Companies that used to make high end gear

I was going through some old AV magazines and came across some ads for some products that I had forgotten about. This got me thinking, I remember back when manufacturers like Philips, Nakamichi, Proton, etc. used to make some pretty high end gear. And Philips, the co inventor of the Compact Disc, is now all but forgotten for their once cutting edge products.
So I thought this might make for a fun thread. Which audio companies can you all remember that either used to make high end products, or are no longer around? I'll get things started with this list:

Nakamichi- They came out with three revolutionary high end products under their cost no object Dragon moniker (a CD player system, turntable, and audio cassette player). They were and still are considered to be some of the best ever made.







Plus a few more separates they made:

DAT player


Processor

Dragon cassette player


Dragon turntable



Philips- The company that co-developed the audio CD used to make some serious audio and video gear. Here's their 2 piece CD player D/A converter, the LHH1000:

And some high tech speakers they once made:





Denon-Denon has of course just recently re-entered the high end separates game with the soon to be released AVP-A1HD/POA-A1HD. But for the last 10 years they had been totally abscent from making high end separates. Back in the early to mid 90's they made some serious cost no object statement pieces. Here's their no holds barred CD transport, the DP-S1:






Actually they were for sale, but only the most wealthy could afford them.

STV, Thanks for sharing the cool pics ! Brings back lots of memories, buddy of mine had the dragon cassette player back in 'the day', way out of my budget back then !

Back in the 80's my friend's dad also had a Nakamichi Dragon Cassette player along with a Thorens TT and huge Klipsch-horns. I think he also had Nak amps but my memory fails me. That was my first look at high end audio equipment, ahhh, the youthfull years.

Marantz also?

This was probably before my time, but wasn't Marantz really high end also at one point in time? Did they not blow their image as one of the best in high end by venturing to mid-high end and ruined their brand that way?

Marantz absoutely used to be true high end. When the company was sold in the late 80's, their product went to crap....but it was bought again in the 90's and they started to build decent stuff again. Now, under D&M ownership, they are back in the game even in the high end. Their Reference series is HOT in europe....excellent reviews, very solidly built, and great sounding stuff.

twich54 said:

STV, Thanks for sharing the cool pics ! Brings back lots of memories, buddy of mine had the dragon cassette player back in 'the day', way out of my budget back then !

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You're welcome I just thought it would be cool to have some pix of the gear I was talking about.

How about the Carver Silver Seven tube amp? Sadly Carver is no more So I felt they qualified.

My brother had in the 80's a very nice Kenwood system that I loved but never could touch.

Kinergetics Research- This company made some serious high end gear back in the 90's. They also offered products under their Chiro brand. The company made pre/pro's, amplifiers, CD Players, D/A converters etc. In 2000 Kinergetics Research closed their doors.

Proceed- known as Mark Levinson's lower priced sister line, these were and still are highly sought after components. Their AVP line of pre/pro's are world beaters for sound quality and give up very little to what the cost no object Mark Levinson line offers. Their DVD/CD transport is considered one of the absolute best CD players around. The Proceed line was dropped and the products are no longer being made, but they still have a loyal following.

Yamaha- While still one of the leading manufacturers of high quality receivers and DVD players, Yamaha has for the most part backed away from making separates like they once used to. Back in the 90's they made monoblock amplifiers, multichannel amplifiers, CD players and transports, D/A converters, A/V processors, audiophile grade pre-amps, etc.

Anybody remembers SAE ?

I used to be a SAE addict, some 25 years ago...

Yes, I definitely remember SAE. They made some great amps! Cool pix. Was that your setup?

STV said:

Was that your setup?

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Absolutely not !!! I only had a SAE parametric eq and a preamplifier. I wish I could buy more from them, though...but 25 years ago my resources were quite limited...

lugano said:

Absolutely not !!! I only had a SAE parametric eq and a preamplifier. I wish I could buy more from them, though...but 25 years ago my resources were quite limited...

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Well whoever's system that is it's pretty amazing!

I'm with you, I always liked SAE gear and would have loved to have owned some of their stuff. Great products from a great company.

I read Audio and Stereo Review when I was younger and remember Soundcraftsmen ads. For some reason, I thought all of the colorful LEDs on their amps were cool....never listened to any their equipment so I have no idea on the sound quality...

Great nostalgic thread - here's my contribution...

amey01 said:

Great nostalgic thread - here's my contribution...

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Thanks for sharing the pix. What brand is it? Looks like a Sonic Frontiers, but I may be wrong.