Famous names in HiFi bastardized over the years

And almost all of them American companies! The Asians had a knack for purchasing some well known companies with brand acceptance, and, well, I'm sure you can figure the rest out. I have separated each company into WAS and IS descriptions  below.



                                                              ALTEC  LANSING


  This is probably the most obvious, why I thought of it first. Rumor had it that James B. Lansing (of the original Altec Lansing fame) committed suicide in the '60s because he couldn't take the pressures of the business. Can you imagine what he would say today?            


                        WAS                                                                                                IS
       A Classic American icon                                                    A computer speaker company                                                                            
                                                                                                         

 


                                                     ACOUSTIC  RESEARCH   (AR)

      Another classic American company, famous for the speakers and turntables. You can now buy AR branded cables and accessories at Home Depot.

                   WAS                                                                                         IS

One of the highest quality speaker                                              Mass merchandising company
companies in their day, dedicated.                                              targeting mainly big box stores

   





















                                                                     


                                                                              KLH  


 Another New England speaker company like AR. Had a few other components, famous for their table radio as well. Henry Kloss was a brilliant man and went on to found several other  companies.


                  WAS                                                                                               IS

         A speaker company                                                                     A speaker company

                                                                        FISHER

    Fisher evolved over the years and changed hands a few times. Emerson Radio bought them I believe in the '70s, and the first Japanese owner years later was Sanyo. I give Sanyo credit for inventing the "rack system" as we know it. Not really sure who owns them now, or if the brand is even still around? Does anybody really care? Avery Fisher was a brilliant man, and made some of the best gear available at the time.


                            WAS                                                                                         IS?

Arguably among the finest gear                                                                 Maybe still around?
  money could buy at the time.                                                                                              

                                                                   MAGNAVOX

  Famous mainly for their stereo consoles in the '60s and '70s,  Their "MX" line of receivers were fire hazards as I mentioned earlier in my blog. I sold them at  THE Audio Threshold. Philips has owned them for several years, and like KLH and AR they are more tuned in to the big box stores. Basically a Dutch General Electric.

                                   WAS                                                                         IS

    A popular mainstream                                                                      A full range mainstream
       HiFi company.                                                                                 electronics company                                                                                                                          

                                                                       SANSUI


 This is one of few Japanese companies from the very beginning. I had to laugh a few years ago when I went to Best buy to get a cheap second television for my living room. I found a Sansui 25" at a good price, and as the nice young guy from the store brought it out to my car he proceeded to explain to me who Sansui was. "Basically part of Orion, a big car audio manufacturer". as if this would help to reinforce my purchase.


                            WAS                                                                                      IS
 A company with some of the most                                             All types of audio/video  gear
 attractive and well made gear of the '70s,                             catering to the budget crowd of
often thought of as the Japanese McIntosh                                   big  box mainstream  stores.

The list could go on to mention other companies like RCA, who basically was a huge electronics conglomerate that only dabbled in Hifi. Hewlett Packard had a handful of audio products, and many other companies that have just plain given up on HiFi and are in different businesses altogether.  How much clout in a name? Probably  works for a while. Kudos to the Japanese company Clarion (think car stereo) whom  for a while owned McIntosh and didn't change a thing. They liked them just the way they were. The mindsets like any other industry vary tremendously. Then there is overcoming multi - product corporations like Yamaha with motorcycles, and Mitsubishi with cars and world war II fighter planes.

  It's all in a name...................

Interconnects

Pretty much everything I said about speaker cables holds true for interconnects as well, most I got free or cheap. The majority of what I have is either Monster or Audioquest, probably the two biggest names in the industry.I have a smattering of others,  I would highly recommend the Kimber PBJ to anyone looking for a good reasonably priced cable. XLO gets my vote for the funkiest looking cables that I own (bottom picture).These also sound good. I have some older Cardas and Tributaries cables as well.  I use Audioquest video cables for digital, they are both 75 ohm cables and work well. Here again, you can spend several thousand dollars on cables. The same good / hype / snake oil theories apply. With either type of cable if you are serious about them it is wise to try to audition them at home in your own system if it is possible.

And again, let me know which ones you like and I will buy a used pair cheap. One indisputable fact- used cables generally don't have resale value.

Speaker cable

I must  confess I am not a member of the cable of the month club, never borrow cables to try or even research them a whole lot. Most of the cables I have got either came with systems or I bought them used, generally at a pretty good price.

 Some of the first arguments I had at JB in the early eighties were with the plastic pocket protector Kodak engineers that came in and eyeballed the huge roll of Monster cable sitting behind the front counter. At the time this was their only product, and we sold it by the foot for a dollar each. I tried to explain to them on their terms why it made a difference, and was met with laughter and cynicism every time. To simply say "it makes your speakers sound better" was not enough. Fast forward several years later- well, you know the rest of the story. Solid, stranded, flat, coaxial, ribbons, just about every conceivable configuration appears available today.

As I mentioned, I am not a cable disciple, but the ones I have or do use I like. Audioquest Crystal made a noticeable difference, some of the better Monster Powerline stuff is good as well.

 My absolute favorite still is the Sumiko Ocos in the bottom picture. Referred to as "idiosyncratic" by reviewers,this is one of very few constant impedance cables, meaning you can use unequal lengths from side to side and it won't affect the sound. Basically coaxial in design, a double run is best (what I do). A single run is a bit thin sounding, less dynamic. It has since been taken over by the Danish company Dynaudio.


 I have also played with a few others, they all sound different, and you can spend up to several thousand dollars on a pair of speaker cables. Some are good, some are hype, some are flat out snake oil! Many people take them quite seriously, and I don't scoff at them.

 Let me know which ones are good that you like, and I will keep an eye out for a pair at ten cents on the dollar.  

Welcome Tom!

Tom C. emailed me the other day with questions about a B&O MMC 20CL cartridge (one of my favorites). Google had brought him to this blog, and as it turns out he has a Yamaha CD player that I sold an acquaintance of his 30 years ago! He was kind enough to send pictures of the sale and my original business card which was still stapled to the receipt! Look at the price- $1200. for a Yamaha CD-1 back in 1983! This was one of their best, early adopters certainly paid the price! Wondering how much better a $200. machine sounds today! Not true of turntables, of course. A $1200. table back then would probably be equivalent to a $3000+ one today, and would still have enduring value.

  Anyway, thanks, Tom for reading and sending me these!

Happy New Year!

Thank you for your interest in my blog. The first year, 142 posts, over 18,000 hits and emails from people all over the world! Great to know there is still that kind of interest.