2. amps-preamps
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Would you go all 1 brand for electronics?

When I was younger I used to dream of stacks. Especially Tandberg. The sexy black and chrome gear was amazingly sexy, and sleek. Ahead of it’s time really in that respect. Kyocera, Studer, Sumo, Amber, Hitachi, Yamaha, Technics, were all making gear that stacked beautifully together. Of course, so was McIntosh.

Then I got to hear a demo of Conrad Johnson gear driving a Martin Logan single panel speaker. It was good, but as soon as the CJ amp got switched out for a solid state amp, it was absolutely magical. That broke the spell for me. When I got older I found myself mixing and matching more and more, as well as often wishing there wasn’t a single damn cable in the system and it all just worked. :)

I tried going all 1 brand with Parasound, but then I discovered great sounding digital amps and instead of going with many Parasounds I went with little monoblocks, and the whole stack idea was broken. They don’t make sources anyway.

So my question for all of you, especially those of you who do not have all 1 brand stacks of gear. If you had to choose, from source to amp, a single brand, what would it be? Of course your paying for it, so keep the cost in mind. :)

I think we should reasonably exclude record players, though some like McIntosh DO make them.


Best,


Erik


erik_squires

Showing 1 response by bpoletti

bpoletti
1,560 posts
 
The benefit of using a single electronics manufacturer is that you're pretty much going to get the same quality sound as the manufacturer does in their reference system.  Voicing will work together across the components.  The results should be the best possible sound the manufacturer can produce.

I use all Herron Audio electronics and cables.  I even found out what Herron uses for digital and analog sources.  The results are stunning.  Replacing a single component, regardless of the new component, degrades the sound reproduction quality.

IMO, the same applies to other manufacturers.  Good ARC, Atmo-sphere, Rowland, VAC...  The list goes on.  But the best results would seem to be from using a single electronics manufacturer.
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