2. misc-audio
  3. 1071876254

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.
128x128onhwy61
mwilson
430 posts
 
There are too many Bricklins in high-end audio!
http://bricklin.org/
jeffloistarca
1,004 posts
 
MWilson,

I remember the Bricklin, what an awesome car! At least they had the good sense to close up shop rather than trying to "finance" the company like John DeLorean did.

As to the topic at hand:

Volkswagen= NAD. Sound engineering but built to meet a price point. A "value" line.

BMW= Linn. Lurking under the surface is a performance product if tweaked just right. You pay lots for what you get but has a loyal following.

Saab= Wilson. Unusual engineering, and you either love'em or hate 'em, there's no middle ground.

Lada= Bose. 'Nuff said
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!
thsalmon
348 posts
 
Levinson=Buick. No character or excitement at all! They started at the high end and have been constantly going downhill ever since. Ick!

McIntosh=Oldsmobile. Even more boring and now dead!

Krell=Cadillac. Over-rated, garish, ugly and built only to impress those who wear too much cologne and smoke crack. Who else would use a knuckle-headed baseball player as a spokesman?

Pioneer Elite=entry level Krell

Jeff Rowland=Bentley. Class and performance.

Linn Klimax=McLaren
steuspeed's avatar
steuspeed
501 posts
 
Pioneer Elite definitly says Cadillac all the way down to the gaudy gold trim. Even if it had performance, no one who bought it would know what to do with it anyway.
More to discover