I am also happy with ARC service. They have always been good with dispensing schematics, which in turn has allowed me to ask the right technical questions (which have always been imediately answered). The cost they charge is not always in line, but they always have the part you will need. They do not always have "Lexus Dealer" charm, but if you are a "resistor head" and know what you need, they usually come through pretty well. I have had much worse luck from other vendors.... Plus, there equipment sounds pretty good out of the box and is a fabulous platform to tweek if you have a soldering iron, engineering experience, and access to higher grade component parts than ARC is willing to use. You have to be proactive and utilize them for what they are good at... Don't want to pay $847 for a tube set, plenty of others sell them for 1/2 or less with the same quality and matching. Need an ARC schematic -- Leonard's your man. Need an alignment procedure, Chris is your man. Can't legally obtain proprietary procedures elsewhere... Worried about not having the latest -- find a source of information -- ARC is not going to tell you.... Good Audio Dealers will warn you of upcoming upgrades and equipment discontiuations... There are benefits to staying 1 generation behind... Cutting edge and the newest stuff is cool, but the cost and heart ache just isn't worth it to me...
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.