Vote

Aperion Audio.

Naim Audio. Customer service like nobody else. Always quick, with a solution. Still repairs everything they ever sold (+ 30 years now!)

Bryston has the best warranty in the business. That's what matters to me.

Quad. About five years ago they overhauled my FM3 and made it work again—the original power supply had been removed and then put back, destroying much of the internals in the process (by me, in a fit of youthful idiocy). It sounded superb when I got it back, and the overhaul cost about the same as a Roberts transistor radio.

The HiFi Attic in Vernon, BC, Canada. Both Lyle and Greg have a serious love for the music and what they do. They are a big part of my loving hi-fi as much as I do. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a system in the Interior of British Columbia.

Am I allowed this one? it is Kingsway Hall, London. It was one of the finest recording venues with an interesting but unobtrusive acoustic; apart from the odd Tube train running undereath it. Alas, it was bulldozed for some new development and the recording companies now complain about how hard it is to get a recording venue in London! Some of EMI and Decca's best work was done in Kingsway Hall.

Klaus Bunge of Odyssey Audio.

Despite owning a humble model in their exalted product range (the model 2), I have to commend the Jeff Rowland Design Group here. On one occasion, I emailed with a technical query and the swift response I received seemed to come from JR himself, and on another occasion I phoned about a repair issue and the man himself took my call and explained to me what I needed to do, in the process saving me some money. My experience of Wilson Audio has been less good, though. Readers may want to note that every time they improve the cabinet material and introduce a new model, they seem unable to replace/repair damaged cabinets from previous models. Cabinet damage is unlikely I know, but anyone out there know where I can source a single WATT 5 to replace one whose cabinet was badly damaged in an attempted burglary?

MartinLogan. Extremely attentive customer service. McIntosh does a great job as well.

Polk has a nice online presence that includes: how tos, a free newsletter/magazine, and support and user-to-user forums. When I posted a question, I had a response from customer support within 24 hours—and they kept responding until my questions were all answered. I can't even get confirmations from many other audio companies and their websites are labyrinths of cryptic information.

Oracle Audio of Canada definitely. Their after sales service is the best. Any email to them is immediaely answered the very next day. The reply regrading set ups, spare parts and almost every other areas are attended to. Also I am surprised at the friendly personalised service. Great after sales service by a great company.

Grado, as has been mentioned in Stereophile, TAS, and a number of other audio publications. I had a ten-year-old pair of SR60 headphones with one blown channel. I took them with me on a trip to NYC; called Grado, explained the problem. Was told to bring the phones to a Brooklyn address. I did and they fixed the phones on the spot in about half an hour...NO CHARGE.

Monitor Audio. They really care and want you to be a part of them. Always keen to help.

Frank Pugliano of Sonic Frontiers service department stabilized my Power II amplifier and provided insightful advice and service after my dealer proved to be inadequate. Sonic Frontiers is no longer in production, they have morphed into Anthem, yet the company stands by all past products.

Thiel Audio...Gary Dayton.

Bose has the best customer service and support in the industry. When you call for assistance, you are speaking with a factory rep here in the US, and not some overseas call center. Also, they have online troubleshooting to supplement their live hotline. In a brilliant industry first, Bose has also launched a information exchange, where consumers can interact in a variety of ways directly with the company, including input on future product features and surveys on what you would like to see improved or think works great. Another innovation has been online webinars where members can expirence in real time new product launches with discussions with their engineers and designers. I may sound like a Bose employee, but I'm only a customer who has been wowed with their groundbreaking ways of building not only brand recognition and loyalty, but have raised the bar in interacting with their customer base in a new and meaningful way. As the audio industry continues to suffer from various ills, other companies would greatly benefit from following Bose in developing an ongoing relationship with their customers.

My experience is that both Thiel and PS Audio have exceptional customer service and that it is, in both cases, a very good thing since their products have failed so often under normal use in my systems. They quickly and at minimal $ cost to me, have repaired or supplied me with components with which I have repaired their products. Both have repaired failed equipment and picked up the freight if I would pay only a nominal fee for an available upgrade. Hero is not the word I'd use for them. The heros would be the guys whose stuff never seems to fail: AirTight, Ayre, Benz, and Wilson-Benesch.

Most of my equiptment has been extremely reliable. For the one that had a major problem, I got zero support. If next weeks poll is asking for the rogues gallery, I'll be happy to name the guilty.

I'll be greedy and mention two, Musical Fidelity and Harbeth. I live in the US and apart from feeling Musical Fidelity offers great value, the US service rep was extremely helpful in resolving an issue with my kW SACD player. Harbeth offers great products and has a user forum where you can communicate with fellow users as well as receive a response from Alan Shaw, the designer and owner himself.