I don't think Shindo-sans age, small team (given his son is apprenticing), and his use of unobtainium NOS parts (which don't sound so unobtainium) ought to be primary driver behind audio enthusiasts decision whether to buy Shindo-sans products or not. High-end audio companies are in large part small, niche companies, many of which are operated by a handful of people and I don't see folks putting down many of these "marquee" names, like Lyra, Souluution, Rockport Technologies, DeVore Fidelity, etc...If you are only going to buy from large (in relative terms) high-end audio companies, you are going to be relegated to a few names in the high-end audio industry. Besides, the industry is replete with examples of larger audio brands, who presumably had management and design bench depth, who have gone out of business, and their size was not a defense against their eventual demise. Or as Serge cited, there are many examples of large companies who can no longer support older products because they no longer have replacement parts. Forget Krell, buyers are going crazy trying to buy additional laser assemblies for the Sony XA-5400ES CD/SACD player because Sony will no longer be producing the XA-5400ES and the laser assemblies are prone to go bad earlier in the player's life-cycle (and this is freakin' Sony we are talking about, not exactly a pip-squeek sized vendor).
I get Jeff and Stephen's concerns but I just think that's part of the friction costs of playing in the deep end of the pool. Most audiophools (
) are hopefully cognizant of who they are purchasing from and understand the obscolescense risk they are assuming in their purchases. If you can't swim in the deep end then don't dive in. Just my 2cents worth.