Hi Fi or Not?

Flagship efforts like you listed have been very good in the past, although some pieces may be better than others and the smaller boutique manufacturers might offer a little more bang for your buck. 

These are brands (and there are many others)  that go up and down in quality depending on their who their management/owner is and which series you are referring too. Marantz is a great example of an original American brand that was top of the line, got brought out by a Japanese firm in the 70's  and was garbage in the 80's (I sold their stuff back then so I know it well). They got their mojo back in the last few years a bit and now have a high-end series. A high price however does not mean good sound, or a sound you will like.

Yamaha has always been a step or two beyond Marantz since it sold out to the Japanese. Yamaha makes some excellent equipment.

Possibly of interest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePhnQzOLLps&ab_channel=Thomas%26Stereo
https://youtu.be/NlBDj3Bw2sU

top marantz pieces like the ki/ruby series are excellent, make no apologies to upper tier of ’affordable’ brands like primare, belles, naim, rogue, parasound, ps audio - of course their run of mill line is just that... only caveat with marantz is their cd players, even top line ones, have a problem with premature failing lasers... so be careful with those (or buy a spare laser assembly when the piece is current...)

yamahas to me are good not great, their voicing can vary considerably piece to piece - better than mid-fi, but not as good sounding as the one mentioned above... imho and experience

I had a full Yamaha system in the early 80’s with Infinity tower speakers. It was very unmusical and hard sounding.  However, a good friend of mine loved it and I sold it to him at 1/2 of what I paid. He still uses it to this day and it still sounds very unmusical to me. 
Marantz in the 70’s was bought by Superscope and was decent, but I always thought the Kenwood that we sold was much better. 

@stereo5 I sold Kenwood also, but regardless of how it sounded, people just didn’t like the looks of their stuff and they didn’t advertise like Marantz and others did. Always sat on the shelf. Hitachi had some great sounding Class G stuff, but they couldn’t compete. Thanks for reminding me it was Superscope. 

i fondly remember the kenwood kd500 concrete plinth tt... mine had a lovely infinity black widow arm, and a sonus blue cart... what a sweet front end

also i had the L07C pre and L07M mono blocks... lovely gear that sound so clean and precise - had ohm f's back then ... quite a system, spectacular sound stages

@jjss49,

I had the exact same system. I got it through the Kenwood rep (he used to sell me 420) at half off retail. I also had the tuner too. I was using Rectilinear 7 speakers.


@deadhead1000,

You are right. Everyone thought Marantz was richer looking but they always sounded muffled to me. 

@stereo5 

the kenwood gear or the 420 at half of retail???  lmao

i am sure he is a friend for life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Back in the 90's one of my cousins had a Marantz stack.  I thought it sounded ok but he was obsessed with it.  He would waffle on and on about it to anyone who gave him even half and ear.  Was much better than the crappy cheapo Hitachi system I had though.  It was all I could afford at the time.