an equipment poll

I agree that the over-simplified methodology of this survey is highly flawed, but I'll give it a shot.

Many of the following companies are long since out of existence (in a couple of cases, VERY long since), but given that Audiogon is a place for buying and selling used equipment it seems reasonable to include them:

Acoustat - 5
Antique Sound Lab - 4
Audio Research - 9
B&W - 7
Carver - 4
Classe - 8
Grace - 7
Grado - 7
Infinity - 6
Magnepan - 8
Marantz (the original company, under Saul) - 8
Mark Levinson Audio Systems (the original company, pre-Madrigal) - 8
Paxthon - 5
Pentagram - 6
Radio Engineering Laboratories - 10
Rotel - 4
SOTA - 7
Stax - 8
Tandberg (top-end cassette decks) - 9
Tandberg (other) - 5
Thiel - 5
Threshold - 6

Regards,
-- Al

I agree with Stevecham also but I'm bored right now so what the hell.
As stated my list will only contain manufacturers whose equipment I have owned. It must also be stated that I am a bit of a cheapskate so the perceived value is also figured into my rating. That may not be the OP's intention but it is impossible for me to remove that factor from my opinion.
Acoustic Energy - 7
Analysis Plus - 5
Anthem - 5
Arcam - 8
Audioquest - 9
Bel Canto - 9
Denon - 6
Eminent Technology - 3
James Loudspeakers - 8
Linn - 9
Marantz - 5
Meadowlark Audio - 9
Mirage - 5
Musical Fidelity - 4
Portal Audio - 9
Quad - 8
Paradigm - 4
PSB - 6
Resolution Audio - 10
Revel - 10
Roksan - 3
Silverline Audio - 8
Sony - 7
Totem - 8
Thiel - 8
Vandersteen - 9
OK, now I'm bored with this exercise as well. Think I'll put on some music.

a few additions:

Quad - 9
Sony - 5
James Audio - 7
Pro-ject - 7
Marantz - 5
Musical Fidelity - 5
Linn - 10
Revel - 8

I'm bored too...

Vandersteen 9
Totem 8
Paradigm 5
Classe 8
NAD 7
Logitech 6
Sima 6
Rotel 6
Theta 8
Advent 7
Yamaha 5
Dual 6

Stuff I have actually owned and used:
Garrard Lab80: perfect, as it was my first ever TT at 15 years old.+4
Same for me J.B.Lansing speakers... +6 and the Fisher amp.+4
Though I would have swapped the Fisher for some other Marantz (If I would have been able to... I was only 15.)
Various stuff I annot now remember... just junk..
more stuff I cannot now remember...
Then, a Carver 1.0 amp,+5 a Carver 1.5 amp.+5
A really great Hafler DH110 preamp I made from a kit, my first audiophile preamp.+9
A crap Sony digital pre with thousands of bells and whistles.. (minus)-10 I was sad I stupidly traded my Hafler for this POS.
Infinity Reference series IIa: my first 'audiophile speakers.. kept them fr 20 years. +8
A Counterpoint pre. Great, but unreliable tube/hybred pre, my second audiophile pre.+8
An Adcom 750, my third audiophile pre, +7
A Forte' 4a amp. A real audiophile amp, (still use) +9
Some really old magnepan MGIIb +7 they shorted out again and I tossed them (I paid $200 for them in the first place)
My current REAL audiophile preamp: Audio Research SP-15. +9(I even had an SP-10 +4.. for a very short time. this SP-15 is way better!!)
An Audio Research PH-2 +8 (it's flaw is it is balanced out only)
Some super deal from dealer B&W 805s with free B&W stands.. +7
I want some Magnepan 3.6 speakers.. I would rate them a+8 or +9 depending on what amp I can find to run them if I ever bother to get them.
I am not even going to bother rating CD players...
or current TTs.
(PS: why do some posters prior to me list ratings with a (-) in front of ALL the theoretically positive rating?)