Why the limit on warranty to subsequent purchasor?

At least Bryston as the courage to put its money where its mouth is. Audiophiles have the nastiest habit of reading all sorts of things into all sorts of things. Why not suggest buying Chinese made tube equipment from some overnight sensation cottage industry manufacturer to feel safer? Sean has a valid point: a unit that changes hand is subjected to more stress than a unit in the hands of a single owner. The warranty you are all discussing is the contractual warranty offered by the manufacturer. Depending on the legislation in a given jurisdiction, a person may have some rights against the manufacturer even in the absence of privity of contract. Don't get your hopes up too high, as this may not hold true in many jurisdictions. The perverse nature of contractual warranties is, sometimes, to act as a limit to legal rights someone may otherwise have. Hence, the language found in the warranty's text indicating that a person may have other rights at law. Buying on line BTW is a legal quagmire.

Bryston's sole claim to fame being the warranty (and durability) speaks for itself. Better to have your claim to fame be sound quality.

I believe transferable warranties have more to do with the pride that certain manufactures take in their product than anything else. What possible difference could it make to them whether or not it has changed hands? It is highly unlikely than the second owner would have bought a new one anyway because of the often huge difference in price. The used market provides a very useful service to manufacures in that it provides a means for individuals who feel the need to always have the newest models to help pay for the new unit. It also supports the dealers who take trades and make a killing at current trade in values. Everyone wins except those who always buy new and trade up a year or two later.

Another point I would make is some manufactures stand behind their equipment even when it is out of warranty. Pass Labs and Bryston are the best examples I know of. I own a Pass Labs Aleph P that was out of warranty when I bought it. I have had it back for service during which time it was repaired and brought up to the most current revision level at no cost to me. Pass Labs, who does have transferable warranties, has a well deserved reputation for standing behind their product and customer service. Pass will no doubt be around when many others have gone out of business. Their reputation for service and quality sells a lot of product.

Bryston, to my knowledge, has never ever charged for repair regardless of how old a piece is. The fact is, few amps are as reliable as Bryston to begin with. Putting a twenty year transferable warranty on their current product line is a smart move for selling product. As to Kevziek's comment above about Bryston's sound quality, I wonder if he has actually tried an new SST amp in his system. On a price-to-performance level these amps are very much on the cutting edge. I recently purchased a 4B-SST to drive my Aerial 10Ts and its performance in my system is stunning. Even Michael Kelly, the designer of the 10T, told me a few years ago that he was quite impressed with the earlier 4B-ST and the new SST is a significant improvement. I have owned BEL monoblocks, Classe CA400 and CA300, and Roland amps and feel the 4B-SST is the best I've had on these speakers. I think many will not consider Bryston because it does not cost enough to be taken seriously by many elitist audiophiles. Bryston will probably outlive most companies who manufacture audio equipment because they make a great product at a reasonable cost and they stand behind it.

At least Theta wrote up an explination of their reasoning:

http://www.thetadigital.com/faq.htm

Go to near the end of the web page.

I don't really agree with their reasoning as a transferable warranty will increase the resale value of their equipment. The increased value will make it easier for the original owner to sell and buy new again. Theta claims that because their gear is always upgradeable there is no need for an original owner to have to sell an old unit and purchase a newer on. Unfortunatly that is not always the case.

On the positive side, I have in fact had to deal with Theta on an out of warranty repair and want to say that they treated me very fairly.

John

I tend to agree with Sean and that's why always prefere local pickups of used components.