Most overrated audio manufacturers?

None of this will ever make sense because this group will never agree on the definition of "overrated" as relates to audio manufacturers, which the OP should have defined as part of his question, in the first place.

I found these definitions of "overrated" by the Urban Dictionary to sort of sum up the futility of this thread;

A word which recently has been used liberally as a way of discrediting something without having to give a proper justification, most often when someone finds they have a disliking for a popular phenomenom and is resentful of those who embrace it. Often used by anti-trendies.

and

So due to personal opinion and anyone who hates anything that's well known, no matter how brilliant something is, if it gets a lot of media attention then there's always someone who will think it's overrated.

and finally, an example;

Person A) "I'm gonna watch my TV..."
Person B) "TV is overrated"
Person A) "I want an Xbox..."
Person B) "Xbox is overrated"
Person A) "Jesus, shutup"
Person B) "Jesus is overrate-"
*punches in face*

Elizabeth is correct, the only thing the average American hates worse than the truth is reality.
US education from K-12 is essentially one long propaganda fest
to ensure this mindset endures for a lifetime.
Also extended to BA level in majority of colleges.

I think overrated is when the component-in-question's performance can be had elsewhere for half the price.
Look-and-feel is another issue.

I'd submit that when a manufacturer rates their gear at a certain level of performance, and the gear does not deliver, then they are over rating it.

Dweller, I think that "performance at half the price" is only part of the equation in a value rating system. It's in the nature of our free enterprise system that someone is always trying to deliver a better mousetrap for a lower price. Often, they succeed in the beginning. The history of the high end is a long list of companies that offered good sounding products but ultimately failed because they underestimated expenses and couldn't grow their business past a certain threshold. There are so many "high value" audio products that are shoestring operations run by one guy and little more. You bet that business model can initially undercut the pricing of Audio Research, Conrad-Johnson and other established players. Good luck trying to get replacement parts and service ten years from now though. Maybe that doesn't matter to some consumers but it does to others.