ARC Support

I live in the UK. Last year I bought a used ref2 from a private seller on Audiogon. Before the unit was shipped I telephoned Leonard at Audio Research to ask for the unit to be voltage converted to 240V at the factory. As described in posts above he refused to carry it out. I therefore had to take the unit to the UK distributor, Absolute Sounds. When I telephoned The MD of absolute sounds he reeled off a list of horror stories about the dangers of bringing in used goods from the States and did everything possible to dissuade me from proceeding. He quoted me a price of £375($525) for voltage conversion -outrageous but I had no choice. However, when I took the unit in, he told me that the conversion would actually cost £675 ( about $925)because they had to order extra "parts". The work involved in voltage conversion is minimal- even according to Leonard himself!

I feel that this kind of behaviour represents pure greed on the distributor's part- they cannot stand the fact that they have 'lost' a new sale even though I would never buy new hifi from the USA in Britain due to the extortionate mark-up ( $ price is simply changed to £ in most cases). ARC are in collusion with their distributors to prevent international trade in used products.

Also I agree that their introduction of costly 'upgrades' barely months after the introduction of a new product is reprehensible and insulting to customers who have made such an expensive investment.

Unfortunately the gear sounds good IMHO........

Over many years Len has treated me as if I were royality.They stand behind their products and offer parts and service for any product they have made for the past 30 years. Only a few hi-end companies have been in business that long.They are not the product of the week.ARC has always been reasonable for any mods,parts and service which I have required and I have found the service,product and their people to be fair and honest.A very happy and satisified ARC customer Rosemke

ARC Service in my many years of experience has been truly exceptional ! They have gone the extra mile for me. Parts are supported to the last screw. In contrast: When I called Classe about a possible replacement faceplate on a power amp, I use in a second system, they responded that they no longer stock the faceplates. Age of the Classe? <4 years! An unrelated but still important issue: ARC still has living wages for their employees and just don't design a piece and send it to China, or some other low labor/environmental standard country, to have it built in sweat shops. My experience with Leonard has always been like a diamond in the rough. Fantastic! The company is not very big and must provide protection for itself or become just another to become owned by another mass market Japanese company like Madrigal and McIntosh.

Rosemke: Sorry to say you are one out of ten. I do not feel the mods, parts and service to be reasonable. When you deal with other companies, such as BAT or Aesthetix, the turnaround time on repairs or changes is lightning quick. With ARC, it may be months before a reapir is done and sent back. Those companies do not nickle and dime you... ARC does. ARC also appears to not care about anything but how to squeeze people for more money. Like clockwork, they release expensive "upgrades" just to milk the current customers until they get fed up and move to something else.

I am happy to hear that ARC finally has a happy customer - it is a miracle! I feel the company and the people who work there to be an absolute joke and an embarrassment to the rest of the industry.

No disrespect for what sounds like a very real problem, but I personally have used ARC products for years with incredible results. I've talked to Leonard several times and was treated very well. Actually, in my view, perhaps we should be proud of a US company that has in many ways managed to lead this 'finicky industry' for over 30 years!