How important is "brand name"?

Sounds like you just described every industry in the free world. Brand names mean everything and nothing. Some to many times you cannot trust the major audiophiles mags either. The biggest secret in this hobby is coming to the realization that one must spend a lot of money to realize one does not have to spend a lot of money.

There are $30k products and name brands that smell and $200 products that'll make your system sing. And vice versa.

Your surest bet to prevent costly mistakes is to find somebody so well versed in this hobby, somebody who lives, sleeps, and drinks this stuff, and lean heavily on this person's advise for all gear purchases, even down to the electrical plug types and models. But that also means steering clear of the opinions of the masses. Because the majority are usually wrong anyway.

Stehno makes good points. I would just add that I think that "brand names" are VERY important to some audiophiles (you'll note I didn't say music overs), whereas uniqueness is very important to others and they don't worry about the manufacturers going tits up.

My own position is somewhere between the two: I do like the idea that a manufacturer is going to be around to service my gear for the long term, but name brand for the sake of "elite-ism" is not particularly important to me. My amp dealer went out of business, but fortunately re-emerged with another company (McCormack/CJ), and my pre-amp builder (Sonic Frontiers) has been bought and sold (how many times?). I suspect it is very difficult for small audio names to become mainstream, ie Levinson and Krell (and I have 2 Levinson pieces that sound great-- and I appreciate the build quality and name).

But having said all tis, it all has to SOUND GOOD TOGETHER for it to be worthwhile. I'm too damned old to be interested in "trophy equipment". Assess the risk(s) you're willing to take and go with what you like and sounds good to you, IMHO. Good Luck. Craig.

'Blue chip' mfrs are always the best way to go if you like playing with gear. I've nearly always stuck with ARC, Krell, CJ, Magnepan, Quad, Martin logan, Wadia, Linn, Levinson, et al. and hardly ever take a big hit on resale. This 'music lover' would rather preserve his dollars for more software than piss away my cash on 'garage-made gear' that will most likely have poor resale in years to come...

The opposite to the conventional wisdom is also true. There are always some absolute steals in used gear, because it is an obscure brand name; or it is a discontinued line from a well known company, that is unknown to those new to the hobby.

If you know what to buy, you can put together a great system, as good, or better than the well known brand names and product lines, for a small fraction of the cost.

No one wants a brand name until the company has earned a ruputation for having solid good sounding equipment. The key is to look for quality. If you find a piece of equipment with a name you have never heard before, take a look inside, see what's in there. Plug it in and listen. If it sounds good and is well built, does the name matter? To some people yes, to others, not so much. I admit I am partial to some brands more than others. Just because those companies have a reputation of good value/good sound and are well built. (atleast in my eyes) It all depends on what you like. Garfish brings up the "trophy equipment" idea and I agree with him. not about being old, about not really wanting stuff just to look at it. It has to perform it's task well.