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For ARC lovers, Problems?

I had a ref 6 which I liked a lot and had no problems with. I upgraded to the ref 10 which sounded appreciably better but I ended up with a number of problems that I could no longer tolerate. I have a new pre which is very good but is not nearly as exciting as the audio research sound.
From your experience with Audio Research is this a good idea going back to the ref 6 with the hope of upgrading it to the SE? Or will I regret it due to reliability issues? There are pages on Audiogon concerning ARC reliability issues and I don't want to jump feet first into another expensive audio quicksand.
Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

roxy1927
minorl
1,021 posts
 
By-the-way, for the record, I like VAC, D'Agostino, Triangle Art and Atmosphere products also.  amoung others.

the fun part would be to do A/B comparisons of each pre-amp in the same system or better yet, in your home system.  matching the levels and switching only that component.  nothing else.

fun.

enjoy

ddrave44
148 posts
 
Mixed bad on AR stuff. Told a buddy to brick his ~12 yr old CD player that needed repair.
What is the new pre you're using as a replacement for the ARC?
(Sorry if i missed that in the chain)
fsonicsmith's avatar
fsonicsmith
987 posts
 
VTL should be in the mix too. Just my humble. 

speakermaster
738 posts
 
I can tell you that audio research gear made prior to 2000 is a very awesome product and the company founder was still directly involved at that time. The sound and build quality is better than the new arc stuff.
peguinpower
59 posts
 
Ive been struggling with an ARC problem for over a year. A brand new set of ARC tubes keeps blowing one at a time, and the tube power supply has had issues too.

ARC has been gracious about taking care of it, but its been on multiple trips to the factory.

Never had a problem before, but since it started with the last retube, its been a constant issue. 

I purchased a Pass Labs amp in its place, but I so miss the ARC amp.
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