Most reliable equipment manufacturers

I've had my Magnum Dynalab FT101 tuner for (I think) about 15 years, & it's never even dropped a light bulb! These guys seem to be there for the long-haul, which means alot if you find a component you like & want to hang onto it. I've never had to call them so I can't speak for their support. But they do perform upgrades (I'm gonna do that) so we'll find out soon how they support customers? Just the fact that they'll tweak my older product, vs. only be interested in selling me a new one, I believe says something for them...

I have to give Mondial a thumbs up. Would you beleive they are still doing upgrades for the aragon 4004! Well built and good sounding gear.

I have owned many pieces of equipment by many manufacturers and I have found that Mark Levinson equipment is by far the most robust and reliable equipment I have owned.

Audionut: Allow me to relate an event which happened a few years ago which may have been discussed here at that time. A very well known Florida high-end dealer accepted a challenge to his claimed ability to readily distinguish diparate amplification under controlled blind testing. The circumstances have been reliably reported (and not denied) by some of those in attendance. I.e., the dealer's system was all Pass. The test was done in his environment with his source material and he selected the equipment (a or B) which was playing a any given time. The challeging hardware was either a Japanese receiver or integrated amp. The dealer's and challenger's amp were very closely matched in output level to eliminate that common bias. When at the end of the test, the dealer could NOT identify the Pass system to a statistically significant degree, the usual excuses followed and the test was repeated the next day. This time, he and some of his friends participated with the same results obtained. This type of testing has been done many times and I don't believe that anyone has ever been successful in their identifications. The point is that the differences in reasonably well designed equipment(amplification) are negligible when subjectively evaluated under controlled conditions. Of course, we're all aware that gross differences are apparent to many (we're not talking about comparing Stereo 70s to Crown Reference amps). If you're capable of reliably making such distinctions under controlled conditions then you are a VERY unique natural talent who should be able to win lots of wagers. The principal reason that the high-end eschews controlled blind testing is that they can't reliably support their claims. You should also know that both Krell and Mac amps would make good doorstops and even better anchors. Of course this has absolutely nothing to do with their respective sonic capabilities.

Over the ten years that I have been in this hobby I have encountered a number of equipment failures from well known and respected manufacturers. Bryston is not synonymous with bullet proof. Two of my amps (7B & 5B) have died. To Bryston's credit they were promptly repaired and returned. Within the first month my Sonic Frontiers Line 1 stopped working. This took three weeks to repair. During the remaining two years that I had it there were no other problems. After six months my Meridian 508.20 CD player began skipping tracks and would get into a repeat loop. The player had to be returned to Meridian twice, the second time around Meridian updated my player to a 508.24. I still have it and it has been working fine for the last three plus years. I recently bought a 5 channel B&K amp that started blowing AC mains fuses after the first twenty hours of use. Fortunately I was able to return it. My worst experience was with an Audible Illusion L1 preamp. The sound became distorted, even after tube replacement. It took nearly a week to get in contact with someone at AI, and then over two months to get the unit repaired. Bottom line, even well known manufacturer's equipment are prone to failure. Service after the fact is just as important. I might add also that buying equipment through the internet may save some bucks initially, but it has been very reassuring to bring my equipment back to the dealer, in most cases, and let them coordinate the repair with the manufacturer.