Has anybody heard the new Audio Research LS 27?

Pubul57 - I agree with your comments (in response to hifigeek1) on twenty year old designs being every bit as good.

There are manufacture who do not change their lineup every 3 or 4 years and are still in business - off the top of my head - Quicksilver, Dehavilland, Edge and CAT.

you can add Atma-sphere, Vandersteen, Music Reference, and Merlin as other companies that start with a solid basic design from day one and evolve over time, fine-tuning to a well sorted product with the need to reinvent a product line on a road map schedule like Intel; it is curious that some of my favorite products are companies with this product approach - I did not look for it, but it just happened to be that this happens to be the type of product I like, and tend to keep:)

ARC may come out with new products every few years,but how can one criticize when the continue to push sota forward?

But that IS the point isn't it.

There is no denying the ARC makes fine sounding products, but that does not mean one has to buy into their new model hype. Manufacturers are constantly improving, tweaking, modifying their products and many do it without declaring it a MkII or giving it a new model number. It is also important to remember that as low volume producers audiophile companies are frequently at the mercy of large suppliers. If suddenly a tube, capcitor, laser assembly, etc is no longer available, they may have to "upgrade" their model.

The following is a rant: we're talking about line stages! A few inputs, a source selector, volume control, outputs and a suitable power supply - there ain't that much technology to be constantly refined. Like I said, ARC makes fine products, but the fanboys (thank you Elizabeth) do like to hype it just a little bit.