Europeans vs. the U.S.A.

Very interesting question, Onhwy61!

I think Brian's post is very accurate. Is it American to have the "do one thing and do it right" attitude? I am not sure, but over time, there have evolved speaker companies, electronics companies, turtable companies, digital companies, and cable companies.

You are right to bring up the fact that European companies are more holistic in the audiophile experience. You could also argue that perhaps because of this, they tend to take a very different view of cable. Europeans are quite nonchalant about wire, viewing it in a light more inline with mine - you need good cable, but it shouldn't rival the cost of your loudspeakers. Whereas the cable industry(virtually all American companies) seems to have evolved with the hype that AudioQuest, Kimber, and MIT began putting out their(for their own survival) own, "you need cable because your system doesn't sound as good as it should!" ads.

It is perhaps that the American market was so overwhelmed by Japanese products bach in the 1970s that manufacturers survived by building the best of what the best they could do.

I suppose the only exception I can think of is McIntosh. I own the 2102 amp and I love it but I would not spend such money on McIntosh speakers.

I also own the Audio Aero Capitole Mark II CD player and one day i spotted it's matching amp here on Audiogon and I made an offer that I was sure he would refuse and now I own the amp, too. While they do work together, I really do like the McIntosh Amp.

I really don't know about full systems vs. the one company that makes the best amp. There are some givens, such as British make excellant speakers and American tube amps are fantastic. Japanese products are very reliable and very old Dutch, British and American tubes are pure gold.

I am only happy that for some reason all of these products can try to work together unlike so many other gadgets like software, cameras, cars, etc.

Hi a response from a Brit. Firstly it's not true that US gear is'nt reviewed in UK mags. High end US gear is held in awe here. I heard it recently expressed (Hifi+) that the US invented high end, in particular in the context of ARC amps.
A real problem is pricing, in simple terms we pay in £'s, the same price you pay in $'s and with the dollar at 1.80, thats an obscene and I mean obscene mark up. UK dealers have exploited the falling dollar to rip of consumers. An example, I recently bought a 2nd hand, but nearly new CJ 17LS pre amp off Audiogon. It cost about $3400 including shipping and customs. In the UK a new model costs about $8800. that is the barrier you're manufacturers face. They should be putting pressure on greedy distributors, rant over.
Why do European manufacturers provide complete systems, I do'nt know there is one reason and only a few of course do.

America has always been an open market, and, because of the size and wealth of the market, it is the usual target for everyone thinking of exporting. Americans are so used to having a lot of choices and are therefore not as inclined to brand loyalty. The size of the market also means that manufacturers can specialize in a relatively narrow line of products and not run out of room to grow.

My first brush with high end audio was hearing a high school friend dad's system. It was an AR turntable, Shure cartridge, AR 3 speakers and the AR receiver. At the time this was a very popular combo and it sounded great. However, when I got to the point where I was actively putting together systems I took it as axiomatic that mixing and matching brands was the preferred method. Thirty some years later I'm not so sure. One size will never fit everybody and great results can be achieved either way, but I now believe that for most people (especially music lovers) that it's easier to attain quality sound by going the single brand route. Going with a single brand isn't very different than trusting yourself to a good dealer. Tell them what you want to achieve and how much you have to spend and then let the dealer/manufacturer come up with their solution.

I'm not sure I agree with the thinking that specializing in a component type really produces better quality. At the cutting edge of state of the art components it's probably true, but for more real world products I don't see a correlation. Linn was originally famous for their turntables, but they quickly started to produce some good speakers and later on some top rank CD players. Most people know Quad for their ESLs, but they have always produced very high quality amplifiers. I think it's just a question of a company having the capital to hire the expertise in those areas were they want to produce products.

I don't know why there appears to be a European/U.S. split on this issue. It could just be a historical quirk.