end of an era ......

yes that's, what I heard, talk with audio limits out of colo spgs, said just that. they are a dealer for them, sd they order a piece from them and it took 6 months to get it.......sd owner is up there in age.

Expect to see a lot more of this over the next dozen years. A great number of small companies are going to decide that it just isn't paying anymore. Or they will just decide they are too old to continue. And some will be absorbed by Harmon type conglomerates. However it happens, business will cease for dozens of the brands you so admire. Some of the principals will die too. Time and tide ..............

yeah but the cost is going thru the roof as well, the economy and a lot of these compy are pricing them selve out of the market. i remember an article and conversation i had with some one at stereophile magazine about this very thing............

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Age should never be an issue for going out of business. The formula for creating the devices can be handed down to apprentices. The only reason I see for a going out of business is economic feasibility.

Ford, Ferrari, Porsche, Marantz are still in business. The founders are long gone.

I was approached a year ago by a guy that builds speakers. He is a one-man shop. He appeared to be in his fifties or older. It was serious concern of mine that if the guy got sick or died that there would be no recourse for me should I ever need some sort of support or service. The guy makes a good product, but I declined to buy because he was a one man show.

In the past I'd seriously considered a set of the flagship VMPS speakers. It seems out of nowhere I read that the owner had died. The website for VMPS went dark and poof it was gone forever. Before I spend big money on an item, I want to make sure there is a successor in place should I need support in the future.
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@Mitch4t - exactly why the Joule brand will not likely persist. With the Joule amps, techs don't want to work on them and there are no schematics or circuit diagrams to reference. Each one is unique.