MBL Insolvent

@lalitk "...That may be true, but what seems to hurt many of these high-end audio companies in the long run is affordability...."

Correct. I am pretty sure that is exactly why Audio Research has just released their new affordable line. It has a name, but I don’t see it immediately. Some or all are under $10K. These are directed exactly at entry level. 

While that may seem like a lot of money. When I bought my first audiophile product in 1979 it was a Threshold s500 amp... in todays dollars it cost $20K or in 1979 dollars $5K. So, the new ARC amp is $2.5K in 1979 dollars half the Threshold cost in 1979. 

Another thought on the dilemma. Forty and fifty years ago, there was little budget competition in the field. There was no Schiit, Lumin, Dark Something, Cayin, PrimaLuna. These companies now supply the springboard. 

https://audioresearch.com/new_website/new-products-coming-in-june-2025/

@ghdprentice I heard those at the southwest Audiofest, might’ve been the debut and I thought they sounded really, really good especially for the price

@yesiam_a_pirate   "...A sad fact is that the 2 channel high end audiophile is aging out and dying off. The successor generation has little use for high end gear. "

I have heard this for forty years. Yet the proliferation of high end companies has been incredible. The population of audiophiles has always been very small. But it must be larger than ever to support all these companies. 

On the other hand, before the audiophile there was the short wave enthusiast. But, music is one of the most shared interests of people world wide... so, I'm thinking, not. 

Past innovators like Peter Walker, Henry Kloss, Nelson Pass, and Jim Winey made products that while some were “upscale” they were within the reach of enthusiasts who were not super- wealthy. The idea that innovative speaker design has to be crazy expensive is a byproduct of the ethos exemplified by Gordon Gecko. MBL has never tried to make an affordable version of the Radialstrahler. 

@ghdprentice 

I am digging the updated LS series. The chassis build quality went up few notches and appearance, subjective as we know, looks is pretty solid and inviting. 
 

@yesiam_a_pirate 

”A sad fact is that the 2 channel high end audiophile is aging out and dying off.”

That’s hardly a ‘fact’ ….I believe there’s hope. There are younger listeners who are getting into vinyl, tube gear, or desktop systems, even if their entry point looks different than ours. Maybe the future of this hobby won’t be exactly what it was but that doesn’t mean it’s gone. It might evolve into something more diverse and accessible, and maybe that’s not a bad thing.

Still, for those of us who value the 2-channel experience, there’s definitely a sense of time passing and a responsibility to share what we’ve learned while we still can to somewhat shape the narrative for future generations.