Brand Longevity

I still have one old ARC amp that I bought new in the mid-70's and quite a bit of old Quad gear, both electronics as well as speakers. All of it can be readily repaired, either by the factory (ARC, which even sent me new barrier strip terminals and sheet metal screws for the tube cage) or aftermarket (Quad, notably, has a number of non-affiliated repair centers here in the US). I've also owned the odd piece of McIntosh gear over the years and still use their gear for my home theatre. And though McIntosh is apparently thriving, which is good, there's that shop that resells Mc gear- Classic Audio, i think it is called, that also has a good reputation- I've bought things from them over the years as well, with nary a problem and assume they do repairs as well.
The 'one man band' gear is an issue- I have several pieces in my main system that are from such manufacturers- Lamm, Allnic, etc. It is a fair question. I don't trade in gear constantly, and if I like a piece, I will live with it for a long time. Presumably, a competent repair tech could fix it- interestingly, in the case of Allnic, there is such a shop near Philadelphia that is authorized by Allnic. Lamm is another matter since as far as I know, he doesn't publish any schematics and doesn't authorize anyone to repair his gear. That said, I'd imagine a competent tech could figure it out. I was concerned about correct matching of the big tubes on my ML 2, because one serves as a power tube and the other for voltage regulation. Lamm cautions against switching those tubes- and claims that the replacements he supplies are matched to each amp.

Here is the link to the McIntosh story on CBS....in case you missed it:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57564456/mcintosh-made-in-the-u.s.a/

I liked the old days when you could call Leonard at Audio research and ask him a question. The last couple times I called you had to leave a message and hoped they would call back. If ARC doesn't stay consistent with their service I think they will lose customers. Even though I really like their gear I would not stay loyal to them if their customer service goes down hill.

Donjr..any reputable repair company can repair your gear on the condition they can obtain the schematic sheets from the manufacturer of the amp or preamp or other component's you have that need repair. Their are certain free audio electronic data services online where you can go to download the schematics on older gear. I have downloaded in the past schematics on older gear just by doing a schematic search on Google. Normally, only authorized repair companies get the schematics but if a company is about to tank, it should be no problem for you or the repair company in your area to obtain the schematics.

01-20-13: Erikt

Thanks for the Mac link, was interesting.

Best,