Problem with brand new black ARC Ref 6

ARC makes some very nice sounding gear, I have owned about 5 or 6 of their units over the years. And they have very good customer service. 
But the stuff is not dependable, and the cost of ownership is high. Constant failures and expensive repairs, along with the hassles of shipping the stuff back to Minnesota. I gave up on it. PIA to own.

I had 2 used ARC preamps one was a Ref 5se and the other was a Ref 6 i bought on AG , both used. The used Ref 5se worked flawless. I sold that on AG to buy a used Ref 6  on AG. That unit i had a problem with it as it kept shutting off after a few min. I contacted the seller i bought it from and i got a full refund. But instead of sending it back to the seller who was in Calif, John the owner of Audio Connection in Verona NJ who is also an ARC dealer took the unit and had it fixed and also resold it on AG for the seller in Calif which was a great idea.So that worked out great for me and the seller.  John from Audio Connection will go way out of his way for his customers. He is extremely knowledgeable and really an old school audio guy. If you live in and around NJ or in the tri state area i highly recommend going to his store and seeing him and talking to him if you are in the market for audio equipment. Like i said i go back with dealing with John for about 30 yrs. So then i went through John to buy my brand new ARC Ref 6 , i wanted it in black and had to wait for it to be built about 3 weeks. When that came in after about 20 hrs of use the unit would malfunction when i hit the tube hour display from the remote. It would either shut right off or go to a different Aux . I contacted John and spoke to Evan from ARC who suggested it might be the remote and to try and see if i could borrow Johns remote from his Ref 6 and see if it was that. I did that and still had the same problem. I contacted Evan again and told him i still had the problem and he said i will send you a brand new black Ref 6 to John from Audio Connection and to just return the defective black 6 when the new one comes in to pick it up i can just bring the defective one back to John and take the new one which also had to be made up in about 2 weeks..Right before the new black 6 unit was almost ready to ship from ARC i changed my mind about the color and decided to go with the natural silver instead of the black. I called Evan from ARC and asked him if it was to late to change the color. He said the unit was ready to be shipped that day and as long as it was not shipped out yet he could change the panels for me to silver. Once again ARC went out of their way for me to make a customer happy. There customer service was excellent and will go way beyond for any concerns requests or problems you may have. I now have the brand new Ref 6 in natural color with about 5 hrs on it and i can not be happier. My hat goes off to Audio Connection ( John) and ARC (Evan)  

Tattooed, I agree it seemed a bit much for one guy to have these issues on the only components I have owned from one manufacturer. It was frustrating at first because I have been a McIntosh guy for years and switching was hard. The new "dead" unit was almost enough to make me turn away. But I can honestly express that I am glad I stayed the course.
And dealing with ARC has been positive enough that I can appreciate that occasionally one get thru Quality Control although 3 for one customer seems excessive, I have to maybe examine my karma. In all the years of quite a few McIntosh units I think the only one I had issue with was bought used and that was the only used one I had bought. But they stepped up and repaired it at no cost. Funny thing was when I told them I bought it used, the Mc Rep asked if the unit was where I could look at it, I replied yes. He said to look closely at the front plate and see if if it said McIntosh, I said yes, he said send it to me here is your RA. 

@theo ......... Yes 3 does seem excessive. I just hope that i will have no new problems with my Ref 6.  And if God forbid i do at least i bought it brand new and have a 3 yr warranty. And at least i know i will be taken care of with no problem. My only other components that are worth mentioning was my Counterpoint SA 220 amp that i bought brand new in 1990 and which that had the mosfet problems which my left channel went out and could not be repaired. And as we all know what happened with Counterpoint going under. Also own Krell FPB 600 amp i bought used and have it for years now and is still running strong. Also had Mark Levinson preamps used and also never had a problem with them. As far as ARC goes they are incredible sounding gear and as long as their customer service stands by you i will never give up on them. That really means alot to me. 

Just picked up a dealer demo Ref 6 with 610 hours on it and some original ARC warranty remaining.  Still getting used to the remote.  I hope my wife never throws the metal remote at me.  Darn thing is heavy.

So far I think I am ok with the unit. I have owned many ARC units over the years and have never had a problem, except for blown biasing resisters when I ran 6550 power tubes that arced in my amps (VS 115 and old Ref 150).  My Ref 150SE uses KT 150 tubes which are very robust and so far, no problems with arcing.  

Must say that I am surprised to even see a thread like this.  ARC is OCD about QC.  It is surprising indeed to read that any modern units have failed.   I guess sh*t just happens.

BIF 

P.S. - if I read the Ref 6 manual correctly, there is a setting that provides for unit pass-through volume.  If that is so, fellow Ref 6 owners should be careful to never hit that setting.  You'll likely blow your amp and speakers.