I have to agree, astro58go. I’ve been working on keeping my opinions to myself, but have a ways to go ;-). My goal is to make positive comments only, such as this one: I consider Audio Research Corporation the most important and influential hi-fi company of the "modern" era, modern meaning the "new wave" of designers and their often self-owned small companies that sprung up starting in the early-70’s, creating what is now called the High End (courtesy of Harry Pearson). There are probably more ARC products considered classics than those of any other company.
The consumer hi-fi business as we now know it started right after the end of WWII, when the radio engineers returned home and applied their electrical engineering knowledge to the creation of an industry dedicated to offering products enabling the recording and reproduction of music. Those products used tubes, of course. The appearance of transistors in hi-fi products changed that industry significantly, and by the late 60’s tube-based products were history. Bill Johnson and his ARC single-handedly changed that! He bravely swam against the current, reintroducing the vacuum tube to consumer hi-fi products. He also taught us that the pursuit of as-low-as-possible test bench distortion specs was folly. I can’t imagine our current hi-fi without Bill Johnson.
It’s only natural that people fear Bill’s death, and the sale of ARC to a multi-national, may endanger the direction ARC takes. Though this video is interesting, it doesn’t assuage those fears. Time will tell, ay?
