Service from Audio Research

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.

Fine Sound Group, who owns ARC, Wadia, Sonus Faber, McIntosh and Sumiko also owns the Asian distributor Fine Sound Asia located in Hong Kong. You are effectively dealing with the owners of ARC.

Have your dealer demand a replacement amp be provided and let ARC deal with their problem on their timetable. Hong Kong surely understands the luxury market and I am very surprised by the level of the service offered on a $25,000 amp.

I agree. Just tell the dealer to replace the amp. Keep the loaners until the other new ARC 250 comes in. Sucks to have another 2-3 week wait for the new amp, but it's the best option. This really sounds more like a dealer behavior problem than an ARC one.