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ARC Quality Issues Ref75 Ref5SE Ref10

Over the past two years I had several issues with ARC Ref gear and am wondering if I'm the only one out there having so much "bad luck"?

My issues started when I bought a Ref5SE plus Ref75.
The two meters in the Ref75 had a noticeable different color and had to be replaced by my dealer.

Two of the Ref5SE tube sockets were soldered crooked to the board. I found a loose screw bouncing around inside the chassis when I unpacked it and found that the two crooked tube sockets were not even bolted down to the metal support on the main board. ARC apologized and replaced the brand new Ref5SE.

The replacement Ref5SE blew up after 600 hrs of use. A small component in the power section exploded with a single loud bang with smoke following.

To not end up with a nearly new but repaired preamp I upgraded to Ref10. The Ref10 power section also blew up after two months and only 390 hrs of use. One or more of the smaller white caps in the power section exploded (four or five significant and loud bangs with smoke). My dealer just informed me that ARC is going to replace the failed Ref10 against a brand new one.

I can not believe I am the only one having repeated problems with ARC's new gear!?

Feedback and comments will be greatly appreciated !
decibell
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
Nice motors but the rest is of questionable design build quality.
I've own many high quality components and find ARC has one of the BEST build quality plus EXCELLENT service.

You guys pretty much confirm what I've always suspected, a new
reference every 6 months...
Nothing wrong if every iteration is an improvement. To my ears, current ARCs are SOTA regardless of price.

Companies generate interest by releasing new products periodically. There's a reason ARC is the oldest OPERATING audio manufacturer in US.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Ralph ... my bad. Thanks for the name correction.
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,610 posts
 
.
...ditto what Knghifi said.
.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Knghifi ... agree too. Trying to figure out what the story is with the new GS-150 amp. On paper, except for using KT-150s, it specs identically to the Ref 150. Check out the ARC web site. Oh ... it also has a new skin.

Anyone have any idea what else changed. One item may be that the GS-150 uses a two tap output tranny: 4 and 8 ohms. The Ref 150 has three taps: 4, 8 and 16 ohms. I patiently await the revival of 16 ohm speakers.

So maybe the GS-150 changed out its output trannies??? Anyone have any other info to share about the GS-150??

Happy New Year!

BIF
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,189 posts
 
"To my ears, current ARCs are SOTA regardless of price."

Agree.
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