Krell Moves to new location

Based on everything posted above, it seems Krell Industries is facing significant turmoil, including THEIR ongoing communication issues. As already noted, customers report a lack of information from the company, which has been compounded by technical difficulties with their website and email systems. Although Krell has announced plans to reopen and transition to a new cloud-based platform, responses to inquiries have been POOR, leading to frustration among EVERYONE. The situation remains unclear, leaving many concerned about the company’s future and customer support capabilities.

My emails to Wil Buhler, Stereophile and George Myer AV regarding KRELL INDUSTRIES have not been answered.  Are they ever going to respond?   THEIR lack of response is not good news.  I find it very strange that they post their business status information on Facebook and claim to report their status to Stereophile.  A press release is the recommended form of communication. 

Is KRELL INDUSTRIES closed and out of business?  I have no clue!

The yardstick(s) is simple: do they have any techs who are getting paid? If not, are the repaired or awaiting-repair units stored somewhere, and if so, where? After the hoped-for restructuring, who has detailed knowledge of the product line? (Not marketing knowledge, but build and repair experience.)

The rest is legal window-dressing related to restructuring and rearranging liabilities and assets (if any). The techs who have relevant product knowledge (how to build, how to repair, how the gizmos work, etc.) are probably no longer in town and have moved on (you can’t pay rent, buy food, and buy gas with promises).

Most of the genuine assets of any tech corporation is the knowledge in the worker’s heads. Most assembly and repair procedures are never written down. Disperse the workforce, particularly the techs, and a restart is more like starting from scratch, a much harder job. This is why re-creating a Saturn V rocket, or building a LEM, is impossible.

@lynn_olson ,

I give up, what's an LEM?

I had a summer job at NASA in 1969, during the Apollo landings. Sorry about the acronym, it means Lunar Expeditionary Module, the little machine that actually landed on the Moon. I used NASA tech as an example of lost technology, since President Nixon made the decision to shut down the Apollo program in the summer of 1970.

There are plenty of blueprints still around, but tech projects are far more complex than blueprints and circuit schematics. The real, detailed, knowledge is in the minds of the technology group members. When a project is terminated and the group is dispersed, much knowledge is lost forever, and it has to be re-created from scratch if the project is re-animated. "The Project" can be anything from the vast Apollo program to something as simple as a power amplifier.

The folks in the "front office" are the CEO, several marketers/salesmen, and the folks in accounting who juggle the books, paying the creditors in the right order and keeping the Tax Man happy. They are not technology people; they work in the back, along with the assembly staff.

Surprisingly, even though a hifi company may have several marketers on staff, they may not have a full time designer/engineer. The designer/engineers are often "guns for hire" who work at several different companies without credit or recognition. They even sign NDA’s (non-disclosure agreements) so their identities are hidden.

Many high-profile hifi companies, to some extent, are a "false front" and largely a PR operation. The people in back who design, prototype, build, and repair the gear are anonymous and often fired at whim, or if business falls off a little.

You can see why this puts the "brand name" in a different light. The real engineers are an anonymous cast of rotating designers, hidden behind unbreakable NDA’s, while the folks who stay-the-same are the CEO and the PR team. They provide the brand identity, but it is really a mirage in terms what’s inside the product. So if the "front office" folks go away, nothing is left except a memory in the minds of the customers. In legal terms, that memory is called "Goodwill" and has a monetary value.

OK folks, please take the following with a grain of a kilo of salt.

I just bought a vintage Krell from a guy who works in the industry. We got to talking gear and shooting the breeze, and at some point I said good thing I can fix that Krell myself if it needs fixing, what with Krell being out of business and all. He said that's not the case, he knows folks at Krell and Krell is not out of business.

He was not interested in elaborating so I left it at that... No warranties expressed or implied.