Obscure brands worth considering

I have heard the new RAM speaker line and I think they are an excellent performer especially considering the price.

https://www.facebook.com/RAMLoudspeakers/

For obscure, Fritz. Very high value to parts, had the best sound at the show in Oakland. I spoke to two recording artists associated with Blue Coast Records, they concurred.

http://www.fritzspeakers.com/

Partly also his choice of room treatment, but it shows to me he has great ears.

Best,

E

Arcaydis has made some nice speakers over the years. Brodmann have a very specific sound worth hearing.

I don’t see much Neat in the US. It deserves much more attention. I’d consider PBN a great US brand that is obscure here in Canada.

I'll mention Michael Green Audio controlled resonance speakers. They are not for eveyone, but then again what is ?

Brodmann got my attention, no doubt.

Unlike most speakers they don't look like campwood or concrete blocks with drivers, not to mention big horn looking like giant vaginas.

Eficion F300s

Why Brodmann uses Electrocompaniet electronics for shows is beyond me. The Electro will not control those speakers, not even close.

I buy from well established companies that will stay in business for a while and provide great support.

Source Technologies in South Windsor, Ct. One of the great underrated speaker companies in America. Have been buying speakers from John Sollecito since 1980 never been disappointed. 

Charney Audio in Somerset, NJ. They make full range single driver rear loaded horns based on the Tractrix theory. No steps in the horn just smooth and expanding on all sides. Impressive to listen to and equally impressive to look at...a true work of art in every aspect.

http://charneyaudio.com/speakers.html

http://www.audiokinesis.com/   dont forget old Duke 

Classic Audio is not very well known either, I thnk.

Absolutely!

2 or 3 that compete with the "high-priced spread" at a fraction of the price are these:

Wavetouch Audio Grand Teton's / Antero's
Linkwitz Orion's or LX521's
AudioKinesis Dream Maker's / Jazz Module's
Lahave Audio Mela's

All of these have incredible sound quality that compete with the best available.  

However, because they are "obscure," they are more difficult to resell than the big brand names.

I'm not sure I would buy from "obscure" company again.  Hyperion Sound, I bought speakers from, went bankrupt (very poor marketing) and now I cannot replace drivers or Xover if necessary.  Drivers are "exotic" to make it worse.

Every company will disappear sooner or later or become something that is not worth paying attention to, especially when the founder is gone one way or another. There are always risks, replacing speakers every decade or so is not a big problem unless they are unique or/and cost too much. $100k masterpiece is supposed to last longer.

Sooner or later?  I prefer later.  When company has only three dealers for whole US and doesn't advertise at all the outcome is almost guaranteed in spite of fantastic product.  There are many established companies to choose, that exist for many decades.  You might choose cheaper obscure company paying more at the end.  Would you buy washer or dryer from unknown company?  What about car? (still less than $100k). Just saying.

Anyway, we are not talking about buying decisions and thought processes. I wouldn't compare speakers and cars, speakers rarely blow up and never crash unless you drop them somewhere.

If you buy the right loudspeakers they can be repaired upgraded long past manufacturers existence. 

Yeah, but can you know it in advance?

Johnk,
Are you still building speakers?

Yes still designing manufacturing restoring collecting loudspeakers of most all types. 

I buy from well established companies that will stay in business for a while and provide great support.

Good point ... up to a point. These are volatile times, we don't know who's going to buy whom, and most important, what they're going to do with our favorite brands when they do.

My first stereo system was an Altec-Lansing. They're still in business, but their home speakers with handrubbed oil walnut cabinetry are long out of production.

Other speakers I've had are ADS and Mirage (I still have several Mirage speakers and subs).

I really *hate* what Audiovox did to Mirage--they raided Mirage's patented Omniguide design and threw it on miniature "lifestyle" speakers assigned to a Scandinavian company they had acquired. Under Mirage, the Omniguide was featured on their $7500 flagship OMD-28.

ADS as we knew them and Mirage are both gone. In fact, in 2013 I saw the replacement parts for Mirage rapidly disappearing, so i sold my 5-yr-old OMD-15s and bought a pair of Magnepan 1.7s, which I still have (and really enjoy) today.

And although Thiel is still in business, the late founder Jim Thiel's design principles of time-aligned drivers and especially, first order crossovers, have been abandoned.

There are some companies and their products that are both very well established and financially stable, yet still relatively obscure; Music Reference and Eminent Technology come to mind. Their products aren't reviewed much (models aren't "improved" every other year ;-), and they don't have that many dealers.

A few decades ago I worked in high-end audio, and we did carry some more obscure speaker lines.
What I learned back then is that not all speaker manufacturers build their own drivers, they oftentimes spec out their needs and have them built by other companies, and would order a bulk number of raw drivers, essentially predicting how many they would need for manufacturing and post sale service.
We had a few manufacturers who never seemed to have spares available, especially for our customers who tended to blow tweeters.
Something to think about, if considering a more obscure product.

I buy from well established companies that will stay in business for a while and provide great support.

That has worked for me in every respect except with amplifiers.  Clayton Audio is a USA-based company but really a one-man operation that handles requests but no longer seems to be in full scale production these days.

On the positive side, Wilson Shen is a great guy to work with and a very talented designer.  After selling to go with well-regarded Class D amps, I ended up going back to Clayton amps and commissioning Wilson to rebuild/upgrade the amps I was able to find and purchase.  The guy who purchased my original Claytons remains very happy with them.  Before finding another pair of Claytons, I tried a number of well-reviewed amplifiers but none that sounded so much like real music to me.

Do yourself a BIG favor and seek out JM Reynaud loudspeakers; unfortunately only 6 dealers in the US.

Sometimes some of the finest things in life are the most difficult to find.  Ye shall be richly rewarded.

Clayton amps are in a very high esteem in some circles. Unfortunately, I have never heard them.
Six dealers is not too bad, Nottingham turntables have just one, I think.

mitch2

You hit the nail on the head with Clayton amplifiers. Wilson built me an S2000 18 months ago and I’ve never been happier with my system.....it simply sounds like music, and I’ve owned many of the most popular brands before this.  I drive it with a VAC Renaissance 5 Preamplifier....such a great combo.  Wilson is such a talented designer of class A solid state and a wonderful and honest person. He related a nice story to me about meeting Nelson Pass at an audio show. Wilson approaches Nelson to make his acquaintance and compliment him on his excellent electronics. Nelson tells Wilson he has read of Wilson’s designs and topology, but he doesn’t care for it, then pauses and says ‘ but damn, your amps sound great’

So what is his secret?

inna

i don’t claim to know most of Wilson’s secrets but his bridged class A topology, extremely robust power supplies, unique driver boards, and matched top notch bipolar transistors give his solid state amplifiers much of the body and essence of tubes with solid state agility and dynamics. Natural is the best way to describe Clayton sound. My VAC Renaissance 5 Preamplifier is also an excellent match for the Clayton. You do have to listen closely to Wilson as he brings a deep Mandarin Chinese accent to his English. He is a talented designer who exudes integrity.....a Taiwanese version of Kevin Hayes from VAC, two of the most talented, reputable, friendly and great men in this industry.

So what is his secret?

I cannot claim to know, but I can say his amps seem to be built very well, to maybe overbuilt, with huge power supplies, and they run in all class  A. The parts are of a high quality and more about service life than being boutique parts to help sell the amplifiers.  The features are also well thought-out including, the top mounted heat sinks to help dissipate heat, WBT binding posts, cleverly located and high quality power and bias switches, and light on the back panel that helps owners remember the amplifier is powered up when they are making cable changes.

I see. Thank you. I saw a pair of his monos here recently for $3.5k, I think. They sold quickly. I am in no financial position or I would've got them and then thought what to pair them with. I would've thought of VAC too, among a few others.
I assumed they speak Cantonese Chinese in Taiwan, I am apparently so uneducated. But maybe they speak both, no idea.

To Erik.    I've never seen a recording artist with a nice hifi stereo.   Have you

I have no idea what they owned, all I can tell you is they were audiophiles, musicians and there with Blue Coast Records. And if that doesn't sound like a myth yet, they were both female.

Best,

E

Redgum makes some great sounding solid state electronics which even a tube lover can appreciate. This Australian company makes some of the most musical gear I have heard at any price.

I bought Innersound electrostatic speakers about 20 years ago. At the time they were reviewed in Stereophile and given a class A rating. They are still in my system. I replaced one of the woofers about 12 years ago. Three years ago I replaced a transformer in one of the speakers. Roger Sanders guided me through both repairs and I didn't have to ship either speaker back to Boulder, CO. He still sells the speakers online. I can't recommend them highly enough. My power amp runs them just fine - VTL 185 monoblocks, best in my opinion in triode mode. My preamp is also outstanding - Presence Audio by First Sound. Emanuel Go still builds them out of his shop in Renton, WA and they can be purchased online. I've had a couple upgrades to the preamp over the years. They are not cheap but occasionally one can find a used one available on Audiogon.

Best luck in your search. If you like classical music electrostatic speakers are a great choice, wonderful transparency and dynamics with the right amplification.

Canton speakers. German
Primare integrateds, separates, CD player. Swedish

This is good that Redgum now has a distributor and two dealers.
I have their original 16 years old RGi120 integrated. Excellent sound. No, not tube sound, and it is not supposed to be, good solid state sound, on the warmer side with impressive dynamics.
I am going to send my Redgum to Australia to replace input selection switch the previous owner played too much with and service, and it should last without any problem for another ten years. If I wanted to upgrade it I would go straight to Gryphon Diablo. Until that time - Redgum. Well, maybe Pass class A INT too, don't know. It doesn't have a phono stage though. No worries, I use Acoustech PH-1 phono. Responds well to interconnects and power cords changes, I currently use higher level Purist Audio.

Capehart,Toyo,Symphonic,Electrophonic😜

XTZ is represented in the US, but never heard from anyone else using them on Audiogon. Their build quality far surpasses the Tekton. They are very reasonably priced, have the highest sound quality per pound i know of!!

Pranafidelity line

jjaudiosolutions.com