The Single Piece That Started Today's HIGH END ?

How do you define 'today's high end'. If your definition is based on the beginning of major emphasis on 3D imaging then I would have to nominate the ARC SP10II in the early 80's and the CJ Primere 3 as well although sonically it was not as balanced (neutral) as the SP10II.

I think it's naive to believe that the high-end began with the introduction of a single component... Probably a better question would have been: "Who were some of the early pioneers of high-end audio?"

When I think "vintage," I think of names like Fisher, Scott, Klipsch, JBL, Marantz, and McIntosh. And I'm sure there were quite a few before those. One of my friend's dads had a nice console when I was about 12, which had an Ampex tube reel-to-reel tape deck, Fisher tube amp and tuner, and he also had a cool Rek-O-Kut turntable, I think it had a Fairchild arm.

My own foray into higher performance audio began with solid-state gear from Layfayette Radio in the late '60s, and a little later I bought the original AR turntable with a Grado cartridge, a Dynaco ST-120 amp and PAT-4 preamp and some AR 3A speakers. I had a pair of AR 2Ax speakers as rear surrounds in an early pseudo-quad setup. It was kind of cool at the time. Later I got into tubes, electrostatic speakers, Stax headphones, and all types of other gear.

Well I have been in this hobby/business since 1957,when all its was was tubes and mono and about everything was kit built. In my opinion and speaking of high end as to its real start was about 1975 or 1976 with Threshold, Levinson, Krell and CM Labs. The first of the true mil-spec products,and a build quality that had not been seen before. These products finally delivered not only the promise of high end, but redefined audio components in America and were American built. Many of these early units from these companies remain in service today some 25 to 30 years since they were new and continue to deliver the promise. Prior to the debut of these, most of the gear,just did not have the sonics or build quality of these units. This was a major quantum leap in audio and remains so since the mid 70s.

Well, I think we need to define "high-end." If it simply means "high-priced," then I can agree with what Elizabeth and Ferrari have said. However, if there is a correlation to performance or high-fidelity then I have to disagree and say that it started much earlier. Some of the old tube amps with the Klipsch or other high-efficiency speakers still sound pretty impressive even when compared to today's current, high-priced crop. And I realize there have been many refinements over the years in parts quality and driver technology.

I think certain aspects of performance have definitely improved, like lower distortion and lower noise, but some of those early systems did some things so fundamentally right and were exceedingly musical and dynamic...

Linn SONDEK LP12

The early McIntosh and Marantz tube amplifiers, as well as the Klipsch and Altec Lansing horn speakers. How about Quad ESL Loudspeakers?