Audio Research Sold

Here’s hoping for a huge ARC Clearance Sale!!!
Consolidation of the marketplace is happening before our ears.
Retailers closing; manufacturers going online-direct, their reps being leapfrogged; FEDEX drivers herniated by daily deliveries and  pickups of 80lb amps and 200lb+ speakers.
The laws of evolution apply even to capitalist audiophiles—the strong buy out the weak, compromises are made and we consumers will once again adjust and carry on.
ARC:
This is truly an ironic turn of events. In the 70s, the store owner where I worked swore that Mac had the best design and construction and that, since there is no difference in the sound of amplifiers, ARC was an unnecessary indulgence of the majority of the sales staff that could hear the difference and wanted to sell it. You have not lived until you’ve driven a pair of big Maggies with a Mac 2105 going near clipping! Talk about a can o’nails! Even worse was the owner’s fascination with the same amp driving 4 ESS Heils. Maybe that’s where my tinnitus comes from--I thought it was the Army.
We took on the ARC line and did well with it but the controversy over the sound of amps never disappeared. The owner actually DID disappear one day circa 1980, never to be heard from since.

Remember, when McIntosh entered into the Best Buy market (produce and sell as many products as possible), Their value and reliability has gone down quite a bit. Plenty of forums on this, especially with the MC601 Monoblock amplifiers. Trying to convince Audio Research to mass produce could diminish reliability and sound quality that Audio Research stood for. I could be wrong but that’s what I found out from a friend of mine who is a manager for the Magnolia section. Let’s test your memory. Remember Circuit City with the Onkyo and Onkyo Integra line. To get the Grand Integra you had to special order it from Japan.

There's so much utter horse shite spread on this Board (in general) and in this thread in particular that it makes my head explode. In order to not offend specific people, I will not cite examples. 
I do agree that McIntosh has diluted it's brand and thank goodness ARC won't be exposed to the same. ARC from day one has been a hit and miss company, some great products and some duds. In the last ten years things had improved. Hopefully that will continue. 

fsonicsmith519 

Every company that’s ever produced a product for sale has had hit or misses. At the end of the day, it’s about what one like or dislikes. I do have McIntosh and Audio Research products. I love the McIntosh Current tuners and there old MC2105 solid state from 1977-78 but I do love the Audio Research amplifier and preamplifier if it is tube. Example; I do own an Audio Research Reference 250SE Monoblock amplifiers and a McIntosh MR85 Tuner. Some companies do things better than others.

Every company that’s ever produced a product for sale has had hit or misses.

No, many companies never succeed in making a "hit". But perhaps we are talking past each other. I am talking about iconic stand-the-test-of-time products. 
There are countless companies that have risen to the top and then disappeared or lost all of their reputation due to changes of ownership or the death of the founder. In fact, it is the natural course of things and the exceptions are few and far between. 
I think this is a now a pivotal moment for ARC. IMHO, the loss of Ward Fiebiger was huge and since his death, the product launches have been more about style rather than innovation. Saying that "amplifier design is limited to only so many circuit designs and is not rocket science" ignores the fact that incremental changes in parts quality continue to occur. With each change in parts, there is an art to coaxing out the best possible sound. It takes a very rare corporate identity or corporate leader to make that pursuit the absolute number one priority. 
ARC's prices have always been high but not at the crazy high level of some other product lines. If it is true that ARC has not been very profitable lately, it would be understandable given the level of hand assembly and QC right here in the USA by mostly long-standing employees.