Another Industry reshuffling...

I hope it works out for this venerable brand but recent years have been tough. Once these brands start moving from owner to owner, the name stays the same, but, public announcements notwithstanding, the companies rarely do. I think some explanation has been offered but I always thought it odd thatAccora Flagship speakers seem to be most often matched with VAC amps, not ARC at shows. At any rate, I hope it all works out and that there are better days ahead for ARC

@kerrybh 

"I always thought it odd that Accora Flagship speakers seem to be most often matched with VAC amps, not ARC at shows."

Perhaps that is one of the reasons that he is no longer at ARC?

Yea, ARC sucks.  I don't think some of you on here are serious. I heard this.  I heard that.  Anyone here  commenting own ARC gear?

Ok, so this finally makes sense. I could never understand how Acora, which has to be a pretty niche company, had the wherewithal to purchase Audio Research. So it now appears to transpire that the effective purchaser of the AR was Crystal International which is a packaging and cosmetics company - Crystal Intl and Crystal Claire. On paper, Acora may have been the purchaser, but it was probably with equity from Crystal. Business 101: unrelated diversifications are usually a bad idea. The Masimo acquisition of Sounds United (B&W/Classe) is a good case in point in the Hi Fi industry.

They occupy a small end of the market. Few people will be buying $10K preamps or $20K power amps. Reference models are halo products. Their lower range models have become too expensive. The i/70 at $10K is just too expensive for what it is. The i/50 could be more competitively priced, or at least the modules could be less expensive. (FWIW, I have one and think it is an excellent amplifier.) In the price range they occupy, VAC offers similar spec. And of issue of resale, between ARC and McIntosh, McIntosh wins all day long.