The good news and the bad news is that nothing has changed at ARC.
Everything is still made by hand, with every component soldered into every board by hand in their Minnesota plant. ARC bought a $100k wave soldering machine, which is what is normally used to solder parts into boards, but wave soldering does not sound as good as hand soldered pats in plated-through boards. ARC sold the machine. The boards they design and use are made for them by US manufacturers.
ARC also custom designs many of their own parts, including transformers, capacitors and wire, because they sound better than what's available off the shelf. That is expensive.
Every transistor (JFET, etc.) that they receive is measured and graded, with up to 23 grades according to the part. Specific grades are used for each circuit. In some cases ARC can use one out of two graded transistors; in some cases ARC uses one out of ten. Why? Because different grades sound different, and ARC wants every unit of every model to sound the same, provide the same great quality. Transistors that don't have the right grades are thrown out. That is expensive.
Output tubes are burned in at specific frequencies and levels for 48 hours before they are measured and graded. Why? Because new tubes change quite a bit, and this is the only reliable way to match them--after the change.
Every ARC product that has balanced connectors is a fully-balanced differential design because it provides the highest performance, lowest distortion, and lowest noise. They do not use "inverters" to create the balanced signal.
After every product is completed it is bench tested, burned-in for 24 (preamps) or 48 hours (amps), bench tested a second time and, if it passes, is sent for warm-up and listening in a reference system to make sure it sounds right. Because you can hear things that can't be measured. Then it is photographed from multiple angles to document its perfect condition before it is put in its shipping carton.
This is the best and most expensive way to do things. The bad news is that it is difficult to offer less expensive products with these standards.
The engineering team has remained stable, with a couple of experienced engineers brought in because of retirements. The mission and values have never changed. ARC's CFO became President and ran the company for little over a year after their former President retired (after 29 years). That was when customer support suffered, a live person stopped answering the phone, and their "entry level" products like the SP17 and VSi60 were discontinued. He was fired, thankfully, with the new President getting the company reoriented and pointed in the right direction. ARC has not forgotten their lower price points and are working on it.
