McIntosh Group Shedding ARC

[Timobi]

Originally Posted by Still-One

Sorry Stephen I disagree. Under the McIntosh Umbrella ARC product performance and especially the industrial design made giant strides. Gone are the staid designs of the past that might have appealed to a generation of audiophile that is not long for this earth.

I hope they are successful as the current generation of product is awful good.

Truth!

[PeterMusic]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

I'm not sure "shedding" is the operative term here. ARC is being purchased from MacIntosh group by a privately held holding company created specifically to put product development and management under leadership of a set of (former) and current ARC executives that were responsible for the success of the company at the time it was sold to Fine Sounds. Its clear that the ownership and management by McIntosh was not a good fit, both with where McIntosh wants to go from a corporate strategy perspective (mobile and car audio) and where ARC wants to stay...in high-end.

A bit harsh to suggest Mc is moving away from high end, especially considering some excellent very high end new releases. But I agree that there's a good chance that ARC felt itself on the short end when R&D dollars were being handed out. If this is the case, and they've lined up those R&D dollars from elsewhere, then this should be great news all around.

My hope is that Mc views mobile and car in the same way that Porsche viewed SUVs a few years ago--a logical extension that can actually strengthen the purist products.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by PeterMusic

A bit harsh to suggest Mc is moving away from high end, especially considering some excellent very high end new releases. But I agree that there's a good chance that ARC felt itself on the short end when R&D dollars were being handed out. If this is the case, and they've lined up those R&D dollars from elsewhere, then this should be great news all around.

My hope is that Mc views mobile and car in the same way that Porsche viewed SUVs a few years ago--a logical extension that can actually strengthen the purist products.

I didn't suggest Mc was moving away from the high-end. What I said was if Mc was putting a corporate emphasis into Mobile and Car Audio, that might not be algned well with where ARC wanted to be, with, as you say, what R&D dollars might available for new product design and development for high-end products by ARC.

[sgbroimp]

Originally Posted by FreddieFerric

Congrats to the new ownership. Hope the new venture is very well financed.

Good point. One of the big secrets to making a small fortune in the audio game over the past few decades has been to start with a large one.......