One hit manufacturer

Wow, I am impressed with reading about the great unknown someone who was decades ahead of his pack...Almost like reading a book about some other civilization discovering America. Thanks for the read Sean!

PAUL

I remember hearing this preamp at a place in Chicago. The dealer also sold Electrocompaniet. I can't remember why it disapeared. At the time I was saving the money to buy one. It might have been Victor Hifi but I don't remember anymore.

It was a pretty preamp but it was a stellar performer. I think someone also told me it had hum problems, but I never heard them.

AGI, so much for the effect of high quality parts, I guess... I remember it very well. Black units, rather narrow and high, in basic black. Yeah, I wanted one of those at the time. They advertised in Audio. Folks at the law firm I started out with around that time used to think I was rather strange when during lunch I would show pictures from Audio magazine of the insides of Threshold power amps and marvel at the quality of construction. The designers and builders of these fine products back then had no idea that the BIG LIE theory would produce amps selling for 50K today. Sean is right: an audio company selling its products for a decent price gets tagged with "mid-fi". Geez, I look at some Rotel amplifiers and am impressed by how they are built and what they achieve sound-wise. When is the last time you read that someone's dream amp was a Rotel?

I sometimes look at copies of older audio magazines and am always surprised at how many companies were touted as the next big thing, but see that they disappeared within a short few years.

My vote goes to the Curl designed Vendetta Research phono amp, with a tip of the hat to Rappaport.