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Who's the Cadillac of Hi-End Audio?

In "Get Shorty" John Travolta's character arrives in Los Angeles and the only car available at the rental agency is a minivan. Throughout the film people question why he's driving such an "uncool" vehicle and his character's response is "It's the Cadillac of minivans." By the end of the film everybody is driving the Cadillac of minivans.

Being that cars and hi-end audio have absolutely nothing to do with each other, notwithstanding so called hi-end auto systems, what company do you think is the Cadillac of hi-end audio? What's the Porsche? What's the Dodge Dart? Is any hi-end company as quirky as Saab? For that matter, what's the Harley-Davidson of hi-end audio?

My vote for the Cadillac goes to McIntosh. Both are old school companies with proud histories. Yet each offers products that while not cutting edge, are quite modern. Still, there are no documented cases of anyone under the age of 50 having purchased either brand within the last 30 years.

Except for my answer there are no wrong or right answer responses. Use you imagination and freely express your biases and preconceived notions.
128x128onhwy61

Showing 2 responses by dannylw

dannylw's avatar
dannylw
172 posts
 
I vote for Mac.

The Mercedes is Krell

Mark Levinson is Ferrari
dannylw's avatar
dannylw
172 posts
 
First qualification, I'm not a Caddy owner. Sorry all you Cadillac bashers and bashers of Mac, Krell and so on, but you have missed what Cadillac was and where its going. It was never the best car in the world. It was the standard for the massed produced best. Cadilac was one of the innovators. Oldsmobile usually introduced the innovation and then Cadillac took it one step further and publicized it. At the time that statement was coined cars like Bristol and Rolls were better built but not necessarily better performers. As a whole people that like Caddys really like them and continue to buy them. Mac has that same kind of loyalty. Acura, has almost no owner loyalty. Krell doesn't either. And don't even talk about some of the boutique brands, here today can't find service tomorrow. And I do love the boutique brands.

Mac may not be the best, but people who buy them tend to keep them and keep buying them.

I for the most part agree with Wadedwyer regarding German and Japanese cars. I don't agree on American cars. Every German car I have ever owned has had some sort of electrical problem before it was three years old (easily resolved). None except the Audi could deal with snow. The Japanese were competent as an old Cadillac and twice as boring. The Americans cars on the other hand performed their job, had very few pretenses, rattled and were cheap(relatively) to fix. As a result, while I love German cars they have their place as do all the others. If you need an appliance buy Japanese. If you need road finesse buy German. If you need a mix buy American.
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