small companies making today's best products

let me add another issue here. the advantage of a company, usually small, that does not depend upon the income generated from the sale of his products as the sole source of his income to pay his bills, is that he can take his time, search for the best parts and achieve the sound that pleases himself firts before placing it up for sale.

i'd say quality control is better, though it may seem counter intuitive and the deisgner is usually a "craftsman" and takes great "pains" and pride in his effort, producing on a smaller scale and not having to please reviewers, necessarily, can rely on other audiophiles for their opinion before releasing the product.

i think, with the exception of ps audio and vtl, which may not be considered large companies, but do rely on sales as their sole source of income, i find the smaller companies producing higher quality products. they are not bound by as many constraints as larger ones and can hand select those parts which may be more expensive and sound "better", without worrying about the bean counters who would tell thenm that using costly parts will multiply the retail price to a level greatly exceeding the price associated with an inferior part.

why are there so many modification companies out there ?

mainly because some designer chose less than ideal op amps, capacitors, wire and other parts.

as i previously mentioned gordon rankin of wavelebgth has produced many fine products, that can compete with any of the larger companies. admittedly his amplifiers are not high powered , but he along with david berning and the designer of the aria amps, the previous owner of counterpoint, mike elliot, are excellenet examples of small companies . many of these companies can customize their products bto the taste of their customers. lartge companies usually do not do that. decware is another example of a fine small company.

as far as audio dealers.

i will contest any dealer to configure a stereo system that i will like better than one i configure myself and put money on my stereo system over his/hers.

a dealer is limited by its product line, whereas i am not. i have a greater variety of products from which to select and i will always be more in tune with what i like than any audio dealer.

no audio dealer can get into the mind of a consumer. he can only be guided by what the consumer tells him or her.

configuring quality stereo systems is no great mystery and does not require a degree from harvard.

i'm not saying dealers are ignorant, but no dealer should have the attitude that they know better than their customers. that attitude is the surest way not to be successful.

taste is subjective and dealers should not inssult the preferences of customers. they should be subject to the wishes of the customer, not the other way around.

mr. dealer, are you up to the chanllenge ?

I'd like to comment on one thing Elizabeth said:

"[C]learly the small company is a risk for a 'small pockets' buyer. If one is spending money they cannot afford to just burn, then it behooves them to buy a product they can depend on."

Now I can't speak for all small companies, but obviously I share some of the same mentality. I use parts that have several times the power handling typically "needed" for the application. And in my home audio speakers, I use only off-the-shelf parts. So if I hit a moose on the way home from the bar the same night that you blow your tweeters, you can get on the internet and find replacements in five minutes. I don't "pot" my crossovers, so if a crossover component does fail, it's easy for your technician to find it and replace it.

In six years of building home audio speakers, I've had zero component failures. Well there was that pair of scortched crossover boards after a very heavy Pantera session (I use much bigger resistors now), and the time I failed to screw down a connection tightly (d'oh!), but neither was an actual component failure.

And if anyone were to have something fail, they'd get to talk to the company president/engineer/service department all at once... assuming he and the moose hadn't had their rendezvous with fate yet. Or worst-case scenario, there's nothing in there a local technician can't diagnose and replace.

A big company watching the bottom line may choose to specify parts that cut it a lot closer, as far as durability and longevity. I don't have the time & resources to figure out which part will be just barely adequate but allow me to save thousands in the long run. And since I don't have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders, nor a controlling board of directors who can fire me for it, it's my call.

A big company can weather the storm of putting one or two unreliable products out there. We little guys cannot. And very few of us do.

Back to the small-pockets buyer. Actually, the hard-core audiophile who doesn't have the big bucks is the one most likely to put in the due diligence that can lead him to one of these small companies you've never heard of. Most of us are doing something better than the big guys, and if that something coincides with the person's priorities, the result can be more cost-effective.

Imho, ime, ymmv, and yes I have a dog in this fight!

Duke

Interesting thread to say the least!

I've owned equipment built by larger manufacturers and expensive equipment built by one person operations. I've bought from dealers and I've bought direct. I've never bought from Audiogon but wouldn't rule it out in the future.

As to buying from larger versus smaller companies, there are a lot of ways to get to heaven. I personally prefer smaller handmade items for the reasons Duke explained above. My one addition to Duke's excellent post is that IMO, the biggest advantage the small manufacturer has is at the extremes of price and performance. Trying to compete with the big boys in terms of performance, fit and finish in the middle range of the high end is a much tougher gig. However, I think that for many (?most) audiophiles, larger manufacturers are better bet.

On the subject of audio dealers, that's really a local issue. My approach is to always purchase from the local guy provided his equipment provides similar performance and reasonably similar price. At times, I have paid a higher cost to support a local audio dealer. Here in Seattle, Tim Ratcliffe at Experience Audio is terrific. Jeff Catalano of High Water Sound is another example of an exemplary audio dealer who works to develop a relationship.

IMO, the industry is taking the wrong cues from the disinter-mediation brought about by the internet. Yes, it does lead to some audiophiles to chase price, but unethical dealers violated sales territories long before the internet existed. Rather than bringing the necessary value added to cultivate the fledgling audiophile, most dealers have a 'transactional' model. The industry needs to spend more energy developing enthusiastic audiophiles and music lovers.

I do believe that for audio dealerships to remain relevant beyond home theater installations, they need to reinvent their model. In part that involves an explanation of what value the audio dealer will bring to a long term customer relationship that justifies paying a higher price than can be found from an unknown entity on the internet. I understand this won't prevent some potential customers from abusing the audio dealer's time nor will it prevent others from 'graduating' from the dealership model to pursue smaller, esoteric gear. I am concerned that absent a significant change, specialty hi-end brick and mortar stores are doomed.

End of rant...

many "big" companies ship containers full of product that they know will have a 15 percent failure rate. if anyone thinks there is security in this go buy some mass produced crap and hang onto your warranty papers linus. or go to a local warranty/repair shop and see the mountain of mass produced crap not worth fixing in the dumpster. many products made by small companies work, work for a long time and are fixeable. they also increase in value.