I think the upcoming V.T.V. Show in Jersey is what spurred this post. I think about them and the great magazine they used to put out. It just seems indicative of exactly what occurred in the past. At first they share information helpfully with enthusiasm for the hobby then They became known; started charging a fortune for little parts and repairs; putting on a show and boom; the magazine is gone and V.T.V. is a corporation.
Can't be giving that information away if you can sell it now. There we have lots of companies started the same way; why is that a problem? Well; because inevitably once the money enters the picture the quality of the product slips and the arrogance grows. Look at Polk; used to make a nice speaker line.
Lot of names I am sure you can come up with. So some poor schlub buys their stuff based on reputation except they are a corporate entity now. So lots of little shortcuts in manufacturing. Then literally dozens of outfits spring up only to go broke in two years and leave the buyers hanging.
Oh well; when those nice kits and congenial forums with helpfull people and inexpensive and shared designs go corporate;.. it just means eventually we'll have to start searching for new ways of getting at the hobby; a new world with new people and new places.
Keep on truckin'.
There will always be the birth of a new version of Sound Practices; rising up somewhere to pick up the slack. Anyone remmember that great little magazine Audiophila? Or The little pamphlets Bottlehead used to publish? Soon AudioeXpress will die and that leaves one huge hole in the audio press. Start saving all the stuff on the net now before they delete it all on you.