Audio Research Ref 6 upgrade to 6SE.

Perhaps ARC is focusing on quick, high profit, transactions.  If you can add 17 capacitors and a little wire and it takes someone a couple of hours to do the upgrade and make $5K, that is smart business.  What do the caps cost them?

Keep in mind this is a company that was/is flirting with bankruptcy.  In these situations cash flow in is of paramount importance.  You know, cash to make payroll.

What do the caps cost them?
 

So @jetter are you suggesting ARC should just provide the upgrades for the cost of the parts?  That’s just stupid and is a recipe for going out of business for any audio manufacturer.  Plus, having anyone else do the work, assuming they could because it’s more than just soldering in some new caps, will void the warranty.  Did you even consider that?  Your thoughts are, frankly, ignorant and short sighted.  But u do u and see how that flies. 

@soix   I couldn’t agree more. Plus I was gonna say the same exact thing as u did. Why on earth would I let anyone else work or do the upgrade on my 15k preamp other than ARC. And not to even mention voiding the warranty. 

@soix

That’s just stupid and is a recipe for going out of business for any audio manufacturer.

Your thoughts are, frankly, ignorant and short sighted.

A fountain of advice for everyone but still no system pictures.  I know from your prior posts you are going through some tough times, but your demeanor kind of brings it into focus.  I am a CPA who has experience in receiverships.

Let me explain the meaning of my post in a way that you may understand, it was a possible explanation in response to @hhiggins post above.

I tried to schedule a repair to a ref anniversary preamp & was told there would be a 6 month wait

My explanation was to offer one possibility as to why hhigins wait time was so much longer compared to tattoo's wait time.  Allocating resources to the highest and fastest profit sources to maintain cash flow short-term is what any company should be doing when in financial distress.  

@tattooedtrackman 

And not to even mention voiding the warranty. 

Surprising that you would have any time left on your three-year ref 6 warranty.

I thought the ref 6SE came out in the Jan 2020  or so timeframe.