Just a point of defining our baselines for discussion (to which rebuttals are welcome): I noticed some responses above seeming to imply that maybe companies like those taken to task here for making products which don't measure the way some people think they ought to for the money, did not devote sufficient engineering time and resources before releasing half-baked gear. Although this might happen from time to time (and although many products do get 'upgraded' after their introductions), I'm much more inclined to give companies like Hovland, Pass, or Legacy the benefit of the doubt (for good or for ill), inasmuch as I tend to assume that their products' performance, both audible and measured, is entirely the intentional result of deliberate design choices made by competent and careful professionals, whose reputations and future livelihoods are understood to be on the line with every product introduction.
Ultimately, you can't go very far for long selling only the equivalent of fancy faceplates and colored lights in any business, and I don't think a quick buck is why most designers get into audio (possibly excepting some in the cable field), whatever one might conclude about their performance priorities or degrees of native talent. There's probably room to argue about assessments of the prevailing level of basic design competence and/or the depth of the talent pool relative to past eras, but to me it's overly cynical to suspect a widespread, shoddy disregard for anything besides short-term profits in such a risky, tough, and fanatical business as audiophiledom. In short, I'm willing to grant from the start that most designers believe wholeheartedly in their products, and strive to make what in their opinions are the very best they can for any given design brief and price point. To sometimes disagree with the results is one thing, but it's another to suggest that those responsible either don't know enough, or even worse, really know better. Ours is a marketplace that encourages diversity, and that includes appearances, prices, and meausured performance as well as sonics ; if that seems to be in conflict with 'objective' notions of accuracy and value, then it was probably ever thus.
Ultimately, you can't go very far for long selling only the equivalent of fancy faceplates and colored lights in any business, and I don't think a quick buck is why most designers get into audio (possibly excepting some in the cable field), whatever one might conclude about their performance priorities or degrees of native talent. There's probably room to argue about assessments of the prevailing level of basic design competence and/or the depth of the talent pool relative to past eras, but to me it's overly cynical to suspect a widespread, shoddy disregard for anything besides short-term profits in such a risky, tough, and fanatical business as audiophiledom. In short, I'm willing to grant from the start that most designers believe wholeheartedly in their products, and strive to make what in their opinions are the very best they can for any given design brief and price point. To sometimes disagree with the results is one thing, but it's another to suggest that those responsible either don't know enough, or even worse, really know better. Ours is a marketplace that encourages diversity, and that includes appearances, prices, and meausured performance as well as sonics ; if that seems to be in conflict with 'objective' notions of accuracy and value, then it was probably ever thus.