end of an era ......

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.

If you need Joule stuff fixed, we can handle it. You can also contact Signature Sound; Rich has repair contacts also.

too darn bad that Joule-Electra is shutting down production. :(
And, I agree with Mitch4t that the original owner passing away or retiring should never be the reason to shutter the business. It certainly looks like economic feasibility - most people are happy to buy cheaper bigger brand electronics that sounds good enough & don't need a J-E.
it's certainly possible that an apprentice or lead-tech refused to taken new ownership of the business 'cuz (as another member wrote) it just doesn't pay.
It would be good to have this as a secondary business (something along the lines of what Doshi Audio does).....