Audio Research in trouble

[jensgk]

It seems that Audio Research is in deep trouble:

Whither Audio Research

It would appear that in the past week in the State of Minnesota District Court, County of Hennepin Fourth Judicial District, the Audio Research Company has assigned its debts and assets (sic) to the Lightwave Management Group in Minnesota. They specialize in turnaround/bankruptcy and financial...

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

[Fidji]

they were sold by McIntosh Group couple of years ago, so probably one biz case more that did not work out for the buyer. One of handful truly iconic Hifi brands, so I assume somebody will acquire the rights.

I had full set of their electronics and it was not bad, although tube power amp is always a chore. it pared well with Wilson Audios. Happy to own them, equally happy to have sold them at good price.

I even had Class D amp from them (not a lot of people know, that they produced such thing) as second Amp. Power supply was noisy like hell.

 

[DonH56]

Thanks for this. I posted over on WBF. My experience with ARC has been mixed over the years but I would hate to see them go under. Sounds like another sale and/or transfer of ownership is in the works.

 

[Waxx]

What i hear is that this procedure is to settle the debt before a sale to a new owner. The financial situation is bad, but it's not bankrupt or stopping operations. It's a financial clean up before a new owner will take over the bussiness as the old was not capable anymore to run it right. It was requested by the futur owner to clear out it's dept/asset balance so he gets no surprises and pays the right price. More info should be soon on the FB and website was said.

 

[GXAlan]

Hmm. Maybe private equity will pick it the assets.

 

[Mr. Widget]

Hmm. Maybe private equity will pick it the assets.

Probably... then expect this:

 

[mhardy6647]

^^^ yeah, that's what I was thinking. The name may go the same way as many once-iconic brand names (e.g., Altec, Fisher, Sylvania, Admiral, Sansui*) and begin showing up on generic audio (and/or video) products on sale at one's neighborhood Walmart!

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* i.e., not just US brand names suffer this ignominious fate.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Audio Research Corp Assignee Files New, More Revealing Papers with Court

In new filings from the designated "Assignee" for Audio Research, we learn some interesting things and get a more details on the situation

www.strata-gee.com

 

[GXAlan]

Likely New Owner of Audio Research Corp Says Company to Stay in Minn

The day after I ran an Audio Research post, I got a call from Valerio Cora of Acora Acoustics-the likely new owner of ARC. He had concerns

www.strata-gee.com

Seems like it was sold for $1M?!

I am surprised Samsung didn’t buy it just to get one more brand to apply to their automotive line up.

 

[kemmler3D]

Likely New Owner of Audio Research Corp Says Company to Stay in Minn

The day after I ran an Audio Research post, I got a call from Valerio Cora of Acora Acoustics-the likely new owner of ARC. He had concerns

www.strata-gee.com

Seems like it was sold for $1M?!

I am surprised Samsung didn’t buy it just to get one more brand to apply to their automotive line up.

$1M is probably about what you'd pay for the trademark so you could slap it on some of the questionable gear pictured in this thread.

 

[Tom C]

We have read it was sold at auction. Do we know who the other bidders were?

 

[GXAlan]

$1M is probably about what you'd pay for the trademark so you could slap it on some of the questionable gear pictured in this thread.

Seems like it is a deal! The rest of the debt was secured. Coming up with a new domain name and logo is hard enough, even if you had no brand equity

The real question is what they can do in the face of supply chain issues. ARC tried Class D early on, and they could pull a McIntosh and utilize HypeX. They could build a 300B product and have access to WE or just work with JJ electronics to secure enough for the next round.

 

[Tom C]

What was sold was the assets no creditor had a claim on. The name may be the most valuable unencumbered asset remaining.

 

[kemmler3D]

The real question is what they can do in the face of supply chain issues.

If they don't keep the distributor network from the previous company, that will also be a huge challenge. For $1M, you wouldn't expect them to even get the existing inventory, let alone employees and whatnot, so you really have to wonder. Are they starting from scratch?

 

[Chrispy]

Haven't they been in trouble for quite a while and not done anything about it?

 

[Tom C]

Of course they don’t get the existing inventory. The creditors already have claim on that.

 

[Waxx]

It seems that nobody read the article. Everything (incls the factory and it's inventory) is sold and the new owner is already running the company inclusive the factory. And he is not planning to change the products, only manage it better to earn.

 

[Chrispy]

FWIW strata-gee.com has a couple articles on the subject

audio research site:strata-gee.com at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

 

[Tom C]

I read the article, but didn’t see where the details of the liquidation were specified. Wait, the company wasn’t liquidated. For the time being, it’s a going concern, so in addition to the cash price, the new owner must have assumed responsibility for the debt. The cash price would then determine what the seller is entitled to, before receivership costs. Again, seller can’t collect on what the debtors have legal claim to. It’s the whole point of this process.

 

[mhardy6647]

recent Audio Research chatter from AA:

Ted Green's Strata-Gee has all the Skivvy on the Audio Research situation. - John Marks - General Asylum

Ted Green's Strata-Gee has all the Skivvy on the Audio Research situation. - John Marks - General Asylum

www.audioasylum.com

Latest Audio Research Corporation news - Krav Maga - General Asylum

Latest Audio Research Corporation news - Krav Maga - General Asylum

www.audioasylum.com