High end Japanese brands? Carrozzera, Musee, Phass, etc.

[Brotaco]

I've been researching some of the revered Jap names of yesteryear like Denon, Nakamichi and others and keep coming across several brands on sites like Minkara that don't seem to be available here. I know Carrozzeria is Pioneer's high-end line in Japan. Musee is another one I've seen some mention of. They have some gorgeous sexy stuff, especially the amps. Those tube amp models are hot! Phass is another that's popped up, but I can't find much info about them.

Anybody familiar with these brands? Are they available in the US? Are they really on a different level from the mainstream gear? I didn't see much for pricing, but imagine they are out of reach for me and most others.

Denon appears to be out of the car audio game, and the current Nakamichi stuff looks a lot like everything else coming out of China these days.

[Hic]

Japan is where the high end stuff went as it was phased out in the US

[subwoofery]

When I studied in Brisbane, Australia - I met a japanese guy that told me how japanese buy stuffs.
They usually save money in order to buy what they really want. They'd rather buy 1 Giorgio Armani T-shirt than 10 Guess ones.
It's the way they think and their mentality.

So when you see prices in Japan: OMG
Everything is usually more expensive there than everywhere else.

The only brand being sold in US that I know of is Phass.

Kelvin

[Hi-FiDelity]

When I studied in Brisbane, Australia - I met a japanese guy that told me how japanese buy stuffs.
They usually save money in order to buy what they really want. They'd rather buy 1 Giorgio Armani T-shirt than 10 Guess ones.
It's the way they think and their mentality....
Kelvin

That and it seems they value aesthetics as well as quality even on more "budget" models. While I would like to see some of the japan only High End Gear come state side, I would appreciate it more if we would get some of there mid level gear as apposed to some tacky gaudy schlock.

I mean this is the basic DD HU they sell domestically: http://pioneer.jp/carrozzeria/products/fh_p530md/

and this is what we get: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PU...vers/FH-X500UI

Both are about the same price, seriously WTF!

[Hillbilly SQ]

That and it seems they value aesthetics as well as quality even on more "budget" models. While I would like to see some of the japan only High End Gear come state side, I would appreciate it more if we would get some of there mid level gear as apposed to some tacky gaudy schlock.

I mean this is the basic DD HU they sell domestically: http://pioneer.jp/carrozzeria/products/fh_p530md/

and this is what we get: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PU...vers/FH-X500UI

Both are about the same price, seriously WTF!

[chad]

Damn they are still using minidisc

[claydo]

In my workplace we manufacture products for Japanese consumption. The consumer culture there is so different from ours it's hard for us to relate to the expectations a Japanese consumer has of its purchases. My employer has taken the time to try and educate us on this. While the average American consumer places emphasis on value and functionality, the Japanese consumer tends to focus on quality, appearance, presentation, and exclusivity. As consumers our country has put itself into the situation of being marketed as a value beyond anything else society. We have gotten to this point by buying the absolute cheapest shit available, therefor marketing folks see dollars with low quality mass sales versus low production high quality items. Combine that with our greed to maximize profit on everything, and you get the low quality mass produced bullshit that our marketplace is full of.

[Hi-FiDelity]

Damn they are still using minidisc

Yeah the minidisc format was huge over there, Sony just ended production in japan last year or so.

[Brotaco]

I keep looking at these Musee tube amps http://www.world-beatsonic.com/musee/amp/ and drooling. I best they're crazy ass expensive though.

Any opinions on using tube amps in a car setup? In my limited experience with home audio tubes, even tubes in the preamp can color the sound in a pleasing way, that's why I'm curious. But I wonder about the durability of a tube in a car, with heat & vibration factors.

[gckless]

So all those amps, like almost all tube car amps, are not full tube amps, they are hybrid amps. They have a tube preamp stage, and a solid state (using MOSFETs) power stage. I would trust a preamp tube in a vehicle if it was mounted remotely decently, they're not very big and they don't get super hot and aren't as susceptible to vibration. Power tubes I would never trust, they're much more fragile. Doesn't really matter I guess, since I've only seen one or two tube car amps with an actual tube power amp section.

Regardless, even the hybrid tube amps can sound really good, and you can experiment with different tubes to get different sound. I'd say a 12AX7/ECC83 is probably the most popular preamp tube.