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Audio Research Tube AMP Reliability

I was out shopping for amps this weekend, and I ran across a guy getting his ARC tube amp repaired.

He said he really like it, but he has gone through tube replacements, and he had the thing burn up on him, the power lines on the board had smoked and burned. I saw the splices on the board, the damage was pretty big, and about $500 in repairs.

The owner of the shop said he got in ARC amps often due to poor design and reliability.

I am interested in ARC because the reviews are great, but I was wondering if other folks are having trouble with their ARC Amps?

How about the Pre-Amps?

Thanks,
Scott
128x128scottlanterman
jamnesta
155 posts
 
As long as your shopping and open to other manu., try McIntosh, the unity coupled circuit is less critical of tube selection.....at least that's what they say and my experience so far confirms this.
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
5,003 posts
 
I have owned many, and I mean MANY ARC products and have never had a service related issue with any piece. The amps do require retubing more often than the preamps, but no more so than any other brand. The ARC gear is built very well and sound superb.
sidssp
1,077 posts
 
I can't speak for the newer amps but I used to own a SP-6A in the late 70s for many years and had never had any problem with it. I also have friends who used to own different early model ARC tube preamps and none of them experienced any major problem other than normal problems due to aging like noisy volume control, dust collection, dry up capacitors, aged tubes, etc... So I would say the early models are quite reliable.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Never owned one; first time I have heard that "rap", but IMO, the horizontal, stacked output tubes in some of the ARC amps is asking for trouble for all but the bottom tube.
gmuffley
132 posts
 
I have owned many ARC amps and preamps over the last 35 years. I have found them to be very reliable. The few malfunctions I experienced were tube related, not faulty circuit design or reliability issues.
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