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What's more important; sound or brand name?

I have had several people leave comments about my inability to hear things with my system because of quality of one or more of the parts. They seem to think it's not good enough to reproduce whatever sound is being discussed on that particular thread. The issue I have is I think my system is pretty good inspite of the fact that some of the componants might not be a popular enough name.

Many of the comments were based on my choice of speakers. I cannot describe how happy I am with the sound quality of the Sony SS M9 speakers inspite of the name on the grill cloth. Yes I have heard many other 'Hi-end' speakers over the years. Some have sounded better than the Sony's, most have not.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not whining because someone else doesn't like my gear as much as I do. I just wonder if people care more about the name on the product than the sound of the product.

If Sansui made a great product I would consider it inspite of the fact that I consider their stuff to be mostly junk. Maybe Sansui is a bad example since I prefer to buy American but you get the gist...

Any opinions? Have you noticed this happening?
128x128nrchy
mscommerce
21 posts
 
Brand name. Conrad-Johnson. Burmester. Audio Research Corp. I want the assurance of an established reputation, a long life servicing and supporting equipment, serious engineering smarts when I spend my hard earned $. My most dearly beloved pair speakers is now 20 years old. The designer, Per Kirksaeter is still designing after 40 years in the business and will chat on the phone and support his product.

That's really what I'm looking for, not for the frisson of excitement that passes through the pages of Stereophile or TAS upon the arrival of this year's star new component.
wmcmanus's avatar
wmcmanus
171 posts
 
"LESS FILLING!!! TASTES BETTER!!! LESS FILLING!!! TASTES BETTER!!!"

Does it really matter - if you like it - "why" you like it? Or what anyone else thinks about it?
ozfly
887 posts
 
Good point Unclejeff. Got me to thinking ...

As I reread this thread, I wonder if we all have different definitions of brand. There's the mass market brands (like Sony), the mass audiophile brands (like Krell), the specialty audiophile brands (like Montana), the price competition brands (like Stealth, perhaps) and the no-names (like, ... well, uh, if I knew who they were they wouldn't be no names). Plus there's stuff in-between and beyond. The original question was around the potential stigma behind an audiophile buying mass market brands but some of us took it further. I took it to the "nobody ever heard of this brand before" extreme. Many of the answers covered the brands that are smaller and less stable. That might help explain why the answers are a bit all over the place.

At this point, I would agree that the right course of action for me is to just jump in headfirst into the music. Even if the piece lasts just a year, oh what a year! That assumes the off-brand is really better than the rest.
davebachmann
94 posts
 
Definitely brand name ;<{) I mean, whenever I buy jeans I go out of my way to spend more dollars to advertise someone else's name on on my butt - it lets everyone else no where my intelligence is seated...
sean
6,231 posts
 
I've always said "buy what YOU like and will make YOU happy". If it is a big brand name or something built out of a garage, if it costs a small fortune or was found at the local "resale shop", it really doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter what i or anybody else likes for that matter as we won't be listening to it or using it. At least, not as much as you will : ) Sean
>

PS... I personally like "out of the ordinary" gear that one can consider a "find" all their own. These are typically great ways to get good sound without the price tag that big reputations bring with them.
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