Speakers costing range of 2500-3500 per pair

Not talking specifically about Ascend.  Thanks for calling my statement a joke.  Greatly appreciated, lol. ;).  I"m so glad that you love the company and the man.  I say that in all honesty.  I won't put him down either, since I don't know him.  I"ve heard good things about them from folks who own them.  That's awesome.  

I"m also sure that he has a succession plan in case something terrible were to happen.  As someone who came down with MS at a fairly early age, I know how the best laid plans of mice and me often go astray.  As I said, I too will often have a piece in my system from a small or one man show.  It's just a buyer beware, that's all.j

Zen's post:
"My focus in my recent threads is mainly on boutique companies that stay off the radar, that make their products solely for music lovers, not Audiophiles that are just into gear. "  

Ok, rereading your post, I can see what you mean.  You just pointed out only Audiophiles who like gear and don't seem to like music too.  In reading it still comes off as they only make their gear for music lovers and not those of us who love both.  I guess there really must be gray area here.  Of course there is gray area.  Sorry if I have stepped on your toes in anyway.  Was just pointing out a couple of things that you posted initially that were wrong or misunderstood.  I hope to someday hear the Ascend line of speakers somewhere. It's all good.

It’s interesting to think that any audio company actually wishes to "stay off the radar" as it sounds like a bad business plan, but I sort of get it, and "direct marketing" makes sense these days (and I’d never heard of Ascend speakers until now, so I suppose I need to turn up my radar…they have a well done site as ALL small companies should but strangely often don’t). I was thinking about my Dennis Had single ended amp and wondered if you could get a shop started up to make more of them, and then realized his output is likely exactly where he wants it since he left Cary. Except for a line of "Dragon Inspire" headphone amps marketed by Moon Audio (which actually may be keeping old Dennis busy) his Ebay marketed amps just show up whenever he makes a new one. I whine about people hyping products on forums (don't ask), but when asked about my little Had amp I just have to say…uh…sorry...you sort of can't have one.

I want to say "Screw odd-ball, obscure, impossible-to-find gear!!!" as I sit here listening to a clone of an amp of which 100 examples were built. Then again, nobody in their right mind would try to sell what I'm using no matter how good it sounded. 

kosst_amojan

... nobody in their right mind would try to sell what I'm using no matter how good it sounded.

Why?

Nobody has mentioned the Tannoy XT 8F.  Great review in TAS.