Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]If i may, you will find a lot of up-to-date information on very good to excellent to out-of-this-world audio through the UseNet group rec.audio.high-end, also accessible through http://www.dejanews.com Seldom do McIntosh owners (or would-bes) participate, unfortunately. One of the dimensions the McIntosh business philosophy espouses caters to the "other needs" of the consumer: a need for security, which they call "peace of mind". As an experienced former McIntosh salesman and store manager, the above is an important fact of life: some people do NEED to feel secure about what they purchase and are willing to part with much more money for a chunk of the "real thing". LEICA is one such product. The difference, however, is that LEICA products have been, are, and will remain a technical reference at the forefront of photographic technology, while manufactured to stand the test of time. McIntosh audio components are very, very well built. But, a great number agree, they too often fail to stand their own in double blind listening tests, some far less expensive equipment often eclipsing the gilded midnight black units of the world-famous brand. Dependability is no problem, i must add. But : that's also true of a Bryston, half the price, seen the most in recording and broadcast studios, outstanding quality AND sonic performance. Many other brands can claim the same, too, some with even better sound, obvious from the first minute ! LEICA originated photos have a general image quality that no fool will ever question, on average even. The audio world market is dominated by huge corporations. BUT the demands of audiophiles, especially, have made it viable for smaller excellence-driven firms to emerge and survive in a cut-throat marketplace. A few younger brilliant music-loving AND business oriented engineers have reshaped the high end audio marketplace and McIntosh, all incumbent that it is, is under pressure to deliver. LEICA, with the benefit of almost a Century of outstanding products and fairplay business practice, has survived the onslaught of mass market gizmo cameras, then some pretty hairy non-photo world-market pressures, and will still be around 25+ years from now simply because there always will be people and institutions who require such a product. You perhaps will be amused to read that, to me, an audio system is only as good as the loudspeakers will allow, no matter how expensive the electronics. Much the same in photography: put a substandard "production" lens on a high end "pro" or "semi-pro" mass-market brand camera and your creative work is lost to mediocrity, while you get the can't-do-nothing-about-it grin from some in-store you-get-what-you-pay-for comic. You get spot-check quality from spot-check quality control. Specs on paper are one thing, real world performance is what you really want. Put a LEICA brand lens upfront and it's a known fact that this most definitely will not be a limiting factor. Still to be realized, soon now, my lifelong LEICA dream : focus on photo essentials. I love you Santa Claus ! Andre Jean Quintal - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - At 04:07 -0500 13/11/98, Custodian@aol.com wrote: >Pascal > >What light? > >I used McIntosh equipment, both tubed and solid state, and I thought build >quality was excellent but sound quality was average. No way did it reach high >end standards. > >David