Little-guy suppliers are a never-ending source of interesting options to explore in this audio hobby. I grew up in the do-it-yourself age of hi-fi and have always enjoyed both the discussions and solutions from smaller suppliers - from speakers, to amplifiers, to turntables - not just the final solutions, but the underlying concepts and components. My latest encounter has been with Anvil Turntables, a mass-oriented design that works well and costs a third of anything comparable. While Bruce will set up a complete LP player, I went the route of assembling my system from other components: Origin Live Enterprise tonearm and EMT cartridge both sourced used from small shops that still talk to their customers. The list is long of little-guys with which I have engaged over a lifetime of participating in this hobby, I will not try to list them all [some of which have, unfortunately gone out of business from retirement or market changes]. I will vote with other responding to this thread and encourage engagement with little-guys to extend the experience of good audio to participation in the community.
A vote for the little guy suppliers
Over the years, either by desire or luck, I've managed to gravitate to small volume gear suppliers, most of whom have extensive engineering degrees and operate without advertising or retail entanglements.
I think I have found (with much help from forums like this) the pieces I will be retiring with and I couldn't be happier or more content with my system. Other than one final turntable change which I promised myself at retirement, I'm done.
My speakers, phono stage, cartridge SUT, preamp, amp, and cables are all from individual designers, all made in the USA. I have either met in person or have had multiple phone and email encounters with all of them. I really like this approach and I'm convinced that great equipment at reasonable pricing can be had this way. I've had to endure longer wait periods after ordering due to each of them not having factories behind them to mass-produce the gear. None of them inventory product and most of the gear is really a custom order.
Only my current TT/cartridge and SACD/CD player are from well known large firms.
Anyone else like having relationships with their suppliers? In case anyone is curious:
Speakers - JansZen Valentina/zA2.1 hybrid ESL
Phono stage - custom build by Don Sachs
SUT - Bob Devices SKY 20
Preamp - Linear Tube Audio MZ2-S
Amp - Linear Tube Audio ZOTL40
Cables - Cerious Technologies Graphine Extreme speaker, power, and interconnects
My sources are both Marantz units. The new TT will likely be Technics 1200G. Current primary cart is a Lyra Delos