Most PE companies purchase a firm with lots of cash and/or good cash flow, drain the cash and replace it with debt, keep the investment for a few years and sell off the asset.  From what I've read Highlander Partners purchased McIntosh, but was very much "hands off" and probably made a good return on their investment because of that.  I suspect that Bose won't cheapen up this brand, too much to lose if the quality slips and it's not respected as the sort of high-quality product it currently is.

Wow, so just for curiosity, I just looked up both net worth and Bose was $5.2 Billion while Mcintosh was around $40 millions....

However.... sad news.