European -vs- US high-end

natalie: wow! i guess canada's winning a couple of olympic medals has engendered a reinvigorated national spirit. best thing about canadian gear is that it's priced by loonies. :o) -cfb

Natalie, the only Canadian companies that come to mind for me are Classe' and Bryston. While both solid products, i would not rank either of them as being "top notch". Then again, that is a personal opinion that may / may not be shared by others. I'm sure that there are other brands out there that are Canadian based that also deserve a mention. Sean
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Solen caps are nice and their prices are competitive
and the Oracle TT was once (almost) SOTA. Thats all, except for those Sean has mentioned, that I can think of. Cheers,

Interesting thread & posts -- got me thinking. Until now I associated "US sound" as plush, euphonic (good bass), with detail but avoiding the overanalytical. Particularly with speakers, as Sean mentioned. European "sound" was associated with speed, fast transient attack (think of S-Line, YBA, etc), precision & rigour (& engineering) ad nauseam (Burmester, Goldmund, FM acoustics etc) -- and seemingly voiced for classical rather than all types of music. Also add a penchant for reproducing sounds in the MHz region (Tannoy's super tweets, Piega, Detlof's poisonous gas-filled ones, etc) -- were 2MHz possible, we would try to sell it.
Reading the posts, I find my impressions were based on brands -- indeed, not a "national" sound.

Of course, the english knack for creative compromise (using brain power to produce nice-sounding gear at cheapo construction price) is indisputable, I beleive.

Re, Canadian: aren't Tenor & Verity canadians?

I agree with Phild. I'd go as far as to make a broad statement that if your budget is $1000 or less per component then European, particularly British equipment is your best bet. It seems that US companies are more interested in the higher end of the market, though there are many European companies also in this segment.
Another key difference is the size of rooms which are driven. Hence European hifi is generally lower power .... and with lower power it's much less expensive to get good audio quality. I'd never go back to a large room ... it's just too much trouble.
On a more somber note ...
If everyone were hifi buffs then perhaps Europe and the US would have a better political relationship at the moment. The current sniping between European and US media and politicians saddens me greatly.