Audiophile sound quality from a more "mainstream" company?

I had a JVC FX-1100 AM/FM tuner which performed well until it started having reliability problems.  It was a well-designed unit with lots of bells and whistles and jacks for two antennae, which would be useful for those trying to pick up stations from differing directions.  Kenwood also had a reputation for their tuners, although I have had no experience with them.  I now use a Luxman tuner that was Stereophile Class A in the '90s, and it still sounds good and works well. 

My old Harman Kardon Citation gear (preamp, amp, tuner) was nearly state-of-the-art at the time; so maybe HK was a high-end company that evolved into more mid-fi.  Those components performed well for decades. 

Schiit, Klipsch, and Pass. Wait...that sounds like an instruction...sorry...Heresy IIIs are better than IVs, or so I say.

The best overall amp I have owned in 30 years is a Technics SU C700.

One of the best amps under 5000$

Review of TECHNICS SU-C700 EG-S

I was using a NAD 3020 as a preamp with an early PS Audio Power Amp (can't remember the model) in the late 70's early 80's. Great phono section and the 80 WPC amp pushed any speakers I had. The 3020 was utterly unreliable but I fortunately worked for a large appliance retailer with a decent service department. That early PS Audio amp was relatively affordable, back then. 

@wolf_garcia Schiit, Klipsch, and Pass. Wait...that sounds like an instruction...sorry...Heresy IIIs are better than IVs, or so I say.

A triode obsessed "Inspire" preamp/amp buddy went from Hersey II, III, IV, to Omega for a while, and returned to the latest (revised) version of Hersey IV and likes it much better, notably so.  Crossover, tweeter, port, design changes worked well in the new IV, fuller sounding and no fatigue now - he claims, fwiw.