The unfortunate problem that the high end brands face is out of warranty upgrades, and repairs. This holds true for most companies. SInce they aren't cheap to make, it costs a lot carrying spare parts that are over so many years old. In the computer industry, which in many ways is similar, most companies don't really support products past a couple of years after the product has been discontinued. It costs too much to store spare mother boards, etc. So they usually either make very few spares to stock, or they cost a fortune to make a couple of units for out of warranty. I love the upgradeable aspect of Meridian as it is a very attractive selling point, but I think they want people to upgrade as quickly as it becomes available or forever hold your peace. and yes, Meridian is not a Sony whereby they are making millions or hundreds of thousands of units. So the production runs are smaller, the component cost is more due to lower purchasing power and Meridian, from what I can tell, tries to use as much as they can throughout the entire product line when possible, hence the same drivers in the speaker line (with maybe one or two exceptions). I don't know how other mfg that make upgradable processors, DVD/CD players, etc. are doing with their out of warranty support. I think if you consider everything, it is probably going to still cost a lot of money going with a company that doesn't offer upgradability. Personally, I would have the upgrade done as soon as it becomes available or you don't have as much to complain about. for all things considered as long as things get repaired in a timely manner and problems get resolved as quickly as possible and Meridian is doing their job as best as they can. Unfortuntey, their recent acquisition of Sooloos takes time to get used to and they are probably trying to to cut costs where they can in order to survive bad economic times.

565, 562V, 518, DSP5500, DSP5000C, Misc analog for rear channels, Talon 12 in sub