Good question.
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Brand synergy goes well beyond specifications. House sound is a very highly refined concept to all major audio component companies. They carefully craft their equipment to be complementary and achieve a bery specific sound.
I have been working on my system for over fifty years, high end audio was actually fairly new back then. It was just being organized as a thing and not a DIY hobby. In that time my system was largely a heterogeneous collection of gear. Part of that was technology... a budding company (designer) creates an inspired component for which they got great reviews. You bought that one. Then the designer would create additional products to flesh out the line. Like Pass amps (Threshold). Then created a preamp and phonostage. So, if you were to put together a really high end system you had to pick and choose different companies components. As these companies grew they were able to put more resources into development and as such develop a house sound... MacIntosh, Conrad Johnson, Audio Research, Mark Levinson, Pass... etc. Some companies have a lot of synergy... like Audio Research, MacIntosh. Over time, greater synergy was created as all of a company components came in line with the same level of performance.
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For most people speaker choice is a big deal. It can dictate amplification... that will lead to a different amplifier from the desired preamp. I originally chose a ribbon or electrostatic... and had to go with a powerful amp (I had no chance of affording an 250w ARC amp) but loved Audio Research preamps. So it pulled my brand choices apart.
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Finally income. I could not choose anything I wanted and compromises were necessary. But over time my income grew. So did my understanding of what I wanted out of audio and I was able to select what I wanted and with a little luck stumbled into the synergy that was possible... with all Audio Research gear. It is astonishing how significant it is. If I was starting out now... no question in my mind the easiest way to get to your ideal audio system is to listen to a bunch of house brands, choose the house you want to be in, buy entry level, and upgrade as your income increases. Note: speakers and electronics are likely to be different companies.
I recommend that. But the one really big problem is that your values change over time as you learn and experience reproduced music. So, maybe my story of convergence is the most likely outcome of the pursuit but not the usual path to get there.
.
Brand synergy goes well beyond specifications. House sound is a very highly refined concept to all major audio component companies. They carefully craft their equipment to be complementary and achieve a bery specific sound.
I have been working on my system for over fifty years, high end audio was actually fairly new back then. It was just being organized as a thing and not a DIY hobby. In that time my system was largely a heterogeneous collection of gear. Part of that was technology... a budding company (designer) creates an inspired component for which they got great reviews. You bought that one. Then the designer would create additional products to flesh out the line. Like Pass amps (Threshold). Then created a preamp and phonostage. So, if you were to put together a really high end system you had to pick and choose different companies components. As these companies grew they were able to put more resources into development and as such develop a house sound... MacIntosh, Conrad Johnson, Audio Research, Mark Levinson, Pass... etc. Some companies have a lot of synergy... like Audio Research, MacIntosh. Over time, greater synergy was created as all of a company components came in line with the same level of performance.
.
For most people speaker choice is a big deal. It can dictate amplification... that will lead to a different amplifier from the desired preamp. I originally chose a ribbon or electrostatic... and had to go with a powerful amp (I had no chance of affording an 250w ARC amp) but loved Audio Research preamps. So it pulled my brand choices apart.
.
Finally income. I could not choose anything I wanted and compromises were necessary. But over time my income grew. So did my understanding of what I wanted out of audio and I was able to select what I wanted and with a little luck stumbled into the synergy that was possible... with all Audio Research gear. It is astonishing how significant it is. If I was starting out now... no question in my mind the easiest way to get to your ideal audio system is to listen to a bunch of house brands, choose the house you want to be in, buy entry level, and upgrade as your income increases. Note: speakers and electronics are likely to be different companies.
I recommend that. But the one really big problem is that your values change over time as you learn and experience reproduced music. So, maybe my story of convergence is the most likely outcome of the pursuit but not the usual path to get there.