....at least it was Bose and not Harmon I guess
McIntosh purchased by Bose...NOT an April Fool's joke.
Unfortunately, the world is officially in decline.
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@ghasley *LOL* "We’re sooo au courant...." Saw that site this AM and thought another news tidbit that’ll thrill the Mac mob....not. Mac in Jeeps.....how long before Mac clock radios..... Mac phones (not cells, no...).... ....ChiMac’s.....MacChi.... ".....I listen to the ’new Mac’s ’ and I’m hungry for more music in an hour or so.... I know, so rude....kill me later.... ;) Opened a parallel forum under a different title...y'all feel free to abuse me there.....😏 |
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McIntosh was spun off twice already by Private Equity. It wasn’t sustainable for Mac to continue to be bought and owned by Private Equity. A PE firm buys companies as investments, they know many won’t survive and only a percentage will hit, allowing them to flip those investments for a profit. Generally, what they do along the way is build up market share and revenue but not necessarily profit, for many companies this leads to bankruptcy or various pieces being sold off leaving usually the weakest pieces of the business left with an unsustainable, survivable amount of debt. Bose appears to be buying Mac as an entrant into the HiFi, Audiophile club. They likely paid a lot of money for the company, name, branding and market position. They could really mess everything up with poor management or if they decide to reduce cost, cheap out on the quality of parts, design, engineering but their main goal going in is to maintain the Iconic Brand and position of Mac along with enabling true, profitable, sustainable growth. That’s a vastly better starting point than a PE firm. It could all go to you know what but if Mac continued to be churned through the PE machine being bought / sold every 7-8 years it was inevitable Mac would have eventually faded away either quietly over time or potentially in an epic fashion. |
Most PE companies purchase a firm with lots of cash and/or good cash flow, drain the cash and replace it with debt, keep the investment for a few years and sell off the asset. From what I've read Highlander Partners purchased McIntosh, but was very much "hands off" and probably made a good return on their investment because of that. I suspect that Bose won't cheapen up this brand, too much to lose if the quality slips and it's not respected as the sort of high-quality product it currently is. |
@tkrtrb125 ... indeed, best response!! |
@blackbag20 Thank you. |
Jack Dale Admin
Bose alegedly has bought audio legend Mcintosh ! and Sonus Faber ! Bose alegedly has bought audio legend Mcintosh ! and Sonus Faber ! anyone improved, modded their F430 spider / coupe sound system ? i consulted w/a audio specialist shop he said maybe different head unit as the becker is weird ( keep it for future owners ) but otherwise just put in some better speakers ! ( mine has the silly big $ option BOSE "upgrade audio " extra speakers , amp , sub etc Bose® high power sound system (Modis Code: SNDB) Available for both the F430 and F430 Spider, Bose® and Ferrari have developed a brand-new, high-power sound system. This system incorporates a new technology called FortaTM. It also includes the AudioPilotTM system, which is found on the 612 Scaglietti and the 599GTB Fiorano. Bose® technicians developed special equalization tuning for both the F430 and the F430 Spider. This system is composed of 11 strategically placed loudspeakers and includes:   A bass enclosure with a special amplifier, including 1 active woofer & 2 small passive elements. It is located under the climate control panel, linked to the center tunnel 2 tweeters, embedded in the mirror triangles 2 woofers at the bottom of the door panels 4 twiddlersTM at the top of the rear wall One 8-way amplifier with digital signal processing, located on the rear bench" Can't believe that Ferrari could install such a poor set of equipment especially with the cost of the upgrade to the Bose set up. BOSE stands for "Buy Other Sound Equipment " LOL so better speakers and and ......................DONE.
All reactions: 3You and 2 others
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McIntosh own Sonus Faber right? They are going to teach Bose how to make a real speaker. I think that was the real reason for the purchase..lol
Bose is pretty good at marketing and they may be able to increase Mcintosh sales. I do fear like everyone else though that QC will suffer.
In my eyes Bose buying McIntosh is like letting Dodge by Porsche. Nowhere to go but down after this deal. This is not going to end well. |
ANY corporate buyout/takeover is bad news for the company being bought. It never ends well, not for the employees or the product being offered. Inevitably, Mr Moneybags buying failing company thinks he knows more about Failing company's business and ruins whatever value their product has thru ignorance and not listening and understanding why things are being done the way they are in Failing Company. Ultimately, morale goes into the toilet as well as build quality in the product because of the bad morale and changes made to the product by Mr Moneybags. Buy your Mac stuff today and pray you can find an independent shop to service it if and when it needs it. This is exactly what happened to GE Mobile Radio Division that I worked for for 20 years. Ultimately, it closed doors because after 4 buyouts the Checker Cab reliability of our products and the very nature of the products themselves had either deteriorated or changed so much they were no longer recognizable as GE products...the workforce was no longer recognizable either. The whole company culture was lost and with that loss went the rest of the company...dead and gone but not forgotten.I watched it happen from the inside. I have never seen any other company benefit from a buyout. |
I had the pleasure of having dinner Wednesday evening with some (still active) audio industry veterans. Not to over-share here, but some in the group who’s current and future stability and financial situation is directly impacted by this exchange are not worried about the brand being tarnished. . They are in daily contact with key people at McIntosh and have no indications that something bad is going to happen. In fact, they are optimistic that the Bose acquisition will have a positive impact on ALL the McIntosh brands. Just passing this along from some insiders who know "stuff". Of course, Bose could do a 180 and blow up this up. But not likely. |
No mids on your rack must be a Mc. This is a match made in heaven. I thought Clarion owned McIntosh in the 90 and so did a handful of other companies after. In the 80’s I owned the Bose 401, they were corner placed and probably better than the weird desktop combination systems McIntosh is making today. Can’t they just stick with the MC240, and use all that engineering power to make a 40 WPC KT88 that sounds better than a 300B? |
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