Atma Sphere deserves praise

I agree with Jtimothya that point-to-point does allow for a much easier upgrade policy, just much easier to make "alterations" to a basic design. I also agree that ARC certainly takes care of the owner of a unit that choose to keep - the annoyance is that audionervosa tends to set in with a perfectly good v.2 is no v3 and you can't follow the progress without selling your devalued unit to by the newer, "better" unit, which isn't in fact always better, but the itch is there to find out. Is it purposeful strategy to move new product, or the legitimate and natural march of "progress"? Hard to tell, but it is nice to know that if you want to take the step with Atma-sphere gear it is usually possible and affordable to have Ralph's latest thinking, even when the topology of the chassis changes. That being said, if you has a ARC LS5 and sent to ARC to replace capacitors and maybe some other passive parts you would still one of the best preamps ever made and ARC would be committed to keep it working as intended as long as you own it. So I do respect ARCs products and support, but prefer owning Atma-sphere gear because it allows me to stay with the evolution of the product - in part because the basic design was so good to start with and it is easy to keep an older unit as it gets sorted out with incremental improvements.

One concern I have with such a hands-on owner is the succession plan. What does the future hold when, or if, the company ceases to exist, or the owner retires, etc.

True, and sometimes unfortunate, yet our hobby is better for the likes of Mike Sanders, Ralph Karsten, George Wright and Paul Marks.

Is it purposeful strategy to move new product, or the legitimate and natural march of "progress"?

Yes. It is both and each is "legitimate and natural". The successful manufacturer is one who improves his product *and* stays in business. I appreciate the discussion and let's not forget about music.
 

I love real value. 'Planned obsolescence' never cut it with me.
Equipment which gets total support from the manuf is golden.

Jtimothya makes a good point about the need to stay in business, we do want out great designers to stay in business. It does seem to me that there are some pretty good examples of "successful" companies with stable products, with evolutionary and incremental changes, forthe most part with an upgrade path for owners. Ralph would be one, but also true of folks like Ken Stevens of CAT, Bobby P at Merlin, and some Richard fella making time and phase coherent speakers out in California. Their products today don't look much different than their products 10, 15 years ago, and if you bought them then you (for the most part) could upgrade to their latest thinking. Great designs don't have to be reinvented every 2-3 years to remain relavant or have a loyal following.