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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 nanderson

nanderson
291 posts
 
Unless Cadillac gets purchased by Toyota it is not an appropriate comparison. American parts assembly owned by Japanese Multinationals and you get: McIntosh (but they still call upon some of the best they have had to design some of their best tube stuff today, not all bad); Levinson (fire a much of staff, cheapen the build quality to a degree (sort of like Levinson lite), and move the factory) why: Call it Harman Internationalism. Well at least they still have an American presence.

My votes go to companies that have maintained cutting edge design teams, passionate audiophile firms, fanatical customer support, support their USA employees with real world benefits like hopefully you and me, example: Audio Research, Jeff Rowland, Wilson, Vandersteen, Krell Industries, Conrad Johnson etc. Some promising new comers include Talon Audio etc.

Map of Hi-end Audio ompanies in the USA that still manufacture in the USA to my knowledge, not necessarily any longer USA owned( list to grow whenever I get some free time) at:

http://www.fototime.com/0F4E679DC30CF7C/orig.jpg

Cheers!
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