end of an era ......

"Ford, Ferrari, Porsche, Marantz are still in business. The founders are long gone." So is ARC.

You need to play it smart like Bill Johnson has. Selling the company 2-3 years before passing away although it should not considered as a "one man operation" before Bill sold ARC. ARC will be around for many years to come i am sure.

I anticipate 2 more will be folding shortly. Benz and VDH as both owners/designers are getting up in age. Too many one man operation business have no succession plan. No sons or daughters interested in continuing the legacy. The owner/designer dies, the company folds.

ARC is an exception and so will VPI as son Matt will take over from Harry eventually. I'm sure there will be others.......i hope.

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Bob Carver is still tinkering, but I do believe when Bob croaks...you'll never see another Carver product.

Krell seems to be doing just fine and will probably be going long after Dan D'Agostino has passed on.

As Smoffatt said above, a succession plan is an absolute must.
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D'Agostino is no longer with Krell. He is now D'Agostino Inc. Ford, Ferrari and Porsche were never, "one man shows." Saul sold Marantz thirty some years before his death, to Superscope(1964). Two years later, the stuff was being made in Japan, by Standard Radio Corp. The marque never meant the same thing(post Saul and tubes). Different histories than Joule and Hovland.

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Rodman, the point was to illustrate that if the business is economically viable, there is no need for it to die out. Every one of the guys mentioned above started out small and grew their business into a larger sustainable enterprise. I'm well aware of the histories of all of the men I named above, and of course who doesn't know that Dan D'Agostino is still churning out products...his face is plastered all over the audio landscape pitching his products.
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mitch, bob carver don't own his name anymore, I think that's why he uses sunfire under his new product....his wife won that in the law suit.....when she got the company