Re: Help needed to find stereo equipment!

"Ray Du****in" <raydu****in@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
> I was surprised though, to see that the manufacturer of my old amp and
> cassette deck (Onkyo) is still in business, and seems to be at the
> higher end of the scale, at least judging by price. (My turntable is a
> direct drive Technic.)

A schism has developed in the past 15-20 years or so
between junk audio and the high-end.  What we used to
call "mid-fi" has pretty much disappeared, and your 
choice is limited to junk audio (i.e., the modern equivalent
of "Soundesign," which includes pretty much *everything*
called "home theater") that is carried by places like Circuit 
City and Best Buy, and high end gear from the few salons
that have survived.  Manufacturers from the 50's-70's that 
have survived have either moved upmarket or descended 
into the junk range.  If you shop high-end salons, the brands
they carry almost all have lower-priced "starter" models, but
the salons don't keep any of them in-house for you to see
and hear. You look at and listen to the higher priced models, 
then order the lower priced ones and cross your fingers 
that their performance is at least in the same family.

Gene