Service from Audio Research

Another two days have gone and still no news for my ARC Ref 250. I don't mind waiting but at least they should give me an account on what is going on. I emailed Kalvin and there is no reply.

It is very bad to take away a new amp from user for two weeks and nothing happens.

I was a loyal ARC user and fans. My first hi end pre amp was ARC LS1 25 years ago and I am now using the 40th Anni Ref. This experience is going to turn me away from ARC.

Kind of sad.

Tli,

Have you asked your dealer for a loaner amp?

Forget the loaner amp, ask for a complete refund.

If I dropped $25,000 for a pair of brand new amps that were defective from day 1 and with no resolution in sight, I would not hesitate to go down to my dealer and demand a complete refund.

The dealer has sent me a pair of Mark Levinson 436 to use at the moment, but they are nothing like the ARC Ref 250.

I shall call them again tomorrow to demand a proper resolution within this week.

I suggest you show some patience. The time line seems to indicate that two weeks have past since you returned the amp and in that time period the dealer has provided you with a high quality replacement amp. You purchased a complex product from an overseas manufacturer. Both of these factors can greatly increase repair times. If you're interested in long term satisfaction you should give them the time to properly fix the amp. Apparently it's not an obvious problem to address and the problem may not be easily reproduced on the test bench. What your local distributor should be doing is keeping you fully informed of what is happening with the diagnosis and repair.