Audio Research Ref 6 upgrade to 6SE.

If the technical talent hangs on then the company has a chance to survive.  But the first thing companies pull back on these days to help cash flow is Engineering.  It is a short term solution with long term consequences.  Over my career I observed that  managing executives saw engineers as a commodity- an expensive commodity.  But the engineers are the product.  It is a recurring pattern, a downward spiral.  When product development budgets are cut, sales fall two years out.  That leads to further cuts and subsequently an additional drop in sales.  A cut in R&D budgets has even longer term consequences.  That affects sales five years out and further.  

The irony is that the first employees of a new company are typically engineers/technical talent but the last employees of a company before it closes are managers.

It is not good that ARC has gone into receivership. However, I am not so sure things are all that dire with Audio Research at the moment. The company has been acquired by Valerio Cora of Acora Acoustics Corporation to Lead New Corporation For Audio Research Brand - The Absolute Sound. Someone who owns a lot of their gear and has a passion to ensure their survival over just selling off the assets. 

A friend of mine spent about an hour talking to the new owner. He comes across as a very strong leader, passionate and knowledgable about high audio, a competent business man, with the very best intentions to strengthen the brand and importantly deep enough pockets to make it happen. It seems likely ARC is in good hands. 

Curious about Valerio Cora:

from review by Absolute Sound

Acora SRC-1 Loudspeaker
$28,000
The Acora SRC-1 is a new product from a new company but it’s an instant classic: This is a high-end loudspeaker with a stone enclosure that succeeds in all important audiophile metrics. CEO and chief designer Valerio Cora is an ardent music lover who grew up in a family-owned “dimensional stone” business and has been trying his hand at building speaker cabinets out of rock since his teenage years. But only with the refinement of computerized manufacturing techniques in recent years has Cora been able to effectively fabricate an enclosure from African black granite, a homogenous and extremely hard material with advantages over not just other kinds of stone but also (in Cora’s opinion) aluminum, resins, and other “heroic” cabinet materials.

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2020-golden-ear-awards-andrew-quint/

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/acora-acoustics-src-1-loudspeaker/

I followed the link

acoraacoustics.com

their product lineup is simply 3 different speaker designs, and two different speaker stands.

........................................................

 For 30 years, Cora has run successful computer hardware and IT service businesses.

Evidently he is President of PC-TEK

https://pc-tek.com/

(division of Nymax Industries Inc)

Also President of Nymax (whatever they do)

Valerio Cora

President Pc-Tek Computers div/of Nymax Industries Inc