2. amps-preamps
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ARC Support

FWIW, I'll relate my recent experience with Audio Research Corp. I've been a customer of AR for some years, on and off, including the purchase of reference gear over the years. I recently have had to place most of my system up for sale due to personal reasons, and this included a pair of Reference 300 MKII amps purchased new in Dec 2000. I accepted an offer from a gentleman in France at a fair agreed upon price. He asked that I ship them to AR to have them swapped out to 220 for use in Europe, and have them shipped on to him. The cost of the service was not an issue. Anyway, without going into the agonizingly frustrating details, heres what happened in a nutshell: AR told me basically they wouldn't do it because it would mean the possibility of losing a NEW sale for them and their European distributor. They were/are seemingly more concerned with selling a new product, in Europe, than supporting a long time customer who purchased this product at a local US dealer at 10% off list price of 30K. I explained the guy wasn't going to buy new anyway, it was beyond his price point. Didn't seem to matter. My point isn't to engender debate between AR supporters and detractors. This is merely my experience, take it for what it's worth. I personally am incredulous, find this to be in poor form, and certainly am not inclined to patronize AR in the future.
mes

Showing 2 responses by john_l

john_l
782 posts
 
I think they should be willing to do the conversion for you without such trouble. ARC is sometimes a little piggy about these things. With them, I was a little perturbed to find that: A) My local ARC dealer does not stock fuses for their equipment. They told me to call ARC, and B) ARC charged me $6 (cost + shipping) to send me the A FUSE !. That's a little over the mark in my opinion.

There was a problem with another high end company. Their equipment was being brought in from another country and sold here at considerably less than retail. I notice this company's equipment sells for 35-40% of retail on the used market. Probably next to impossible to get anywhere close to retail for it, meaning dealer's cannot survive carrying this line. I think this kind of situation is what ARC is trying to avoid. Their approach of refusing a single, original owner, is just plain BAD customer service.
john_l
782 posts
 
Another thing that really bugs me is their tube prices !
From their catalog:

VT100, VT100MKII (8) MP6550 (8) 6922 $839.40

Other sources charge under 400 for these SAME tubes. These are bone-stock, modern day svetlana's and sovteks. You can buy them over the counter at over a dozen places in ANY major city. ARC's claim that their tubes are 'more tested' has little relation to reality.

I like their equipment. They use good solid engineering with readily available tubes and materials. (I also like the sound) It's some of their corporate policies that are just awful.
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