Mainstream Phono Stages Incorporating Premium Branded PCB Parts - Do They Exist?

A local dealer has electronics built for him according to his rough specifications on design and his choice of parts.  From years of experience, he knows what parts he likes in the electronics, but, the process still involves parts swapping to get his idea  of the right sound.  This may or may not involve expensive boutique parts.  I saw a speaker under construction where one week, the crossover contained a very expensive vintage paper in oil cap, but the next week it had been replaced with a modern film cap; I joked that he was cheapening the design, but, he replied that the prospective buyer wanted a different sound that the modern cap would supply and that it wasn't really that cheap a part (it was a $400 per piece capacitor).

This same dealer sold his own proprietary amplifiers.  I was asked to give comments on a particular amp, and I had to frankly state that it was far from his best effort.  He laughed because it was an amp that his customer had sent to an "upgrader" who filled it with expensive Blackgate caps thereby ruining the sound.  The customer was also disappointed with the upgrade and brought it in for the dealer to undo the damage.  This dealer often gets in brand representatives who want him to listen to something that he might carry in his store.  He has correctly identified parts in the electronics from their sonic signature; he can tell when Mundorf caps are in an amp or speaker; he thoroughly hates their sound.  

The right part may be a boutique, expensive thing, or it may be something cheap and common; good designer/builders listen and pick what sounds best. 

There were a few Brands of Copper Cap's, which were used at a few different values in the same place on the schematic prior to my bringing in one other Brand, that came as a Brand recommended from a small group on a Forum who produce some very attractive Low Watt Tube Amp's.

The Copper Cap's were from Audyn, and as stated purchased at a operational value lesser than already used, and was a difficult part to get the EE to buy into.

It got the Stage, where the exchanges were my Amp' being designed, my choices matter as well. I am not a EE minded person, I rejected all opportunities to be taught EE Skills many years ago. The choice paid off, and took the Amp' from being Solid Footed to Fleet Footed.

The Z Foils brought the ethereal qualities where the Soundstage had a few more Pumps of air added and became more voluminous in all dimensions, with a much more believable Coherence Across the Frequencies, with the Attack - Micro Details and body of the notes and vocal becoming quite noticeable for presence and impression made.    

Larry, are you talking about DeJaVu Audio in northern Virginia? $400 capacitor? Indeed.

Yes, it was aa Audio Note capacitor used in lieu of a Western Electric paper in oil.  It’s hard to believe, but there are much more expensive capacitors sold by Audio Note.  Deja Vu uses what works for their sound, so the parts mix includes crazy expensive parts and very cheap parts, and even parts that are old and test bad but sound good (e.g., old vintage caps with high DC leakage which is not relevant in crossover usage).  
 

A customer with multiple Deja Vu custom-built systems was fuming mad because some very cheap look binding posts with ugly plastic covers over thin and tiny brass metal fittings were installed on a very premium amplifier.  The customer insisted on something “better.”  Vu was tempted to not allow the customer to buy the amp because he was unworthy of such an amp (Seinfeld Soup Nazi: “No soup for you”), but compromised when he found some nice looking and not too bad sounding binding posts (something like WBT pure silver binding posts).  I heard a great sounding system there that had a vintage field coil driver that now sells for more than $30,000 per pair matched with $100 tweeters; its all about the results. 

I used to frequent the store on rte 123. Vu is a nice guy. But his shtick (tube SE amps driving hyper-efficient electromagnetic speakers)and my shtick (OTLs with ESLs) are very different.

He used to have a Russian guy who built those custom SE amps.