Sad to see a great company die...

Indeed.

Welcome to the death of the middle class. Seeing the market more and more bifurcating between great value at the lower end and ridiculously priced high end aspirational pieces.

I enjoyed my time with the CAM600 mono... It was actually a very very good amplifier that I wish I kept.

Agree on bifurcation, but it's more between the ultra high-end and the mearly high-end.

Not sure if Classe is a "middle class" brand. The median U.S. household income is about $59,000 per year. I don't know too many "regular" folks with Classe gear.

Sad, especially as they seemed to be a strong brand, especially with B&W depth, in a tough business.

One of my best sounding systems was the Classe CP700, CDP202 and M400's powering the 800D's. They have made some great gear over the years.

Wow. Didn't realize how cheap their gear is relatively speaking - mostly below $10k. Guess they got eaten alive by all the new and existing players - the market is hyper competitive in the sub-$15k space.

What I'm seeing in the market is a crazy amount of action sub-$15k and then action $50k and above. In between seems to be a wasteland - good products but little interest as it's too expensive for 90% of the market and not exclusive enough for the whales.

Too sad. Even as the number of people in the world grows.
Makes one wonder how long it will be before ARC moves to Binghamton or McIntosh to Minneapolis. Or, both to China.

Ummmmm, no way! That's exactly where it was! That was one of the first true high end systems I had ever heard at the time and was main thing that got me into this crazy hobby! I remember I had a CD of Dire Straits Brothers in Arms (of course). Blew me away!

Buck