[hga]

My family traces it to the '80s? when Sony moved a lot of their assembly to Mexico and the $$$ Trinitron TVs they then purchased were plagued with cold solder joints (which they could take care of but of course most consumers couldn't, at least not directly). For quite some time before they went all in evil as you note their quality went fitfully but steadily downhill.

Compare to e.g. my mid-late '70s Sony turntable, which due to it being direct drive is still fine (the auto positioning and end of record removal mechanism failed long ago but that's hardly essential). Built on a solid cast aluminum base ... they just don't make 'em like that any more.