Most Underrated/Overrated Component or Brand

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Hi gentlemen,

The new H-K gear isn't underrated. a friend who is a Harman repair center reports a 65% failure rate in the first year of use.

Scandalous. McIntosh may not be to everyone's liking, but they are the only high end line who kept their quality from the late 1940's to now. They also do a superior job of parts and service support for your older equipment to boot. I have a lot of McIntosh amplifiers at my broadcast stations from the 1950's to the 1980's. All still meet or exceed their performance limits when they were new. And this is with 24 hour usage. Never turned off except for power failures.

Everything I ever owned by Harman/Kardon worked fine until it was sold, and the stuff I have still works great. And it's all been 20 years old, or older.

Probably 75% of the equipment talked about on this site is overpriced, and overrated.

 

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Overrated brands- Sony, Bose, Carver (poor price to performace ratio, overly hyped)
Underrated brands- no opinion

Opinions are highly dependent upon year and model.

:yes:

 

[automojo]

Everything I ever owned by Harman/Kardon worked fine until it was sold, and the stuff I have still works great. And it's all been 20 years old, or older.

Probably 75% of the equipment talked about on this site is overpriced, and overrated.

Some difference need to be made on new vs vintage-i.e H/K.
As far as H/k goes they made some solid equipment in the 60-80's. They had some quality control problems in the early to mid 90's, but to seem to fix most of it.
The new stuff coming out of China maybe another story. Hopefully they get this resolved.
Contrary to some, they are very good, and very bad import (China in particuliar) factories, and everything else between. Given a solid design, quality oversite is the key. Easier said than done I can imagine, but it's do able.
My H/K td 393 and t-40 bought new in 1988 are still going strong, very solid. well tought out designs. Looking foward to my recent H/K PA 2400 purchase-see how it stacks up.
I recently bought a Onkyo 8522 (Malaysia-refurbed) for my office and still am amazed at the sweet, well balanced sound it produces through vintage DLK 1 1/2's. Nice phono section and surprising FM tuner for under $130 with 3 yr warranty.
Marantz made some nice sounding equipment, but everyone I remeber who had them in the 70's was always replacing bulbs, fuses, etc. Lucky to get a year plus, but sound wise they compared favorably with Pioneer/ Sansui/Kenwood/HH Scott/Akia.
Overall I would say the major Japan/US players in the 70-90's had some really great, and some so so equipment. I think alot of people were decieved into believing one brand was superior/inferior by their ads/ reviews or salesman. I had a subscription to Stereo Review through the 70-90's when they changed Sound and Vision (I think that's was it) and High Fidelity as well.
I remeber my fellow hifi geeks at the time (me included) would read a manufactors ad, and be totally sold on a new piece before even hearing it. Pioneer was a big hit among us younger geeks. The styling and sales ads/marketing were a big factor as I recall looking back. We finallly learned the value of equipment matching, despite Julian Hirsch telling us it didn't matter (I still have the utmost respect for his tin ears though!).
Some audio equipment in like a sports car-or women. High maintenece, but the rewards are worth it. At least to some of us!:thmbsp:
OK-the exception is Bose, I have heard dozens of their products, and their timbre and tonal characterisitcs are irritating to say the least. To me speakersare the most important link in the chain-they can more easily change the sound of electronics than the other way around.
Inexpensive components in the design, or just bad overall design- or bad execution? More of the first and last I would imagine. The old adadge fits-no high-no lows-must be Bose!

 

[automojo]

:yes:[/QUOTE

Right on the mark:thmbsp:

 

[Marantz7t15]

There are so many brands that are underrated. I happen to like marantz a great deal, as well as yamaha and carver. Wow! Most overated I feel are anything with tubes, starting with marantz. Yes they sound spectacular, but I don't feel they warrant the money they get. My solid state gear was a hell of a bargain considering. But hey! Whatever, right?

 

[legalalien]

Being a newer Marantz owner (the 2275 in my avatar) it does seem surprising to see Marantz mentioned so often in the "overated" catagory. I've not heard so many of the brands named in so long it would be hard to realistically classify them all but I think in the case of Marantz I think it's more a case of them being over"hyped" than overated. Having owned some decent newer stuff in recent years (Rotel, NAD and some digital amps) the Marantz simply kicked them all to the curb and not by a small margin. That being said the unit I acquired is nearly museum grade and has been professionally gone through and is performing as though it were new. I have noticed that Marantz people (myself included) tend to babble about our brand probably to the point of being annoying to others (sorry) but we love our stuff the same way most people feel about there own gear. Truth be told when I began my quest to "retrofy" my system I wanted a Yamaha CR1020 which I happen to think is one of the most beautiful looking pieces of audio equipment ever produced but the sucker was just too wide for my cabinet (darn it!), some day I will own one of these babies but I'll NEVER part with the Marantz. As far as overated goes I suppose Bose comes to mind and I actually owned the 901's back in the 70's, they weren't too bad but they had to be set up perfectly or they really sounded like crap, again I'd say more over"priced" and over "hyped" than anything else. In closing my Marantz along with my (just this weekend) newly refinished and gorgeous walnut Advents and Technics SL1300MK2 has been the most fun to put together and listen to of all the systems I've ever owned (way too many to mention) but I'm a definite convert to the retro stuff.

 

[technicsbest]

I had previously posted 'no opinion' for underrated brands but as I read through some previous threads, I noticed the Technics name is sometimes not afforded the same respect as Sansui, Marantz, Pioneer and a few others. So, I'll add Technics to the list based upon this observation. Their specs. were always impressive and I really like the look of most of their product line. Maybe some critics can't see the difference between the Panasonic line and Technics. :scratch2:

 

[traugh]

Hi gentlemen,

The new H-K gear isn't underrated. a friend who is a Harman repair center reports a 65% failure rate in the first year of use. Scandalous. McIntosh may not be to everyone's liking, but they are the only high end line who kept their quality from the late 1940's to now. They also do a superior job of parts and service support for your older equipment to boot. I have a lot of McIntosh amplifiers at my broadcast stations from the 1950's to the 1980's. All still meet or exceed their performance limits when they were new. And this is with 24 hour usage. Never turned off except for power failures.

I had a 1970's era 6100 McIntosh integrated fall from a height of 6 feet onto its faceplate onto a concrete floor (shelf unity collapsed). Busted the glass and bent two knobs (all of which were fixed years later -the glass after 3 years and the knobs 24 years later). The thing never quit working and sounded like it was new. I don't know of ANY other brand that you could do that with and have it keep right on going. Some people may not prefer the sound but the build quality was exceptional. They had a museum in the factory with examples of amps that fell of trucks at 70 mph and that were in floods and covered with mud. They all turned on and worked. Is that museum still there? Can't afford any of the new stuff so I can't speak to any of that. They still service my 1970's era amp and speakers. Just wish I could find some new speaker connectors for the XL-10 speakers that have the plastic broken off the clips. Still work, just harder to grab onto than they used to be.

 

[riverrat]

Over-rated: "Monster" receivers of all brands

Under-rated: Upper mid-range separates, e.g. Kenwood KA-7100/KT-7500, Sansui AU/TU-517, etc. I'm basically talking about models that were one or two below TOTL. I think this is the sweet spot for best values in vintage gear.

 

[pilotputz]

Underrated:
Utah Speakers
Rectilinear

Overrated:
JBL
Altec

 

[MunkeyQ]

My vote has to go to Goodmans. Not the new plastic Goodmans junk - the older, heavy, cast basket stuff. No-one has really heard of many of their speakers, but they're very well made.

I have a pair of Magnums with 10" woofers, and despite the fact they're not very big, the cabinet is pretty heavy. I used to have some giant Mezzos and Magisters, but I had to sell them due to space. Great speakers, but they do need a good bit of power to sound good.

 

[audioX]

mac blows goats on the internet any one who would spend that kind of money..has more money then sence...my buddy owns a mac and i compared my little old sansui to his and blew it out of the water....needless to say he bought a sansui and is still running it to day......go figure....

 

[audioX]

I had a 1970's era 6100 McIntosh integrated fall from a height of 6 feet onto its faceplate onto a concrete floor (shelf unity collapsed). Busted the glass and bent two knobs (all of which were fixed years later -the glass after 3 years and the knobs 24 years later). The thing never quit working and sounded like it was new. I don't know of ANY other brand that you could do that with and have it keep right on going. Some people may not prefer the sound but the build quality was exceptional. They had a museum in the factory with examples of amps that fell of trucks at 70 mph and that were in floods and covered with mud. They all turned on and worked. Is that museum still there? Can't afford any of the new stuff so I can't speak to any of that. They still service my 1970's era amp and speakers. Just wish I could find some new speaker connectors for the XL-10 speakers that have the plastic broken off the clips. Still work, just harder to grab onto than they used to be.

...

i drop my lapTop it still works......go figure....

 

[johnda]

Underrated-Kenwood
My Kenwood gear is still going great, solid as a rock, and sounds great. I swap gear around my house periodically and my Kenwood KR6600 just replaced my Sony STR-6055 in the music room. During the summer, my unheated basement will make use of my Kenwood KA-6100 amp and KT5000 tuner. Yep, Kenwood, definitely a sleeper! Now, if i could afford it, I would love to latch onto some good Mac gear, but the Kenny will do fine.

 

[almostblue]

Marantz receivers may sound great, but who wants a component with a sideways tuning knob? Something about that ain't right!

 

[deeter]

Overated: REVOX (very average for what you pay), BANG & OLUFSEN (most sound like a boombox, BOSE, POLK (muddy, they always sound muddy), SONY, PIONEER, .......
Underated: Kenwood, ADS, Akai, MCS, Philips (The best CD Players through the early to mid 90's I have heard, they will read through a soda pop spill).
I never thought I would read the marantz name (through the 70's) in the same sentance with the word overated! I don't have any at present and regret ever selling my 2238b... But I must say to the folks who have posted those coments..... Good for you! Most would not share that because Marantz has such a strong following.... Glad to see you spoke your minds.. Even is I don't agree........

 

[direwolf]

C'mon Lefty- Sherwood made some nice products and Sony too

Funny you should say that!

My garage system is Sherwood amp + Sherwood tuner + Sony speakers.....

total cost at yard sales: $5 + $5 + $12= $22.00 (US)...

For the price you just can't beat Sherwood + Sony!

I can't comment on overrated, but Sherwood is underrated (for the price).

 

[ferguson3930]

Overrated is the contemporary Bose gear. It is nothing but a joke.

Partly underrated: vintage Bose. One example - nobody who experienced a Bose Spatial Control Receiver with 901/III or 901/IV speakers (with third terminal for spatial control) will second Bose is in all overrated, even the smaller 550 sounds fantastic with the 901. The tiny 205 for little rooms sound very fine. Not so good: 301. I love the sound of 501 an 601, but the material quality of the 501´s cabinet is a catastrophe.

People putting contemporary and vintage Bose gear into one bowl and scream OVERRATED are in my humble opinion wrong.

Chris

 

[Catswold]

Might as well weigh in.

Over-rated: Bose-certainly the "Wave Radio." One of the funniest things in advertising I have ever experienced was an advert/30 min. program on the Wave Radio featuring Herbie Hancock. At the time I was running a Pioneer Elite VSX36TX as a front end for a Cinenova Grande 5-channel amp.

Old Herbie was playing "live" on the piano and at a certain point they switched to a CD of him playing on the Wave system...ooops! Talk about a major mistake, the drop in fidelity was profound. I laughed my a$$ off.

Also over-rated: Anything I haven't tried but I think is over priced:scratch2:

Under-rated: Some of the mid-line gear of the big manufacturers of the 70's.

NOW: As to the McIntosh argument. I owned one piece of Mac, an MA-6100, and I would trade all of my Pioneer amps for a pristine MA-6100 (almost, I really do like my SA-9500II). Best, most musical amp I have ever listened to. At 70 wpc nominal, it would drive the heck out of any Maggies I ever came across or any other speaker load. Truly built like a tank.

It beat the heck out of my Pioneer SX-1080 rated at 120 wpc, but then I like music, not wall shaking noise.

Basically, over-fated means either you haven't heard it and are envious of those who own it, don't like it because of your own experience, or it doesn't match your personal opinion of what it should sell for.

Under-rated means you like it but it doesn't get mentioned enough on these or other forums (fora, to be grammatically correct), or gets no respect from others.

Fun discussion but pure mental mastur.......

 

[Axcel]

What are ya smokin Brian... McIntosh "underated"???



Insert McIntosh in that, instead of Marantz, and ya got why I said what I did about the Mac stuff.

I've had several of the Mac receivers, and they were not better preforming than a Marantz, Pioneer, or Sansui for 1/3 the price.

Mac is good gear, but not superior, considering the inflated price.

would have to agree I too have owned recr's from Pioneer -kenwood -Sansui -
just about all main brands including Mcintosh (4100) and heard nothing mind blowing better from the Mac (which I paid far more for)