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What is your favorite obscure audio product?

Submitted by Lenny Cactus, Sep 4 2005



Krell, MartinLogan, Class�these are all well known brands to audiophiles. But what is your favorite obscure brand of audio equipment?

Here it is: 82%
Don't have one: 17%



I love my Newtonia Integrated Amp, the Solis. I bought it to stand in for my Creek 5350SE, while it was in the shop. My Creek has been in the closet ever since it came back.
—*Brad - Atlanta*

I've owned a pair of "Art of Sound's" Symphony loudspeakers since 2001. They're certainly not a household audio name, but if you can find a pair to audition with the proper ancillary equipment, you're in for a true eargasm.
—*DAB, Pacific Palisades, CA*

None. The more obscure the brand, the more expensive it costs, the harder it is to find. Names like Krell, MartinLogan, Classé, and others with their similar levels of quality are sufficient. It seems the more profit a maker wants, the more deliberately difficult he makes it to find. I'm wise to this stunt. It makes me laugh when some people will literally go a thousand miles or so to a dealer carrying some obscure, unknown brand of equipment, just for the chance to say s/he has something really rare, when more reasonably priced gear will more than fill the bill. All too often people want bragging rights, point of diminishing returns be damned. Fools!
—*OvenMaster*

Newform Research, hands down, for their ribbon tweeter. Nothing images like a Newform.
—*Jim S. Dandy, Grand Island NY*

I like Joe DePhillips' line of Discovery interconnects and speaker cables. While they are not marketed very aggressively, they work well in many systems and give good value for the dollar.
—*vinyl1*

Berning.
—*Chas*

That big old winding gramophone turntable with the brass horn. It's so retro-ly cool. And how.
—*Shahrukh Dandiwala*

Magellan subs from thoroughbassinc.com.
—*Marquis V. Fenton*

Golden Tube Audio.
—*JIM*

Acoustic Arts, made in Germany. Absolutely beautiful and extremely well built. I own their CD transport.
—*hohn nyilis*

Induction Dynamics ID1 loudspeaker.
—*Kurt*

Well, this is not a brand, yet a real helpful audio "product": aluminium foil—normal household stuff! Cut a piece big enough to wrap a CD in, fold it in half, put the CD in between and then rub with your flat hand across the foil. Play the CD right away: the result is not subtle. I won the PS Audio monthly award with this and use the foil for every serious listening session.
—*Tilmann Mahkorn*

Sound Valves tube preamp..was/is only available factory direct but was designed by the cheif designer at Hafler from their heyday. Incredible six tube preamp with three of those tubes to a built in phono stage—and it is an incredible value for the money!
—*Mark D*

Bottlehead makes incredible sounding tube amplifiers—some assembly required.
—*Carter*

Herron ATC speakers.
—*stefypoddy@msn.com*

Oskar Loudspeakers from Switzerland.
—*Jim W*

Rappaport Pre-1 stereo preamplifier. This was my first purchase introducing me to high-performance audio.
—*Ned F. Kuehn*

Tube Research Labs.
—*Sunil Lekhi*

Not really equipment, but I use Buggtussel Vinyl-Zyme Gold LP cleaner-great for removing fingerprints, mildew, and mold release compound. I use it as a first-pass cleaner, followed by a cleaning with L'Art du Son solution. All on a VPI 16.5 vacuum cleaner.
—*Vade Forrester*

Bush Vintage floorstanding loudspeaker.
—*Billy Malieckal*

Exposure.
—*Graham Hunter*

Papworth tube amps. It's all in the transformers. I don't think they are imported into America at this time, but if they are and you have tube friendly speakers, give these guys a listen.
—*audio-sleuth@comcast.net*

ONIX.
—*Eric Leckey*

Sonic Impact (with their T-Amp). But are they very obscure any more? :-)
—*Jeremy Moses*

EdgarHorn TiTan speaker system.
—*gonefishin*

Musical Fidelity! Of course I am joking, but when I bought a MF amp it was almost invisible, especially on your side of the Atlantic. Quite a few years later you managed to make me open the magazine and sigh, "Oh no, not another MF review." How about that for brand recognition?
—*Dimitris Gogas*

My three-year-old when asked this question said "Tubey." That is the name of our tube amplifier. Primaluna amp, not exactly obscure but I don't know of anyone else who has named theirs.
—*John VAlvano*

Viva Solista.
—*David Wise*

TBI is a little-known company that produces the world�s fastest subwoofers. They blend so well with your main loudspeakers that you can�t tell where they are placed. But you can distinguish the instruments being played in the low bass region.
—*BILL CRANE*

Cymer.
—*Robert*

I have a Lazarus preamp and GTA-SE40. Too bad they refused to charge for all those milspec caps and wirewound resistors. They might still be with us. Cheerio
—*John G.*

Not sure if Anthony Gallo's brand is obscure anymore, but those speakers rock! They are by far the best sounding (extremely) small speakers I have heard. They are coherent, musical, sonically invisible, and offer an excellent soundstage. But they're not so obscure anymore.
—*Colin Robertson*

To most people, everybody but Sony is obscure. When I talk about having a MacIntosh amplifier to most people, they think I"m talking about my computer.
—*David L. Wyatt jr.*

Canary Audio. I have the 300B push-pull amp and am planning to get the preamp.
—*walt williams*

Klyne: Great phono preamp with lots of internal flexibility, made by hand in very limited quantities.
—*Randy*

DK Design.
—*Darryl*

Bottlehead.
—*Winston*

Korsun, OEM of Vincent & RRM, Original OEM of Theta DaVinci. Chinese audio is getting good.
—*M.Barath*

My Michaelson & Austin amplifier continues to perform without trouble after 25+ years.
—*Neil*

I like my new Audio Mirror DAC. It isn't built to rigid specifications, but I prefer the CD layer on my hybrid SACDs over it, compared to my Sony XA777ES. Go figure.
—*Nodaker*

Castle Loudspeakers. They're from Britain and not obscure there, of course, but I don't recall ever seeing them featured in Stereophile.
—*SJM*

When I am spending large sums of money on audiophile-grade equipment, I won't take a chance on an obscure company.
—*Cincy2*

Probably some of my best times with this hobby were building the Heathkit, Dynakit, and Knight-Kit (Allied Radio) products in the sixties. It was great fun to unpack a box full of weird-looking parts and transform it into a working audio product. It's too bad most of you will not be able to experience this kind of fun and satisfaction. Times change.
—*Glenn Bennett*

I think everything I own was at one time mentioned in your magazine. I feel ... well left out somehow...
—*Al Earz*

The amazing Zerostat static buster.
—*Rob Gold*

VMPS loudspeakers. Outstanding value and sound quality far surpassing many competitors including the ones getting awards and rave reviews.
—*Warner Holfeld*

Antique Audio. This company makes really good head amps and phono stages. The power amps and preamps are also good. This stuff is all tube.
—*Keith Y*

Has to be Sonique—a small Australian manufacturer of loudspeakers and subwoofers. World-class sound, quality, and construction! Well done, guys!
—*Allen*

Marsh P2000 preamp.
—*James*

AMC tube gear.
—*Teresa*

DNM. About as far from typical "high end" as it's possible to get—but the sound is totally first rate.
—*Dave Bennett*

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