Brands praise & positivity

This is general discussion thread on brands that tend to get overlooked. Please add whatever brand you feel worthy of a mention. You don't necessarily have to own any of the makes, just ones you admire. It can be on amps, digital sources, analogue, speakers etc etc. However, please don't turn this into a cable debate. So no cables please. Otherwise click away on your keyboards
 
Marantz

Are Marantz overlooked? No, not the affordable models, but the higher end equipment, for some strange reason does.
@bigfish786 & @DougK own or have owned higher end Marantz.

I've heard many affordable Marantzes over the decades - and still own a retro tuner. I'm a big admirer but it seems very few actually fork out for a Ruby or other models

Discuss.
 
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SteveH72

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Rega.
A company that puts music first. I haven’t heard a bad Rega product and their customer service and lifetime guarantee is second to none. Their cd players, amps and turntables all sound superb. Sadly stepping away from speakers due to supply and cost issues.
I rate a lot of other brands but Rega are outstanding.
 
Rega.
A company that puts music first. I haven’t heard a bad Rega product and their customer service and lifetime guarantee is second to none. Their cd players, amps and turntables all sound superb. Sadly stepping away from speakers due to supply and cost issues.
I rate a lot of other brands but Rega are outstanding.
Agree. I've heard a couple of their amps (Elex-r & Elicit-r) and both very impressive.

Many years ago I borrowed the original Apollo from Audio-T. Again, it sounded very good. The main issue I have with Rega players is the top loading mechanism. Not really practical if the rack has limited space
 

skinnypuppy71

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NJC audio. I have two of their products and the personal service is second to none, at the moment the company produces a headphone amplifier, dac and a phono pre amp of fine quality and at very reasonable prices. I believe the guys are working on a matching power amplifier as the headphone amplifier has a pre out socket. Both amplifier and dac were provided with a three year warranty and personalised documentation with your dac/amp performance measurements.
The products are built to order and take up to two weeks from order to delivery with a couple of emails from njc on current build updates, probably overlooked as njc only sell from their website which makes a demo of the equipment impossible and they don't advertise either, this helps keep costs down and money spent on actual hardware.
I cannot recommend them enough. Yes I'm sure there's better sounding equipment out there but at much higher cost /performance ratio, and also....I've kind of got sentimental about this kit.lol.
 
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D

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I think that any manufacturer producing 2-channel stereo systems these days is worthy of praise and mention. I guess common Japanese brands are still not quite seen as true high-end by some, e.g. Marantz, Yamaha, Denon, Technics, as they all produce entry-level kit, (maybe this is seen as unacceptable by aficionados). Japanese brands such as Luxman and Accuphase appear to be more worthy of the high-end moniker.
 

nads

Well-known member
Rather a pointless thread!

wont you want to say what you have spent you money on is worth a mention?

yes take info from forums etc but then go use your ears.

NAD, TARA LABS & B&W

simples.
 

skinnypuppy71

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Rather a pointless thread!

wont you want to say what you have spent you money on is worth a mention?

yes take info from forums etc but then go use your ears.

NAD, TARA LABS & B&W

simples.
I'm sure folks will generally be quite truthful about experiences they've had with products..good and bad...I personally won't buy a pair of mission speakers ever again...I've had two sets fail on me.
 

nads

Well-known member
It's a different product though, iFi uses Bluetooth and comes with all the restrictions associated with Bluetooth technology whereas Sonos uses WiFi.

Yes, there are plenty of steaming options. The streaming interface is clunky in a lot of Hifi manufacturers. It'll also be interesting to see how long they actually support the software, while Sonos has a proven track record. I've had Sonos since 2009.
Hello, I am glad that I became a part of such a company of audiophiles!

I am a beginner in the Hi-Fi world, and I cannot solve one problem which bothers me for months. I have a Marantz SR7009 stereo amp, Qaquistics 3050i, B&W 602 s3 and M1 set of speakers.
I want my setup to be 7.0 (I have a central speaker also), but to have an option to choose between first and second set of front speakers, for stereo listening.
I set them up in 7.1 + front B setup, but I have a very strange problem. When I play just the A or B set of speakers, I don't get the usual quality and sound power that I suppose to get. But when I put them in A+B mode, I have the quality and the real power of the speakers, independently. The real problem is that I don't know what I am doing wrong or how to set up them and get the required sound power and quality when I run them separately.

Any suggestions or heads up?

Tnx!
I'm sure folks will generally be quite truthful about experiences they've had with products..good and bad...I personally won't buy a pair of mission speakers ever again...I've had two sets fail on me.
It again I just don’t like the sound of Yamaha amps or MS speakers. The speakers from an audition back in the 80s and the Yamahas from every time I enter a place that has them playing. Nothing to do with where I have put my cash.

but you will find in any hobby people will upgrade product that they have spent money on. It like they are embarrassed that they spent money one something that did not improve something.
 

skinnypuppy71

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It again I just don’t like the sound of Yamaha amps or MS speakers. The speakers from an audition back in the 80s and the Yamahas from every time I enter a place that has them playing. Nothing to do with where I have put my cash.

but you will find in any hobby people will upgrade product that they have spent money on. It like they are embarrassed that they spent money one something that did not improve something.
I know what you mean...I had naim kit for a good few years and Naim'ees defend it like they had shares in the company.lol.
 
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Japanese brands such as Luxman and Accuphase appear to be more worthy of the high-end moniker.

And from even lesser known Japanese brands such as Technical Brain, Zanden Audio, Koetsu, Kondo produce products that are amongst the best in the world.




 
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Marantz

Are Marantz overlooked? No, not the affordable models, but the higher end equipment, for some strange reason does.
@bigfish786 & @DougK own or have owned higher end Marantz.

I've heard many affordable Marantzes over the decades - and still own a retro tuner. I'm a big admirer but it seems very few actually fork out for a Ruby or other models

Discuss.
The Ruby models were limited edition weren't they? Perhaps this is why not many people appear to own them. When my Oppo finally does I had plans to get the SA12SE
 
I would add anything by Tom Evans Audio purely because I have owned some of his amplification and still do in the form of my phono preamp.
Generally overlooked because of its limited availability to demo, although number of dealers has improved over the years, and the kit is very simply boxed and doesn't look like a costly bit if kit. However, it's what is inside makes this exceptional kit.
 

robdmarsh

Well-known member
Rega.
A company that puts music first. I haven’t heard a bad Rega product and their customer service and lifetime guarantee is second to none. Their cd players, amps and turntables all sound superb. Sadly stepping away from speakers due to supply and cost issues.
I rate a lot of other brands but Rega are outstanding.
Disagree. I had some Rs1 bookshelf speakers. They were pretty pathetic I'm afraid. Nice little wooden finished boxes but with a weedy apologetic sound.
 
D

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And from even lesser known Japanese brands such as Technical Brain, Zanden Audio, Koetsu, Kondo produce products that are amongst the best in the world.




You would know all these brands, Rick, I wouldn't :)
 
D

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The Ruby models were limited edition weren't they? Perhaps this is why not many people appear to own them. When my Oppo finally does I had plans to get the SA12SE
Correct, Al, I think it was limited to 1000 units of each. Personally, I don't see the Rubies as reference models, more a signature model release.

I do find it strange that their CDPs are rated higher than their equivalent amplifiers.
 
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i still have my Marantz Reference gear, albeit from the more affordable end of the reference range.
which, is probably the reason why I have it, as it became affordable.
further up the range, the prices get a bit crazy, and puts them in the same category as Luxman, Accuphase, Esoteric etc, and a whole plethora of boutique brands. This is probably where they get overlooked as the Marantz brand has its association with budget end products.
the new reference range starts around £3000, if I was looking now for a new Amp and CD Player, that price (£6000 total) would be an issue, I’d probably wait for sales or offers etc.
 
The Ruby models were limited edition weren't they? Perhaps this is why not many people appear to own them. When my Oppo finally does I had plans to get the SA12SE
Yeah. But the higher end Marantz such as the reference ranges usually get ignored.

I can only guess it's about demand. All of my local Marantz dealerships only get asked about the more affordable ranges. They don't stock any of the ref stuff. If you want to demo the more expensive Marantz amps it generally takes a while for them to order whatever model you want to demo.

That's the nuts & bolts of what this thread is about.

How many on this forum own a Parasound or even my Exposure or TB2i on this forum?

I've deliberately avoided my amp for obv reasons. But let's hear about other minority components that few get to hear or even heard of.
 
Yeah. But the higher end Marantz such as the reference ranges usually get ignored.

I can only guess it's about demand. All of my local Marantz dealerships only get asked about the more affordable ranges. They don't stock any of the ref stuff. If you want to demo the more expensive Marantz amps it generally takes a while for them to order whatever model you want to demo.

That's the nuts & bolts of what this thread is about.

How many on this forum own a Parasound or even my Exposure or TB2i on this forum?

I've deliberately avoided my amp for obv reasons. But let's hear about other minority components that few get to hear or even heard of.
That's why I mentioned Tom Evans Audio, the nuts and bolts of this thread are whatever other forumees make of it, as usual.
 
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I'll name two brands, and for two different reasons:

1) Sennheiser - they have headphones to suit every budget and which on the whole sound great for the money. However, my reason and why I will be a lifetime customer is that I knocked onto the floor my IE800 in ear headphones last year, which resulted in breaking them, and I was so annoyed about it. Someone online mentioned they do a repair service for £100. I paid them and shortly later they thanked me for being a customer and advised they were posting me a brand new set of the newer and better IE800S. I was beyond pleased with absolutely phenomenal customer service. I genuinely thought they were only good for the bin and never in a million years expected to get another (better) pair, for a £100 fee. The cost of the newer set when they sent them to me was £860. Utter quality. Thanks Senn and I will definitely buy from them again!!!! PS: they also sound truly amazing!

2) Jolida - I have a valve DAC of theirs, which I've had modded/upgraded by the ex UK main dealer for them. The sound for pound on offer is staggering and it sounds really good. They can be picked up cheaply 2nd hand for a few hundred quid in stock condition and a fully pimped model for ballpark £550/600, although they are hard to get ahold of. But if you can they are quality quality bits of kit. Endlessly tweakable - just bung in a new set of valves.

NB: They are now called Black Ice and can be imported from US, although for a fair bit more now.
 
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AJM1981

Well-known member
I would almost like to state that these days it is harder finding bad speakers between the good ones whereas in previous decades it was often the other way around.

In terms of speaker brands I have used B&W, Tannoy, Wharfedale and Madison. Would also like to mention Roland for monitors, I have enjoyed them too as living room speakers while abroad.

Speaking about amps I am ok with Quad, HK, Denon, Yamaha, Arylic and Marantz.

In my opinion a lot of gear is perfect for living room levels of listening and you don't need heavy gear for that. I bet heavier stuff is needed if I would create a large room for real concert level music, but that is a different kind of sports.
 
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