are making a lot of money so the cost from China must be very low.
http://www.korpsinstrumenter.no/
You have to click on Prisliste 2007 to view the prices.