My take is that brands become well-known based on customer experience and quality. It doesn't hurt if they get popular exposure and celebrity endorsement, but it used to be the quality came before the recognition. Take Izod shirts. My old ones say Chemise Lacoste on the label, the name of the founder of the famous polo-shirt manufacturer. Lacoste was a French tennis player know as "the crocodile" by his fans, hence famous shirt's logo. I have Lacoste shirts that are over forty-years old still in usable shape. I also have Levi 501s my mother wore when she was a young woman hunting with her father. I have Brooks Brothers shirts with my dad's monogram on them my wife and kids have been using as smocks for 30-years and they never knew my father. Most of these iconic brands branched out to offshore manufacturing and quality dropped. Now they rely on brand-name recognition to perpetuate their reputation. Notice how large the crocodile logo has gotten on Lacoste products and how huge the Polo logo has gotten as the quality has plummeted.
My take is that brands become well-known based on customer experience and quality. It doesn't hurt if they get popular exposure and celebrity endorsement, but it used to be the quality came before the recognition. Take Izod shirts. My old ones say Chemise Lacoste on the label, the name of the founder of the famous polo-shirt manufacturer. Lacoste was a French tennis player know as "the crocodile" by his fans, hence famous shirt's logo. I have Lacoste shirts that are over forty-years old still in usable shape. I also have Levi 501s my mother wore when she was a young woman hunting with her father. I have Brooks Brothers shirts with my dad's monogram on them my wife and kids have been using as smocks for 30-years and they never knew my father. Most of these iconic brands branched out to offshore manufacturing and quality dropped. Now they rely on brand-name recognition to perpetuate their reputation. Notice how large the crocodile logo has gotten on Lacoste products and how huge the Polo logo has gotten as the quality has plummeted.
Levis is one of the few, in my opinion, that has maintained quality control. Most of my 501s are made in Egypt now, for whatever reason. Some are assembled in Mexico, and other places, from "U.S. made parts". I still have an unused pair from the '70s, shrink-to-fit style with paper labels still on them left from when they were discontinued and I hoarded several pair. The XXX denim is thicker but that was before pre-wash. The button fly lays flatter than the newer ones and the button holes don't need as much breaking-in as those manufactured overseas. But, in general, they feel and fit the same and wear nearly as well. And the "leather" label on the back and the rivets haven't just gotten larger like other brands. They still mean the same thing.
My vote is for Crown amps as the Levis of the audio business. I've used the same amps for decades and the newer off-shore models still garner high praise from those who should know.
I'm trying to imagine how it goes from a QUAD 57 to a K-horn to my Fuseliers and not getting there.
Let me offer two more: Sound and Value
Even some of the newer ones! The LX-series were okay at their price point. I have a pair of LX22 that were badged by the factory as "LX-55" for some reason. They sound fine. But you really should try to audition some of their contemporaries like the Ti series or XPLs. You won't be giving those away!Having never heard any JBL offerings before, I was pleasantly surprised by a pair of LX44 that I refurbed recently. I actually almost kept them but just didn't have the space. Nice speakers, the older ones must be great
Have you seen prices for new speakers. THAT is insane. JBL are a bargain.
I owned L100s, the full HT1THX system, a pair of L19s, and some others with mostly titanium tweeters, can't remember off the top of my head... I sold them all, never liked their sound at all.