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American Made Audio Products

I just came upon this and wondered if anyone else has seen this website. I try to support the home team when I can so this is interesting, at least as a resource, and not a sales tool. I apologize in advance if I’m late to the game on this but interesting to hear anyones thoughts, knowledge, etc. Thanks. https://americanmadeaudio.com/

128x128dinov
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doyle3433
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Several moons ago working while in college I landed a dream job, working in the only high end shop in town, The Speaker Shop in NE Ohio. All the awesome perks of the job made it great. Fun customers, study while working, listen to music all day and all the Irish coffee you can drink. All while surrounded by great domestic and UK gear. Our area is solidly union leaning. GM one of the bigger employers in the area.

One day a customer comes in he is looking to begin getting into hifi. I put together a couple of nice systems and he listens. Impressed he picks out a really nice pair of speakers, TDL reference monitors, he’s fine with the fact that they are from the UK. But then we get stumped for power. He does not believe that Cary Audio is truly a US company, it’s not in a book he has from his trade union. Frustrated he leaves the shop without the gear he liked. Next day he returns, he’s made some calls and is now satisfied the Cary is made here in the US. He happily apologized and picks up his new system.

It mattered to him as a customer and us as a store, the US makes some of the best designed and built hifi in the world. There are also countless companies from other countries that do as well no doubt about it. But when I buy, my first checkbox is does it sound great, my second is where was it built..

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doyle3433
319 posts
 

I felt the need to elaborate somewhat. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of high quality gear out there made all over the world. There are components that a particular country just seems to have a knack for and I will buy them. However it do try to be aware when I spend. Careful to promote through my dollars, companies and or countries that pay workers livable wages.  

richopp
760 posts
 

Since Magneplaners are the only speakers that DO NOT distort what you feed them, seems like you can buy American AND have the best possible sound at the same time.

Win-Win, I think they call that.

 

Cheers!

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dinov OP
845 posts
 

@doyle3433 Excellent story. When I’m looking to purchase, I always want to know where the gear is made. I ask salesman that specific question, because they ought to know off the cuff and not have to look it up. If it’s a toss up between two items, all things being equal, I usually pick the US company. 

dmyersmd
16 posts
 

Oswalds Mills: https://oswaldsmillaudio.com/story

Our slate, from which our turntables, plinths, equipment racks and even some amplifiers are fashioned, comes from the last two functioning quarries in Pennsylvania. It is cut on a state of the art five axis water jet machine owned and operated by a Mennonite family, surrounded by Mennonite farms. Once cut, the slate is honed by hand using water and diamond tooling and abrasives.

The hardwoods we use to make our speakers, amplifiers and audio furniture grow in the surrounding forests of Pennsylvania and are sustainably harvested. Our woods typically require years of careful air and then kiln drying, and we also use cutting edge new processes like torrefaction that literally cook the wood to improve its tonality and increase its stability. We have our own 15,000 square foot wood shop with both state of the art CNC machines and also antique woodworking machines and equipment which allow us to build things no one else makes today.

Today Oswald's Mill functions as the lab and reference collection informing the acoustical design and engineering of all OMA products. Our large collection of vintage professional tube amplifiers, speakers and turntables stretching back to the 1930’s allows us a proper standard by which to judge and inspires what we create, using the best ideas and practices from the past.

In 2019 we started Fleetwood Sound Company, a new division of OMA. We created FSC to produce a new line of smaller, more affordable audio components while retaining the ultra high build quality and design as our OMA line. Loudspeakers with the same solid hardwoods, hand rubbed natural finishes (oil and wax), conical horns and innovative audio engineering driven design made within reach.

Built under the same roof as OMA in Pennsylvania, next to the factory that made the Fleetwood motor car synonymous with "world’s finest".

 
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