Bose buys McIntosh

Bose is certainly innovative outside the small audiophile space. Their automotive system brand is well-placed in the mass market, which isn't a bad place to be. They have made a significant bid in the consumer home audio market against Sonos. Their personal audio and industrial audio (professional noise cancellation systems) are solid. Getting a brand that is welcome in the high-end vehicle market in places where Bose doesn't have the cachet makes sense.

As long a the New York McIntosh factory stays open they will be fine. The economy sucks and as big as Mac is they are still every small. 
 

honestly it might keep them around another 50 years or they could whore out the Mac name and devalue it totally…. Time will tell. 

It's inevitable that companies like McIntosh that produce equipment that lasts decades isn't a profitable business model.  It wouldn't surprise me if for every 10 McIntosh sales transactions 8-9 don't represent any revenue to McIntosh as they're likely sales of pre-owned McIntosh equipment between private parties.

It’s a business. I own some of their stuff and truthfully I'm indifferent about the whole fanfare. As long as someone out there can answer question if I have a problem otherwise I just don't care. An excuse to buy other amplifiers and maybe I might be happier. Truthfully I think they make them so damn heavy because they want you to keep them. It's a pain in the ass upgrading an amplifier.

If Bose wanted to place a marker solidly in the high end North American audio market, McIntosh and Sonus Faber would be a very solid start. Both brands are well respected and enjoy good shares of their (admittedly) small market. Neither need help as concerns visibility and both have loyal customer bases. Other similarly-placed companies are already owned by other conglomerates. Appreciated micro brands are too esoteric to be worth the trouble and most have no significant presence or product lines that are too small. McIntosh has long experience in the electronics space with every kind of design, monoblock tubes to class-D, HT, network, every kind of playback technology except perhaps RTR. They weren't independent under PE.