Who are the leading high end audio companies?

Dguitarnut

Dguitarnut

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In photography the 2 dominant companies are Canon and Nikon. In the higher end game are Leica and Hasselblad. Of course we are not including the most popular of all cameras the iPhone.
In audio it's a little more complicated it seems as you have more specialization like speakers, amps, power, analog, cables, etc.
Is B&W the largest speaker company? Or Kef? Infinity? Largest Amplifier company? McIntosh? Bose or Mark Levinson? Again not talking about the mass audio market like Sony etc etc.
Any one know some of these facts? Maybe someone in the business can chime in.
Larry
 
Larry,

Great question. It gets complicated when we include those companies with pro divisions, auto divisions, etc. In that space you have Harman, B&W, etc.

If we are talking STRICTLY two channel, then I'm not sure those numbers are readily available. But, I would GUESS B&W, Focal and KEF are the big speaker players.

On the high end electronics side, McIntosh is also quite substantial.

I consider Magico & Wilson the "big two" in the ultra high end speaker space (~north of $30K range of products).

I guess if I had two pick the big two overall, I would have to guess McIntosh and B&W.

Mike
 
Thanks Mike!
It would be interesting to see what the dollar volume rankings of the myriad of audio companies and at their profitability figures. Just look at the diversity of products you represent and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Everyday I run across companies I have never heard of from across the pond and wonder just how big and established they are, how they arrived at the innovative technology, and how can they market and sell a product at such high price levels. Or is it as W.C. Fields said...........................lol
 
And I might add that I had not heard of any of my components in my system when I was big into audio 20 years ago. My lineup was Infinity Qls1, Bozak Symphony's, Citation 16 Amp and citation 11 preamp, Lynn Sondek with Keith Monks , Akai reel to reel and don't forget my beloved Nakamichi Cassette tape and Dolby II add on. Yeah Baby!
 
I can tell you that is Switzerland, the rough rankings interms of sales $ value are Goldmund, FM Acoustics, daRTzeel, CH Precision, Rowen, Piega.

The German companies ELAC, Quadral, Heco and Canton are pretty big, I think. T&A may be up there too.
 
Dguitarnut said:
Thanks Mike!
It would be interesting to see what the dollar volume rankings of the myriad of audio companies and at their profitability figures. Just look at the diversity of products you represent and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Everyday I run across companies I have never heard of from across the pond and wonder just how big and established they are, how they arrived at the innovative technology, and how can they market and sell a product at such high price levels. Or is it as W.C. Fields said...........................lol
Click to expand...

I have to agree with you. There are so many audio companies that we have never heard of. It is so amazing. I mean how do they survive? You don't hear about them on audio forums, blogs, no professional reviews, no show exposure. nothing. My best guess is that they are happy being small company
 
Mike said:
Larry,

Great question. It gets complicated when we include those companies with pro divisions, auto divisions, etc. In that space you have Harman, B&W, etc.

If we are talking STRICTLY two channel, then I'm not sure those numbers are readily available. But, I would GUESS B&W, Focal and KEF are the big speaker players.

On the high end electronics side, McIntosh is also quite substantial.

I consider Magico & Wilson the "big two" in the ultra high end speaker space (~north of $30K range of products).

I guess if I had two pick the big two overall, I would have to guess McIntosh and B&W.

Mike
Click to expand...

Agree. It is not easy to bundle up everything into one category. Pro and home high end audio are different so is regional popularity. For 2 channel, my guess is B&W, Focal, KEF, Sonus Faber, Monitor audio, Wilson, Magico, Martin Logan, Mcintosh, Audio Research. Accuphase is pretty popular in Asia.
 
B&W claims to be the biggest speaker company, not qualifying that by limiting it to high end. The Japanese electronics companies all have some products considered high end, so that tends to confuse the picture there.
 
Do the companies have to qualify with quality of sound or just quantity of income? If you start looking under the hood & then equating what hi-end users buy it all of a sudden becomes quite the different look as far as a graph/feedback would go. We all know that certain gear well set-up in a room will always be the best as in hi-end tier, compared to a lot of other gear out there, so then, opinion of hi-end users starts to equate & makes sales seem irrelevant.
 
A good friend of mine references "The Big 4" when discussing amplifiers in conversation. His definition is Krell, ARC, Mac & CJ. I tend to agree with him but would add a few others such as Pass.
 
McIntosh is the Harley Davidson of high end. Is it the best? I’d argue no. But easily the most recognized brand.


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wisnon said:
I can tell you that is Switzerland, the rough rankings interms of sales $ value are Goldmund, FM Acoustics, daRTzeel, CH Precision, Rowen, Piega.

The German companies ELAC, Quadral, Heco and Canton are pretty big, I think. T&A may be up there too.
Click to expand...

I would beg to differ. I would think that Nagra and Soulution are the top 2 Swiss HIGH END companies followed by Goldmund and CH. Revox are coming back and THorens are still there but German owned
 
If you mean iconic like Canon and Nikon (that is the term that comes to mind for me), I don't think many can beat B&W or McIntosh. Wilson has become iconic and Magico seems to be building that way. ARC is up there as well.

As far as iconic in audio as a whole, companies like Rega, Naim, Linn, Polk Audio, Martin Logan, and dozens more can come to mind. Audio is so broad its hard to narrow it down to a handful of brands that truly shaped the industry.

I bought a Fujifilm camera so I guess my product lines are fitting given my 'against the grain' approach.
 
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