In many cases, yes, although it is certainly true that all name brands are not created equal. However, there are at least three different categories of electronics, not the two most assume: no-name or unknown name mass-market manufacturers, name-brand mass-market manufacturers, and low-volume specialty manufacturers. What is the difference between a $25 audio amplifier, another at $250, and a third at $2,500? (We need not go to the fourth at $25,000.) They are certainly not the same products and will perform very differently. Lower-cost products might have the advantage of industrial-scale production, but you cannot reduce costs beyond a certain point without affecting the quality. These three amplifiers are different and it is up to the consumer to decide which one is the best purchase. One of the best indicators of quality is the manufacturer’s warranty. If the manufacturer can’t be bothered to offer a guarantee that their product will work for at least one year in normal service, the product is not worth buying. Please note that I am referring to the manufacturer's warranty, not an extended warranty sold by a retailer. The former is a guarantee by the manufacturer, the latter a product sold by retailers to help their bottom line - the profit on an extended warranty may exceed the profit on the product itself. One excuse we hear for this today is that technology is changing so fast that items become obsolete within months and the manufacturer cannot provide service for longer than six months because the parts won’t be available. This is not a very good argument, because such manufacturers choose not to keep an adequate supply of parts in inventory to reduce their costs. I own an audio amplifier with a *20* year warranty, from a manufacturer that has decided to stand behind their products and support them well into the future. A one-year warranty should be considered the absolute minimum and may be all that is available with items from mass-market companies that contain a substantial number of electro-mechanical or mechanical parts, which can be adversely affected by wear. A two-year warranty is preferred. Much of the audio equipment I own has five-year warranties, although some pieces of audio / video equipment could not be purchased with a longer warranty at the price point I selected. This is important, because purchasing discount electronics may cost you more in the long run. If a product fails within a year or two and cannot be repaired economically, it usually ends up on the trash heap – a wasteful situation. The consumer then purchases another discount product. After ten years, you might have replaced the product three or four times, rather than once or not at all. This can cost more and leave the consumer unsatisfied. A no-name manufacturer or a discount manufacturer that is unknown to the consumer can represent a risk. The ‘company’ name is often nothing more than a label on a product made under contract by a discount electronics manufacturer. The same item might be sold under a dozens different names. Contracts are often let to the lowest bidder, with different products being produced by different manufacturers. The same product may be made by more than one manufacturer at a time. This means that you never know what quality to expect from a product with that name on the box. It also increases the risk to the consumer, because you tend to pay for what you get. Cheap products are cheap for a reason - something has to be left out or scaled back. That said, economy products sometimes deliver very good quality for the price. Unfortunately, the consumer is usually unable to find out in advance where such good luck exists. Name-brand, mass-market goods tend to be designed under the watchful eye of accountants. Their prices reflect this, as well as the economies of scale in mass-production and large advertising budgets. The quality of these brands is variable for many reasons: - Companies that used to manufacture their own goods now contract production out to others and compete by offering discount, entry-level products (e.g., Zenith). - Some companies are in slow decline, overall or in specific product lines, usually from changes in the market that have left them behind (e.g., Sony video products). - Some companies are slowly improving and expanding their product lines (e.g., Paradigm speakers). - Some companies manufacture products for a specific segment of the market, usually to a higher quality level than the industry average (e.g., Marantz). A resource like “Consumer Reports” is very useful for comparing the frequency of repair among different mass-market products. This is an important indicator of the quality of the product, as companies that produce products with a consistently higher than average failure rate are companies to avoid. However, “Consumer Reports” is not the definitive answer on the issue of quality, because some of their assumptions about audio and video quality are not correct. This is unfortunate, because those consumers who can discriminate among products cannot depend on their performance quality rankings. Information can be found in magazines, such as those for audio or video products, but these are often highly subjective and overly enthusiastic. Finally, there are low-volume name-brand manufacturers that you may have never heard of, but produce high-quality products. Some of these companies produce reasonable inexpensive products (e.g., NAD), but are not well known because the advertising budgets of large electronics manufacturers allow their products to be favourably placed in big-box retail stores, in print, and on television. Low-volume manufacturers concentrate on quality over quantity, which is why their products can be very expensive. They may not be the first to bring a new technology to market, but they are the ones that will refine existing technology far beyond the level provided by mass-market manufacturers. This comes at a cost, because of the small production runs, the use of high-quality components, and product designs with fewer financial constraints. However, you usually receive a product that will deliver a much better sound or image than products from mass-market companies. Low-volume manufacturers may have a working relationship with a much larger electronics company, because they can deliver high-end products that the mass-market companies cannot for economic or technical reasons (e.g., SACD technology exchange between Sony and Linn). A mass-market name brand may not be a guarantee of higher quality, but it usually doesn’t hurt. You should always do some research on any product you buy and “Consumers Reports” can provide useful information on repair rates of different products. Read the warranty and don’t buy anything with a warranty of less than one year; two years or more is preferred. And if you really want to see what high-quality electronics are like, leave the big-box store and go to a specialty retailer. Although some retailers provide no more or no better assistance than you receive in a big-box store, some are very good and can show you products from companies you will never see advertised on television. If you go shopping with the attitude that you never pay ‘list’ price and you expect the product to be discounted, you might not find yourself fully satisfied when you bring the item home. ‘List’ prices are often highly inflated by the store and the mass-market manufacturer, so any ‘savings’ offered by the retailer may be an illusion to make you feel good. Some high-end products are already on sale for their ‘best’ price and dickering will not get you what you want. Be flexible, ask questions, and go somewhere that will provide good before- and after-sales support.

SOMETIMES. There are a variety of manufacturers who sell the same exact product with a different name for a lower price. It's a way for the manufacturers to get the money of the people who want the most expensive product and for the lower class people who can't afford it. For example: Radioshack use to sell Optimus home stereo speakers. Pioneer manufactured these speakers with the same ratings and wattage as the Pioneer brand. The only difference between the 2 was the name on the box. Granted more people want Pioneer, because it's a major name brand. But they are the ones getting ripped off when they could have bought the same thing for less than 1/2 the price.