Bose buys McIntosh

Sad day for McIntosh.  Even if Bose intends to allow McIntosh to retain their current quality and reputation as an audiophile company, my experience in situations such as this is that the culture of the parent company cannot help but infect the one being acquired.  I really believe from here on out, McIntosh equipment will be sold as pre-Bose and post-Bose.

They make quality equipment but it's still massively overpriced. Marketing machine is strong.

After my initial horror, I came to the conclusion it may be better for McIntosh, Sonus Faber and Sumiko to be under Bose's ownership than some vulture capital firm from Dallas. At least Bose is in the audio field. Personally, I think McIntosh has become almost as gimmicky as Bose, what with the green lights under the rubes and everything having a blue meter of some sort, even when it's superfluous. And I am concerned about the great number of dealers added, including online retailers such as Crutchfield. Not that Crutchfield isn't good. But part of the McIntosh experience was going to the one store in your area that was a Mac dealer and having the full experience.

I work in consulting with a lot of private equity firms in M&A. I have every confidence they won’t break what’s been successful businesses for years. 

@mwinkc

My thoughts exactly…I definitely can see them exploiting both Mac and SF into “life style” products. BT Headphones, BT speakers, how about a Mac docking station for iPhone? The atrocities are limitless! R.I.P.