Atma Sphere deserves praise

Jtimothya makes a good point about the need to stay in business, we do want out great designers to stay in business. It does seem to me that there are some pretty good examples of "successful" companies with stable products, with evolutionary and incremental changes, forthe most part with an upgrade path for owners. Ralph would be one, but also true of folks like Ken Stevens of CAT, Bobby P at Merlin, and some Richard fella making time and phase coherent speakers out in California. Their products today don't look much different than their products 10, 15 years ago, and if you bought them then you (for the most part) could upgrade to their latest thinking. Great designs don't have to be reinvented every 2-3 years to remain relavant or have a loyal following.

Roger Modjeski has a section on his site that talks about where the next generation of audio engineers are going to come from. He makes a pretty good point and is willing to be part of the solution (be forewarned - he doesn't suffer audiophools well). I am not interested in becoming an audio designer, but the education I've received from Jack Elliano and his friends in the last few weeks is priceless.

As for Ralph, anyone who grooves on Porcupine Tree is okay by me.

"As for Ralph, anyone who grooves on Porcupine Tree is okay by me."

Interesting you mention this group as I just saw them in Orlando this past Friday with very little familiarity with their music, a friend had an extra ticket.

Agree with Magfan. The level of personal service outlined in the above posts is certainly important but equally important IMO are mfrs that offer upgrades to existing equipment for cost of the work plus a modest fee (the key word being modest. Some upgrades I have seen offered to bring existing equipment up to present models are exhorbitant).

Mfrs. that offer reasonable upgrade paths may be able to retain some clients for life.

I'm not a spokesperson for Ayre, but when they charge $200 (incredibly reasonable, IMO) to bring a CD player to current status it only brings good will at the very least and perhaps future loyalty from their previous customers. Ultimately, it makes good business sense.

I have to add my voice in praise of AtmaSphere service. I recently got the upgrade to 3.1, definitely worthwhile, didn't take too long. Since the AtmaSpheres don't have heavy output transformers, they are lightweight - lighter than many solid state amps, so no 3 man crew required to pack and ship.