Has anybody heard the new Audio Research LS 27?

I also want to make it clear that I have great respect for ARC. They have been most instrumental in the renaissance of tube amplification and a clear cut front runner in cutting edge design since their inception. I have owned 4 ARC products over the years and all have been enjoyable and satisfying. It is their marketing practice methods only I bring into question, I find it very calculated to sell more product. If others don't mind there are those that do and this is a valid point to bring up especially in their mid priced product line.

Onhwy61,
The point is that the LS27 is better then the LS26.
I know a top engineer who had a LS26 in his tightly controled,very neutral listening room..He replaced it with the LS27 and theres no question it sounds better.There must have been something ARC was able to improve.

No one,not even ARC forces you to upgrade.
If new better products effect your re-sale value,I don't think ARC should care to much about that.
They are a business that has to fight to make a PROFIT.
Some people don't seem to understand Capitalism.

Agreed. If you don't keep reinventing yourself you will be quickly passed by the competition.

Companies can stay competitive in an open market by satisfying pre-existing customer demands and needs. Alternatively companies can be equally successful by creating customer demand and needs and offering solutions to problems customers didn't even know they had until the "new" product came along. Apparently some people don't understand the function of marketing/advertising.

I find it hard to understand how in an industry where resale value is becoming increasingly more important that a company would seriously undermine or disregard the investment their customers have made in their products.