A huge factor in "name brands" is marketing. No shortage of reviewers to move this along I might add. Usually the very best audio products come from smaller companies. At least this has been my experience. With the increased popularity of used audio sales, some gravitate to the brands that they know will sell quickly and are less likely to take a chance on a relatively unknown brand. I have no doubt that there are speaker brands out there that will outperform some of the bigger names at a significantly lower price and as a dealer I am trying to find some of these brands.
Commonly mentioned speaker brands?
Are the brands most frequently mentioned simply the favorites of the kind of people who have the kind of taste that frequent a site like this, or are they generally recognized as superior brands?