Well.. my opinion is this. It has nothing to do with Hi FI.
If you've got funds, and your tagline is "better sound through research", then i expect some.. ya know... results that consistently correlate with other industry research?
I don't hate anything that's big and powerful. I think 95% of us here are Harman fans plain and simple. Why? Because they actually strive for the Bose tagline "Better Sound Through Research"?
Heck, if you look at some of Floyd Toole's research:
http://www.theaudiocritic.com/back_issues/The_Audio_Critic_28_r.pdf
A key phrase is "what do listeners say they
like" - IE an attempt to actually observe subjectivism with biases removed. It's not just audio but basically anything to do with engineering in the whole world, then you've abandoned the ability to understand how to meaninfully describe, create, recreate, and operate a technology. It's not just about audio elitism.
As for garbage Radioshack/Walmart Brands etc... I do dislike them too but the thing is - who is it that would buy em and do I have any power to step them? If you ask me as a person who did work at a wal mart for a few months once, it was depressed looking, out of shape, middle aged, probably divorced (and/or married to deadbeat douchebags) mothers of three living paycheck to paycheck who neither cared about "quality" nor did they appear to expect it.. I don't often get in touch with that particular demographic. Bose' demographic is more well-off people who truly, genuinely THINK they're going to be getting the best.
On a somewhat unrelated note, it's the "doesn't know much but more well-off mother" demographic that perpetuates the gaming industry to make so much unadulterated crap... they literally used to walk into the electronics sections, ask the clueless clerks what game their "won't even play it past twenty minutes" children will like best.
Not to sound sexist or anything, because there's lots of critical thinking women, but the majority of middle aged moms should not be within 20 feet of an electronics section.
