The RIPCO thread

[dflee]

Thinking of PI and thought:
What other companies are no longer with us that we have either equipment or fond memories of?

Don

[toobluvr]

Juicy Music by Mark Deneen.    Great gear, reasonable prices.   I still use his Blueberry Xtreme preamp and Tercel phono stage. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=juicy+music+mark+deneen&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS813US813&sxsrf=AOaemvK3P-fY15nyQIiU0HTXW-Jm97bZPw%3A1641320833439&ei=gZHUYbOiGs3j_AbesJzICg&ved=0ahUKEwjz5vTJ3Jj1AhXNMd8KHV4YB6kQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=juicy+music+mark+deneen&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6BwgAEEcQsAM6BwgAELADEEM6CgguEMgDELADEEM6BAgAEEM6BQguEIAEOgUIABCABDoGCAAQFhAeOgUIIRCgAToFCCEQqwI6CAghEBYQHRAeSgQIQRgASgQIRhgAUJwHWMweYNIjaAFwAngAgAF8iAHlCJIBAzguNJgBAKABAcgBDMABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz

[James Edward]

Juicy Music by Mark Deneen.    Great gear, reasonable prices.   I still use his Blueberry Xtreme preamp and Tercel phono stage. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=juicy+music+mark+deneen&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS813US813&sxsrf=AOaemvK3P-fY15nyQIiU0HTXW-Jm97bZPw%3A1641320833439&ei=gZHUYbOiGs3j_AbesJzICg&ved=0ahUKEwjz5vTJ3Jj1AhXNMd8KHV4YB6kQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=juicy+music+mark+deneen&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6BwgAEEcQsAM6BwgAELADEEM6CgguEMgDELADEEM6BAgAEEM6BQguEIAEOgUIABCABDoGCAAQFhAeOgUIIRCgAToFCCEQqwI6CAghEBYQHRAeSgQIQRgASgQIRhgAUJwHWMweYNIjaAFwAngAgAF8iAHlCJIBAzguNJgBAKABAcgBDMABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz

Ah... I wish I had not sold mine. The Blueberry Extreme kicked ass- I still remember it sounding as if everything played through it was sped up just a hair. PRAT doesn't even begin to explain it. I had the walnut case too. Toobluvr you're killing me right now.

[ejk]

SP Technolgy.

[Nick B]

SP Technolgy.

Yes, SP Tech and Bob Smith. Had his Timepiece 3.0s for quite a while. A really nice speaker 

[James Edward]

Oh, and ADS speakers. Late 70's until 1996- finally found a speaker I liked as much or better- PSB Stratus Golds.

[toobluvr]

Meadowlark Audio run by Pat McGinty in Watertown NY.  Fond memories of my Heron i's.  Great speakers!

[Jack]

Pat's been back in business as Meadowlark Audio again for several years.  All of the speakers in his current lineup are active.

[tmazz]

Thiel.

Not long after Jim passed away I was talking to one of his tech support folks who told me Jim knew he was ill for quite a while and spent his last few years developing new products and training  people within the company. He said that they had enough tested and prototyped designs to keep the company going with new models for close to ten years. But the the company got sold and within a year the new owners took the speakers in a completely different direction and all of Jim's work got trashed. The only thing that was left of Jim's legacy there was the name, they even redesigned the logo.

Sad.

But I guess there is Karma in this world because the new company went down the tubes in a very short period of time.

[Nick B]

Thiel.

Not long after Jim passed away I was talking to one of his tech support folks who told me Jim knew he was ill for quite a while and spent his last few years developing new products and training  people within the company. He said that they had enough tested and prototyped designs to keep the company going with new models for close to ten years. But the the company got sold and within a year the new owners took the speakers in a completely different direction and all of Jim's work got trashed. The only thing that was left of Jim's legacy there was the name, they even redesigned the logo.

Sad.

But I guess there is Karma in this world because the new company went down the tubes in a very short period of time.

Thiel is such a well-known and respected name, I'm saddened to hear that story.

[jimbones]

Anytime a small company gets sold to an investment group it is bad. ALWAYS BAD. Look at Harman group, look at Audio Research....

[tmazz]

Unfortunately, this has been a pretty common thread in the history of High end audio companies. More time than not the companies were founded by guys who were audiophiles first an businessmen second. The did things with an eye towards advancing the state of the art or at least getting the best performance possible at a given price point. The driving force of the company was the founders passion for audio and usually sound took precedence over profits. Not that they didn't care about making a profit, they would have to to stay in business, but the maximization of SQ was more important to them than the maximization of profit. But as we have seen time and time again, the audio passion does not always pass down from generation to generation and quite often the founders ended up in situations where their kids had no desire to take over the company so it was sold off to an outside concern. Unfortunately when the company is sold to someone who is not an audio nut the passion leaves the business and the new owners primary concern is how do I get this thing I just bought put the most profit in my pocket. They don't look at the company as having any purpose other than been an ATM machine for the investors. And this is not a situation unique to Audio, I have a friend who has worked  for a major metropolitan newspaper for the past 30 years. When he started the paper was still owned by the family that founded it in the 1940s. Since then it has gone through several corporate takeovers and mergers and with each one the importance of the news has more and more taken a back seat the the cashflow. To the point where the editorial staff has been forced to kill stories that upper management felt might make one of their large advertisers look bad.

American capitalism at it's finest. Greed is good and the $ rules all.   

[steve]

"Unfortunately, this has been a pretty common thread in the history of High end audio companies. Not that they didn't care about making a profit, they would have to stay in business, but the maximization of SQ was more important to them than the maximization of profit."

Amen to that. Imo, sound quality is the most important characteristic of true music lovers.

steve