What gear you wouldn't buy because of its name or cult status.

[Justdafactsmaam]

Nothing. If a product does what I want it to do I don’t care one bit about the status, positive or negative that comes with the brand name. IMO that would be a childish reason to avoid an otherwise excellent product that fits a need or want.

 

[Purité Audio]

Personally I wouldn’t carry any product, whose marketing was at best disingenuous.
Keith

 

[Roderik]

Childish all of this. Frustration rages.

 

[Killingbeans]

The MICHI line from Rotel, I find the name ridiculous for a powerful amplifier, because in my native language that's what you call a kitten when you ignore the name "michi michi michi"

Paint it pink and put some Hello Kitty stickers on it. Problem solved

 

[jsrtheta]

The MICHI line from Rotel, I find the name ridiculous for a powerful amplifier, because in my native language that's what you call a kitten when you ignore the name "michi michi michi"

You should tell them. I'm sure they will apologize and rename the entire line.

 

[Svet Angelov]

Anything from Rega and B&W.

 

[Sal1950]

Anything from Rega and B&W.

Why? I've never owned anything from either but both have decent reputations on the market ?

 

[Svet Angelov]

Why? I've never owned anything from either but both have decent reputations on the market ?

I think Rega are the golden geese of modern vinyl players, minimalist design and minimalist engineering, at a premium. So maybe a good company to be the CEO of :Р If I do ever do go back to vinyl I'd go Technics. Their amps are also on the sucky side (brio and brio R at least)

And for B&W - mainly because the biggest fanatics (read:subjectivists) I've seen on the internet and also met in real life, have been B&W purists. Their loudspeakers measuring poorly only adds to the humour. That being said... I would love to own a pair of new Nautiluses Both me and the missus would crap ourselves if we got to look at those beauties every day.

 

[Sal1950]

I would love to own a pair of new Nautiluses Both me and the missus would crap ourselves if we got to look at those beauties every day.

These ? I'd rather have a elephant crap in my living room than look at these monstrosities. LOL

 

[Svet Angelov]

These ? I'd rather have a elephant crap in my living room than look at these monstrosities. LOL

I can't see the image, but I'm pretty sure you know which ones I mean. They're more like sculptures than speakers, which is what I find beautiful at least.

And they say that beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder.. :Р

 

[CT Man]

I own Harbeth speakers, and I’m a member of HUG. Shaw is odd, but he’s more publicly science-based than most of his competition.

More generally, I’ve noticed brands change. I used to own B&W (in 1984-6), but I wouldn’t buy them now. High end cable companies, though - never.

Similar journey for me (though I stopped hanging out on HUG shortly after purchase). When it came time to replace my 1980s B&W Matrix 3 Series 2 speakers I was horrified at the screechy sound of contemporary B&W speakers. I auditioned many brands over a period of months with my own playlist. Harbeth gave me the sound I like, especially noticeable with vocals with minimal accompaniment, solo classical guitar and piano, acoustic jazz. The scale with orchestral music is to my taste: large, but not unnaturally so.

Yes, this is subjective. Now that I've awakened from my 1980s hi-fi slumber I value measurements for establishing a baseline, but after a certain point I just have to go with what sounds right to my aging ears in my room with my music. Full spectrum bass traps in three corners keep the low end even and crisp, plus a touch of PEQ to temper some problem frequencies for my ears. Audio bliss...

 

[CT Man]

In the days of FM, you needed a good antenna. Absolutely. It would make an average tuner perfectly serviceable.

On the other hand, if you lived near a powerful station transmitting on a wavelength close to a more distant weaker station, or lived in the middle of NYC with all its high rises, or needed to listen to a distant station, the tuner itself was an important consideration. Unless you had one of those requirements, by the late '70s, any mid-level tuner was as good as you'd likely need. In those circumstances, you read Len Feldman's tuner reviews.

But, generally, the cheaper option for the vast majority of suburban listeners back then was to install an outdoor yagi. I bought mine from Radio Shack. Totally worthwhile.

I'm reminded of some tuner reviews by David Rich and Richard Modafferi (designer of the McIntosh MR78) in the Audio Critic. One of the best tuners was a car audio unit from Blau (I believe it was). But who wants a car radio in their system? On the other hand, a super expensive (but lovely) Accuphase came misaligned, out of the box.

FM tuners and open reel--two audio components I'll never miss.

For me local FM public radio music programming is extremely important but streaming at 128kbps or less is horrible. A good tuner with a good attic antenna is still an essential part of my system.

 

[EJ3]

For me local FM public radio music programming is extremely important but streaming at 128kbps or less is horrible. A good tuner with a good attic antenna is still an essential part of my system.

Very happy with my modded NAD 4300 tuner.
And still use my ADVENT 300 as a pre for a DUAL 1229 TT and the
tuner section, both tied to my chimney mounted FM only antenna's (the 4300 on a directional with rotator & the 300 on an omn).
There are a few stations that are worthwhile in their quality (I can no longer hear above 15K anyway).
The TV that is coming (haven't had one since 2007) will also get a chimney mount on a rotator (I am on an island [James Island] along the east coast {USA} of South Carolina.
And be hooked up to my oPPo 205 UDP (currently plays my CD's for my main stereo & DVD/Blu RAY & 4K for my desktop computer 32" monitor).
No streaming (yet, maybe one day).
I prefer ownership of physical media that can't disappear on you (& that you can take with you [yes, I use thumb drives, SSD's & hard drives that I have put media on {and the modded Dell 1645 laptop I have still plays disks up to Blu Rays, with an HDMI out}) onto boats, yachts, ships or to my cabin on a river out in the wilderness (nearest village, town, whatever, a too close 25 miles).
We are a river community there, each with an acre or more of land. And down dirt roads. No tourism except kayakers on the river. Fish (clean 'em on the river bank, cook 'em on a fire surrounded by cinder blocks right on the river bank, Hunt (clean hanging from a tree limb along the bank, package for the chest freezer in the cabin, share with neighbors) & relax. (KEY WORDS: RELAXED at ALL TIMES when there). Great retirement!

 

[wunderkind]

No high no low, must be Bose.

Oh and Beats audio.

 

[guy48065]

While we're on the B's...
B&O

 

[guy48065]

Carver
Hafler
Marantz
Sony
JVC
Harmon Kardon

Why?

Mid-fi marketing success triggers some folks I guess.
Why isn't Polk on the list?

 

[Mosquito]

You should tell them. I'm sure they will apologize and rename the entire line.

I doubt it, years before I warned Mitsubishi about the name "Pajero" with no success.

 

[pseudoid]

While we're on the B's...

So, wasup with Blaupunkt GmbH?
I had a few nondescript OEM versions in vehicles and the sad part was that... they were just

They (and their sound) might as well have been like a fuse in the car's fusebox that you did not question.

 

[MattHooper]

These ? I'd rather have a elephant crap in my living room than look at these monstrosities. LOL

Those are kinda cool in an idiosyncratic way, but I also wouldn't care for them in my room either.

What speaker form factor do you prefer, Sal?

 

[tubess1988]

Growing up in Boston, Mass., everyone had a "ka". It might be a Chevy ka or a Ford ka, but everyone had some kind of ka.

Really, a ka was the only way to get around.

I drive my Ka while drinking kawfie too..