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Who's the Cadillac of Hi-End Audio?

In "Get Shorty" John Travolta's character arrives in Los Angeles and the only car available at the rental agency is a minivan. Throughout the film people question why he's driving such an "uncool" vehicle and his character's response is "It's the Cadillac of minivans." By the end of the film everybody is driving the Cadillac of minivans.

Being that cars and hi-end audio have absolutely nothing to do with each other, notwithstanding so called hi-end auto systems, what company do you think is the Cadillac of hi-end audio? What's the Porsche? What's the Dodge Dart? Is any hi-end company as quirky as Saab? For that matter, what's the Harley-Davidson of hi-end audio?

My vote for the Cadillac goes to McIntosh. Both are old school companies with proud histories. Yet each offers products that while not cutting edge, are quite modern. Still, there are no documented cases of anyone under the age of 50 having purchased either brand within the last 30 years.

Except for my answer there are no wrong or right answer responses. Use you imagination and freely express your biases and preconceived notions.
onhwy61

Showing 1 response by gullahisland

gullahisland
83 posts
 
Amen to that Onhwy61! I used to own a 2001 Audi A6 Avant and was always amazed at how I was treated. Granted, this wasn't an ultra-premium car, but at 2 clicks less than $50K, I sure expected better treatment than the VW owners. NOPE. Same goes for Porsche. I couldn't imagine spending $100K+ on an exotic sports car (911 Turbo) and being treated the same as those bringing their New Beetle in for an oil leak.

Even for warranty repairs, they would not give me a loaner vehicle. When I complained, the best I could get was a ride to Enterprise to pick up my $25 POS rental.

At Lexus, even the entry-level ES-300 (Toyota Camry) owners get treated like royalty.

That being said, I still think that the analogy regarding Japanese cars is mostly true. There are, however, some pretty exciting Japanese cars. Most of them come from Nissan and Mazda who are far less conservative than Toyota and Honda. My 1996 Nissan Maxima was (from a reliability standpoint) far and away the best car I've ever owned. Sadly, it was killed in an automobile accident last Thursday. (MOMENT OF SILENCE) My old '90 Mazda Miata was an absolute BLAST to drive and was dead reliable as well.

Even still, I'd take a fine German sport sedan over a "comparable" japanese model any day of the week. Did somebody say BMW M5??
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