The Fiats of Audio

[OldiesButGoodies]

What are the Fiats of the audio world?

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/seven-things-i-have-learned-from-owning-a-vintage-fiat-1562761520/+ballaban

What vintage brand tends to bring with it a strange combination of happiness and anxiety in expectation of the next failure? 

Your take?

[schwarcw]

Interesting read.  I know quite a few folks with vintage cars.  They will always be a labor of love.  They need a lot of attention, sometimes a lot of patience to find parts, and of course money.  I think that you need to be a decent mechanic or have a trusted mechanic that you can work with.  These cars can be a lot of fun and heartache.

I'd love to own one, but I don't have the time.  If I were to get one I'd like a '50's big Buick, Pontiac, Desoto, Cadillac or Packard.  Of course a '55 - '57 T-Bird would be real nice also.

[schwarcw]

Sorry for the threadjack Pepe!  I couldn't help myself!

IMO in the audio world, McIntosh, Fisher, Marantz, Dynaco, Scott and many others could be considered the Fiats.  It's a matter of personal taste!

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

Not a brand, but collecting vinyl is the Fiat of the audio world for me.   Completely unreliable, one copy can be amazing and another horrifying.   When it works, it is magic, and even the bad ones bring me a kind of sour pleasure.   I think that is more or less what the author is getting at.

[OldiesButGoodies]

Nakamichi stuff strikes me as Fiat-like in some ways, particularly the stuff they made in the 80s.  When it works and is tuned, it is a joy,  but it will not last that way for very long.  Macintosh is the Mercedes - built like a tank but expensive to maintain the few times you need to do something to them. Carver is - not sure where to put Carver.  Maybe I would compare Carver to Alfa Romeo. Enough said.   

[MacGeek]

B & O gear from the 1970s.  Very sexy  and cool to use, but troublesome with age.  Tanberg is another Mercedes type, IMO as are the Revox R to Rs.