Why are People Dumping their Audio Research Gear and What Does it Say about them?

One human emotion trumps all, uncertainty.  It moves markets, starts wars and makes people dump product when they sense uncertainty of support.  Period.

Judging that as rational or not, completely subjective.

I know a few people with ARC gear and none of them have dumped any of it. I'm keeping mine, too. It sounds as great now as ever.

Any examples of all this dumping?  Asking for a friend ...

Audio Research has been around since 1970, and managed to weather every economic storm we’ve seen in the United States since then. I can’t speak to the company’s newer gear because I have never heard it. However, years ago I owned an ARC D70MKII and an SP3 preamplifier. They sounded great, were well made, and as tube gear goes, reliable. As I recall, their circuit designs were straight forward, which made them fairly easy to repair. Not sure about parts availability these days though; especially with Covid related supply chain issues.

Some tough decisions arise:

Dealers are about BUSINESS. Clearing out ARC now rather than later is probably good business. Not to mention, it makes space for other available equipment in their showrooms.

I wonder about warranty coverage:

recently purchased still within warranty period

current demos (demos are like open box) initial sales date usually gets full warranty from that date. Promises might not be kept by new ARC owners if that occurs.

buy NOS now? buy NOS later?

Existing ARC Owner: IF you were thinking you might go for something else before the announcement: soon or after/if inflation calms down, then what?

It’s getting old, will there be authorized service? Parts?

IF you want max resale price, now or wait till market might get flooded with ARC, much better/newer/less use than yours?

btw, Steve at VAS has some nice ARC pieces he will sell (if you ask him, he doesn’t advertise them). I wonder what he thinks.