end of an era ......

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Age should never be an issue for going out of business. The formula for creating the devices can be handed down to apprentices. The only reason I see for a going out of business is economic feasibility.

Ford, Ferrari, Porsche, Marantz are still in business. The founders are long gone.

I was approached a year ago by a guy that builds speakers. He is a one-man shop. He appeared to be in his fifties or older. It was serious concern of mine that if the guy got sick or died that there would be no recourse for me should I ever need some sort of support or service. The guy makes a good product, but I declined to buy because he was a one man show.

In the past I'd seriously considered a set of the flagship VMPS speakers. It seems out of nowhere I read that the owner had died. The website for VMPS went dark and poof it was gone forever. Before I spend big money on an item, I want to make sure there is a successor in place should I need support in the future.
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Bob Carver is still tinkering, but I do believe when Bob croaks...you'll never see another Carver product.

Krell seems to be doing just fine and will probably be going long after Dan D'Agostino has passed on.

As Smoffatt said above, a succession plan is an absolute must.
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Rodman, the point was to illustrate that if the business is economically viable, there is no need for it to die out. Every one of the guys mentioned above started out small and grew their business into a larger sustainable enterprise. I'm well aware of the histories of all of the men I named above, and of course who doesn't know that Dan D'Agostino is still churning out products...his face is plastered all over the audio landscape pitching his products.
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Bob Carver is currently running a company called Bobcarver.com or Bobcarvercorp.com. Bob Carver has 9 lives (audio). Sun fire is long dead.
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