Audio Research Reference 5SE reliability


After reading the glowing revieuw on the Stereophile-website by Brian Damkroger on the ARC REF5SE there was a comment that: quote: by Audioware on nov 15, 2012,

"These pres are outstanding. However the problem is their poor reliability. 06 (six) of them were already on my services bench this year to fix problems with the transformer that feeds the dgital, the remote control and the on-off switch, circuits. It is a small xformer below the circuit board that burns out frequently. Another very serious problem is with the 6H30s filament regulators that do not stand for the increased current demanded by the new 6H30s intead of the old 6922s. ARC has to pay more attention to these problems!"

I already checked my dealer, who was really surprised and did not recognise these problems.

Comments will be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
sequence56
Before posting this query, did you find *any* confirming information, any other message on the originating site or anywhere else that supports the claim sufficient to warrant repeating it here?? Just to let you know there is a perspective from which re-posting a 6-month old disparaging commentary from another Web site can sound like a drive-by.
I've been fixing ARC for over 20 years as a warranty repair station. I haven't seen a single Ref5 or Ref5SE with a transformer issue. I did replace one transformer in a Ref3 years ago. Me thinks Audioware hath been exposed to too many solder fumes.
Hi,phew I was a bit worried there for a minute.I've experienced nothing but good things,with everything from this company.Sure a toggle switch has broken,with my ls 15,but that was my fault.I hope the good stuff keeps on keeping on.Im happy with my se.
Sounds like another internet bull story.
Some dude with some agenda more like.
Elizabeth and Dbarger, the OP is from the Netherlands, so I'm guessing that the units wouldn't be going back to ARC for warranty repairs. The warranty repairs are probably being handled by the European distributer.