I think this is nothing more than a result of their own success and their own corporate direction. A very popular and well-respected brand with very high build quality (although I personally never cared much for their sound), bought and sold and merged several times on the way up the corporate ladder. This has been going on ever since the departure of Mark Levinson (the man). They have always striven for greater market share and corporate success (witness their association with Lexus), and this is just one more step in that evolution.
I wouldn't read too much into it, but instead say that if it upsets you, then support the smaller "craftsmen" in this arena, who make excellent products but have no latent mega-corporate ambitions. E.g., Ayre, BAT, Lamm, Red Rose (duh!), and many many others. Small companies that are dedicated to making the best product they can, content with a small market share, and put their energy into sound quality rather than image. That's the beauty of the high end: it is one of the last bastions of American craftsmanship and quality left in the modern era. The departure of one brand to corporate heaven is no cause for grief IMHO, not when it was clear that that's where they wanted to go in the first place. Celebrate the entrepreneurs among us, for they are the last holdouts against the corporate juggernaut and represent that which is best in America.
I wouldn't read too much into it, but instead say that if it upsets you, then support the smaller "craftsmen" in this arena, who make excellent products but have no latent mega-corporate ambitions. E.g., Ayre, BAT, Lamm, Red Rose (duh!), and many many others. Small companies that are dedicated to making the best product they can, content with a small market share, and put their energy into sound quality rather than image. That's the beauty of the high end: it is one of the last bastions of American craftsmanship and quality left in the modern era. The departure of one brand to corporate heaven is no cause for grief IMHO, not when it was clear that that's where they wanted to go in the first place. Celebrate the entrepreneurs among us, for they are the last holdouts against the corporate juggernaut and represent that which is best in America.