2. amps-preamps
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Brand Longevity

I don't often hear about this. You see brands like McIntosh that has been around for 65 years so when you buy it you probably feel confident that you will receive support for years down the road. Maybe forever. What happens to say Ayre owners if Charles kicks the bucket? I don't want to be a downer but this has to matter. What about my Rogue gear? Should I send Mark a carrot and a workout DVD? What happens if a meteor lands on him? What's the game plan? Can I still get parts? Should we be asking these manufacturers about long term guarantees?

I'm seriously thinking about a big time purchase as in my last integrated until I'm collecting ss in 20 years. Where's my guarantee? Maybe I don't have to worry because hopefully there will be a technician who can handle it.
donjr
peter_s
1,348 posts
 
Buy something serviceable - a handwired tube integrated for instance. There are tube technicians out there now servicing older integrateds...
taters
1,149 posts
 
That's the reason I never buy boutique brands. I'm always afraid they will go out of business and I won't recieve any service.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
Taters,

What do you mean by boutique brands? Can you give some examples of the brands that you consider Boutique and some that are not?
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
It's an issue Don. I own ARC gear. ARC was founded by William Z. Johnson in the 70s and is still around. Mr. Johnson sold ARC to an Italian company about a year or two ago.

The new owners are making changes that have drawn some puzzled looks/comments from customers like me. Used to be that if you had a tech Q, you called, and more often than not, either Leneord or Kal would pick up the phone and talk the issue through. Not recently.

I guess the point is that the only thing that doesn't change is . . . change. Let's hope it's for the better. Ain't no guarantees.
donjr OP
1,335 posts
 
What sparked this post for me was that someone posted a link to a news story about McIntosh. It made me think of posts on this forum about McIntosh owners with vintage gear replacing the glass on their gear. I've always been impressed by the fact that McIntosh still makes it as well as being dumbfounded that McIntosh has never come up with a better solution. Then I thought about the new Ayre AX5 integrated. It MSRP's for about 10k. For me that's a ton of money so if I like it and buy it, how do I feel comfortable knowing that parts will be available to me 15 years from now. It might not be a big deal for some people but my wife would flip if I ended up with a boat anchor and she's a huge music lover. She's actually the one pushing for me to audition the AX5. I auditioned the AX7 and it was a weasel with my Harbeths. I'm not anticipating a grand experience and think I'm more of a Hegel H300 kind of guy but I have to listen to all contenders. I have a Rogue Cronus Magnum and I want to keep this in the arsenal because quite frankly it's freakin' awesome. I really don't need better than the Rogue. This might be a phase for me. I have a hard time believing that my beat up ears will like anything more Than the Rogue.
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