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Best brand for longevity

Neil P

pfm Member
When buying new (to me!) gear I always consider whether the company is likely to be round longer than me, so I can get repairs/servicing etc. Alternatively items that can be fixed by 3rd parties (the various people on here who fix amps, CD players etc).

Are there any brands that you'd class as very high longevity in that respect? I'd say Naim, Rega, and Brinkmann has been mentioned to me.

Any more?
 
I don't think there's anything in my Croft amp that a competent engineer couldn't source or fix should Glenn no longer be with us (long may he continue!)

1013croft.inside.jpg
 
Do any of these foreign brands have UK service centres? I always lean toward UK brands to avoid shipping gear abroad.
 
Some brands obviously have massively better reputations for long-term service than others, though I’d also look at the underlying technology too. Stuff based around modern communications protocols and firmware, stuff with fancy bespoke display units, FPGAs, BGAs etc are really not looking good for a long service life whoever makes it IMHO.

As stated many times my view is that audio is a mature technology and there is so much well proven publicly documented stuff on the used market that is where I choose to live. The Right To Repair movement is gaining real traction at present so hopefully we will get to a point where schematics and parts availability are mandated by law. Until that point I’ll keep doing exactly what I’m doing!
 
Some brands obviously have massively better reputations for long-term service than others, though I’d also look at the underlying technology too. Stuff based around modern communications protocols and firmware, stuff with fancy bespoke display units, FPGAs, BGAs etc is really not looking good for a long life whoever makes it IMO.

As stated many times my view is that audio is a mature technology and there is so much well proven publicly documented stuff on the used market that is where I choose to live. The Right To Repair movement is gaining real traction at present so hopefully we will get to a point where schematics and parts availability are mandated by law. Until that point I’ll keep doing exactly what I’m doing!

For HiFi I tend to avoid streamers, apps, screens, anything with firmware. Something like the croft/sugden is very appealing on that front!
 
I used an Ekos for about 25 years. I've looked after it very carefully and it has never needed a service. It passes the swing test beautifully and as far as I can hear it performs as well as the day I bought it new.

But the truth is that I've always been suspicious of arm bearings. Heat cycles, wear, airborne vapour - there are so many ways that performance is likely to become compromised over a lifetime.

This neurosis was a factor in my making an arm whose pivot can be replaced in minutes at home with a standard stainless steel bolt sharpened on a hand drill. With home maintenance costing pennies it should perform optimally for a very long time indeed, or until the epoxy on the scoured bond surfaces of the arm tube gives up.

I therefore expect it to outlast me, possibly by several generations.
 
For HiFi I tend to avoid streamers, apps, screens, anything with firmware. Something like the croft/sugden is very appealing on that front!

That may be but it also has minimal features (no features?) Remote even?
 
That may be but it also has minimal features (no features?) Remote even?

I'd live with a remote, but I like my dac or streamer (if I had one!) to be in separate boxes so I can trade just those components in, rather than a whole pre or integrated.
 
This neurosis was a factor in my making an arm whose pivot can be replaced in minutes at home with a standard stainless steel bolt sharpened on a hand drill. With home maintenance costing pennies it should perform optimally for a very long time indeed, or until the epoxy on the scoured bond surfaces of the arm tube gives up. I therefore expect it to outlast me, possibly by several generations.

And of course you're not biased.
 
My brace of Exposure amps are 22 years old on 24/7 and performing well with no service issues. Easy to work on as well if need be.
 
though I’d also look at the underlying technology too. Stuff based around modern communications protocols and firmware, stuff with fancy bespoke display units, FPGAs, BGAs etc are really not looking good for a long service life whoever makes it IMHO.

Good point and I agree. Personally I wouldn't bother much about the brand or where it's made. As mentioned earlier by few here, as long as any competent engineer or repairman can handle the gear, that is all that matters. Components with conventional or standard circuits, nothing too complicated to handle would be fine.

As mentioned above, avoid stuff with proprietary parts which are only available from the company, usually the high end brands. They build stuff differently by using special proprietary parts. If the company cease to exist and the parts are no longer available, the gear is as good as dead if something inside it fails. I used to have the Nagra PSA pyramid amp and when you look inside, you see all kinds of strange little things (I didn't own it, a friend let me listen to it in my system).
 
I like to be able to service and repair my own kit and so I only buy stuff for which the service manual/circuit diagram is available for.
 
The way things are getting so silly with BGA's, FPGA's, SMD, microprocessor to control an electronic vol control and the LCD screen, amps with built in DACs etc I can see me having to advertise my services as "Repairer of VINTAGE amplifiers" before long!:rolleyes:

It's getting so many big brands are making digital audio computers with a power amp section rather than an amplifier as we've known it... If they make it to 10 years old you will be very lucky and if they fail after 11 years the chances of repair will be slight to say the least!

Ah well, still many, many current models that still do everything the same as it would have been done in 1990 and no doubt more than enough older models of great longevity but eventually needing servicing to see me out work wise:)
 


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