I actually forgot quite a few brands. I've mostly been focusing on my 2 channel rig (there's only so far you have to go with home theater, in my opinion). Def tech definitely makes good stuff. Someone else mentioned Maggies and Snell. There's also JMLabs, PBN Montana (in my opinion the BEST dollar value out there, though they're not at all inexpensive). There's also Mirage, but I find them too bright. On the electronics side Rotel is certainly a good brand. There's also ATI on the midfi stuff. I personally like the neutral quality of most Parasound products. Most of my tastes lie in neutral sound... moving towards the warm side of things (READ: TUBES!). The really high end brands for electronics are, mark levinson, Conrad Johnson, Sonic Frontiers, Jeff Rowland, Goldmun, Classe... the list goes on. For a good look at some of this stuff take a peek at:
They have a good listing of extremely expensive high end audio, along with links to most major manufacturers.
On the 2 channel gear this is what I had (sold it for a damn house *sigh*)...
Sonic Frontiers Power 2 power amp
Classe CP47.5 Preamp
Audiomecha Mephisto II CD Transport
Goldmund Mimesis something er other DAC
Projekt 6 turntable (don't remember the arm or cartridge, but it was damn sweet sounding. Too bad LP's are such a pain to deal with).
PBN Montana XP speakers
If your at all familiar with high end audio, this stuff is to die for. I guess a house is a better investment, but I miss the stuff. Now I just have a little 2 channel rig to pass the time.
Okay, the deal with those studio monitors is this... They are fine speakers, however they've been designed (and the reason they're used in almost EVERY studio, along with some JBL models) to sound like incredibly good consumer speakers. The audio engineer needs to know what the recording is going to sound like on a "typical" system. The engineer will also listen to it on audiophile type gear to determine actual recording quality.
That doesn't take away from your speakers they make good sound, however they are not of the same type as your typical audiophile speakers. Audiophile speakers will always make trade offs for. Basically, there's only so far a dollar will go and to get great quality midrange (usually considered the most important aspect of a speaker) you have to sacrifice good bass, or great highs (tweeters from Dynaudio cost over $1000 each!).
Here's the basic deal with Bose... Bose is an incredible marketing company. They come up with speakers designed to "wow" a consumer, and that's exactly what they do. The secret to this is lots of bass and lots of treble, with no midrange. High treble levels are often mistaken for clarity, in that the salesperson exclaims, "Listen to how clear they are!" Then of course, the common perception of a quality speaker is the bass output (reasons low buck infinity's, Cerwin Vega's etc get perceived as quality speakers). So, Bose turns up the treble and bass and sell the crap out of their speakers. They also cleverly package them. They pretty much invented the satellite/sub setup, and it was ingenious, as this let the speaker system get approved by the female of the household (a generalization, but often true that women don't like big, ugly speakers). To further this whole point, the build quality and components used in Bose speakers are of low quality. Also, no matter what a Bose rep tells you 2" drivers (what they use in their satellites) cannot reproduce correct sounds no matter what kind of subwoofer they're paired up with.
Bottom line, is listen for yourself. Do yourself a favor and find a local high-fi shop. You'll introduce yourself to a whole new level of music and movie viewing.
I've spent the last 2 years spending everything I had on audio and home theater. I was such a nut I had 2 seperate systems. One was exclusively for 2 channel audio listening and the other was attached to a 61" Sony XBR300 TV for home theater.
My current home theater rig consists of the following:
61" Sony XBR300 TV
Lexcion DC-1 Preamp (rumor has it George Lucas had one of these things:) )
Parasound HCA-1206 power amp
Toshiba 5109 DVD player (has progressive out)
Sony DSS
Some damn SVHS VCR that I have yet to use
Citation 7000 series speakers
Now... all of that stuff retails for something on the wrong side of $30,000, but you'd be a fool to think I'd actually spend that much money on it. I picked up the power amp, preamp, and speakers all used, at an average of about 1/3 of retail pricing.
So... my whole hearted recommendation is spend some time looking at the used market! Also, stay away from the Good Guys, Circuit City, etc. These stores carry CRAP. Find a local high end dealer and talk to them. Usually their prices are movable and you can do some wheeling and dealing. Also, checkout auidoadvisor.com. They currently have what appears to be the deal of the century at the moment... A complete KEF (excellent speaker brand) 5.1 speaker system for $900.
Here's a short list of good brands to look for:
Electronics (receivers, preamps, amps, etc.)
NAD
Parasound
Some Denon/Yamaha
Anthem
Sherwood Newcastle (make sure it's NEWCASTLE!)
B&K
Adcom
Speakers:
B&W
Paradigm
PSB
KEF
NHT
Aerial
Energy
Boston Accoustics
Brands to stay away from:
Sony (some of the ES Stuff is okay)
BOSE (don't by it, no matter what)
sub $500 recievers from ANYONE (these things are just piles of junk)
Kenwood
Sherwood (non newcastle stuff)
Yamaha speakers
Cerwin Vega
JVC (their SVHS VCRs are the best, however)
Awia
Also, here are a few good links to used audio sites:
Hope that helps, and for what it's worth, I've spent a good amount of time these past few years learning about all of this crap and if you use the guide above you should get a perfectly good system. I've left out super high end brands, thinking most people not be interested, but if you are just ask.
Slashdot Mirror
moonaudio.com
They have a good listing of extremely expensive high end audio, along with links to most major manufacturers.
On the 2 channel gear this is what I had (sold it for a damn house *sigh*)...
Sonic Frontiers Power 2 power amp
Classe CP47.5 Preamp
Audiomecha Mephisto II CD Transport
Goldmund Mimesis something er other DAC
Projekt 6 turntable (don't remember the arm or cartridge, but it was damn sweet sounding. Too bad LP's are such a pain to deal with).
PBN Montana XP speakers
If your at all familiar with high end audio, this stuff is to die for. I guess a house is a better investment, but I miss the stuff. Now I just have a little 2 channel rig to pass the time.
Okay, the deal with those studio monitors is this... They are fine speakers, however they've been designed (and the reason they're used in almost EVERY studio, along with some JBL models) to sound like incredibly good consumer speakers. The audio engineer needs to know what the recording is going to sound like on a "typical" system. The engineer will also listen to it on audiophile type gear to determine actual recording quality. That doesn't take away from your speakers they make good sound, however they are not of the same type as your typical audiophile speakers. Audiophile speakers will always make trade offs for. Basically, there's only so far a dollar will go and to get great quality midrange (usually considered the most important aspect of a speaker) you have to sacrifice good bass, or great highs (tweeters from Dynaudio cost over $1000 each!).
Here's the basic deal with Bose... Bose is an incredible marketing company. They come up with speakers designed to "wow" a consumer, and that's exactly what they do. The secret to this is lots of bass and lots of treble, with no midrange. High treble levels are often mistaken for clarity, in that the salesperson exclaims, "Listen to how clear they are!" Then of course, the common perception of a quality speaker is the bass output (reasons low buck infinity's, Cerwin Vega's etc get perceived as quality speakers). So, Bose turns up the treble and bass and sell the crap out of their speakers. They also cleverly package them. They pretty much invented the satellite/sub setup, and it was ingenious, as this let the speaker system get approved by the female of the household (a generalization, but often true that women don't like big, ugly speakers). To further this whole point, the build quality and components used in Bose speakers are of low quality. Also, no matter what a Bose rep tells you 2" drivers (what they use in their satellites) cannot reproduce correct sounds no matter what kind of subwoofer they're paired up with. Bottom line, is listen for yourself. Do yourself a favor and find a local high-fi shop. You'll introduce yourself to a whole new level of music and movie viewing.
My current home theater rig consists of the following:
61" Sony XBR300 TV
Lexcion DC-1 Preamp (rumor has it George Lucas had one of these things :) )
Parasound HCA-1206 power amp
Toshiba 5109 DVD player (has progressive out)
Sony DSS
Some damn SVHS VCR that I have yet to use
Citation 7000 series speakers
Now... all of that stuff retails for something on the wrong side of $30,000, but you'd be a fool to think I'd actually spend that much money on it. I picked up the power amp, preamp, and speakers all used, at an average of about 1/3 of retail pricing.
So... my whole hearted recommendation is spend some time looking at the used market! Also, stay away from the Good Guys, Circuit City, etc. These stores carry CRAP. Find a local high end dealer and talk to them. Usually their prices are movable and you can do some wheeling and dealing. Also, checkout auidoadvisor.com. They currently have what appears to be the deal of the century at the moment... A complete KEF (excellent speaker brand) 5.1 speaker system for $900.
Here's a short list of good brands to look for:
Electronics (receivers, preamps, amps, etc.)
NAD
Parasound
Some Denon/Yamaha
Anthem
Sherwood Newcastle (make sure it's NEWCASTLE!)
B&K
Adcom
Speakers:
B&W
Paradigm
PSB
KEF
NHT
Aerial
Energy
Boston Accoustics
Brands to stay away from:
Sony (some of the ES Stuff is okay)
BOSE (don't by it, no matter what)
sub $500 recievers from ANYONE (these things are just piles of junk)
Kenwood
Sherwood (non newcastle stuff)
Yamaha speakers
Cerwin Vega
JVC (their SVHS VCRs are the best, however)
Awia
Also, here are a few good links to used audio sites:
audioshopper.com
audiogon.com
jmsound.com
jeffsoundvalues.com
Hope that helps, and for what it's worth, I've spent a good amount of time these past few years learning about all of this crap and if you use the guide above you should get a perfectly good system. I've left out super high end brands, thinking most people not be interested, but if you are just ask.