Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Established brand vs new brand Hifi

There are a couple of highly publicized new hifi gears which has received great noise and interest among the audiophiles in Hong Kong (examples Pure Matt speakers and Eleckit amplifiers). From the threads, one can easily see lots of supporters. Initially, I was also tempted to try. However, the pricing of the items seem to be moving southward, i.e downward (with entrepreneur parallel importers by fellow audiophile in HK).

Moreover, more and more people are letting go these "seasonal" hot items. The price of the Elekit amplifiers is about HK$4800. However, I have seen audiophile using very expensive GEC KT66 and even Western Electric 350B to drive the amplifier. The tubes alone costs more then the amplifiers. Is this a right approach? I don't know... My view is that the tubes should not costs more then the amplifiers. If one has extra cash, one should upgrade the amplifier first (as there are the heart of the hifi set up) or the Speakers and then the tubes..

My hifi path has always been to focus and use only the well "tested" and good reputation branded gears such as Mcintosh, Marantz, Western Electric, Fishers, Pye etc.. as one tend not to lose money when selling them... : )

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