yesiam_a_pirate
Responses from yesiam_a_pirate
| The Snob Appeal Premium jji666 gets it. This system was designed and acquired in pieces on the cheap as a family room system at the beach house. It's not a listening room system. duh. It's amazing how reflexively people jump to "max offended status" rather than careful... | |
| The Snob Appeal Premium Wturkey; I'm pretty sure these are 100% maple syrup and frostbite made- but who really knows these days? There is so much shell-game switch-a-roo now... largely because it's really hard to make a North American product economically. There is a v... | |
| The Snob Appeal Premium Highway 61; I never really thought of it like that. In my mind the gear I fell in love with in 1978 was ARC and Magnapan. I never stopped loving it, and I'm happy to own it. I'd say compared to Daniel Hertz or the like, ARC is upper end mid-fi th... | |
| Baffled by Pricing Strategy I am an active buyer and seller of gear and other stuff. Over the past 20 years of being an eBay member and a user of Audiogon, Craigslist, FaceacheMarketplace, etc. I have come to a few conclusions: 1) Sellers often hallucinate that a lottery wi... | |
| Mystery Of Red Plating I found my local guy by calling a reputable music store and asking who the best guy was around here to repair tube amps. They had one favorite and that guy had never worked on an ARC before, but immediately diagnosed the problem as "multiple issue... | |
| Audio Research REF 750 pre July 4 FIRE WORKS. TUBE ARC. The similar thing happened to my ARC VT130. I posted about the solution here: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/mystery-of-red-plating I'm sorry for your loss. I know you have wanted that Ref system running for a long time now. | |
| Audio Research factory tour 2023 The place has the smell of death about it. The downsizing, the empty expressionless faces, the slow movement, the eerie quietness is all familiar- I've toured such businesses that were for sale and the signs are all there. Absent a massive dose of... | |
| What happened to all the highend stereo shops I think the younger generation is satisfied with mediocrity. "Meh...good enough" seems to be the way of the young Americans. Beats headphones connected wirelessly to your iPhone sound pretty good until you hear a good mid fi 2 channel rig. Ditto t... | |
| Final? ARC Chapter... I'd say ARC is a really high end Mid Fi. The build quality is outstanding on the older stuff. In the world of hand built gear It's a mass produced product. An ARC ex-employee told me the McIntosh days there were awful. Bad morale and boring non-... | |
| Advice on how to liquidate system I sustained a traumatic brain injury in 4/2009. Tinnitus was with me for years- but it slowly improved. It ruined my audio enjoyment - for a while. Therefore; My advice is to not sell at this time. Let some time go by and see how you heal. This... | |
| Why are People Dumping their Audio Research Gear and What Does it Say about them? I'm a close watcher of the brand and it's secondary market. I'm seeing neither greater selling nor price reductions on the ask. I'm sure the bid is down- bidders use bad news to beat down the price. One thing that concerns me is repairs/upgrad... | |
| Audio Research in Receivership. Kodac wrote: ARC designs are compromised and not state of the art. Overpriced for what you get. See video for the anatomy of their flagship mono blocks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR-ry-DFdeo OCD Guy /11Stereo Atlanta is a NAT dealer. Up... | |
| Audio Research in Receivership. William Z. Johnson who was the visionary died in December 2011. If you recall we were still in reeling from the 2008-09 crash and high end stereo sales were way down- Hifi shops were closing all over the country. Johnson sold the company in 2008 t... | |
| the big one: how do you choose speakers? By what features, data? The old real estate saw "Location,location location" applies to speakers but modify it to "Listen listen listen" Ad copy and enthusiastic dealers can make you believe that brand X is the best thing since Rod Stewart sang standards at your dinner ... | |
| Mystery Of Red Plating I had to wait 8 months to get in line at ARC. I think the repair cost with shipping was $3,000. The Audiogon Blue Book says my VT130 is only worth $3000. Gee thanks! The ARC guy told me since the spamdemic "everybody" was taking their old gear ... |