Audio Research Reference 150 severe distortion

Taters,
My Subaru XV has lifetime warranty on drive train. Subaru isn't out of business.

You are comparing apples to oranges. Subaru is a mass produced car for the average person. Ferrari is a limited production car for the super rich. A Ferrari dealer would not exist without a service department. They just don't sell enough cars to make the dealership a profit. They might cover the overhead but that's about it. There service department is where they make their money. 

Wow I wish I can build some stuff that will require constant and future service for life! Nice business strategy indeed, but would still prefer to purchase products with no need of service or shipping 100lb components back-fourth. Even doing it locally within the state is burden. Driving to service location also requires time. To my personal happiness, I've never shipped any component to repair and never used any dealer to repair or service my automobiles. Pure DIYer on most of repairs and services if not all.

Taters
Ah, a luxury we NY'ers don't have.  I envy you in that respect!
My experience with McIntosh and the store that I purchased it from will benefit the store in the future, not McIntosh.  
Folks - free service for life?  Really.  Impractical, impossible. 
Free oil changes for the first 3 years...if you believe that the cost of offering such benefits is not built into the price beforehand you're kidding yourselves.