I currently own and use the following ARC products:
a). D75 - has been my old standby for 30+ years. I recently retired it till I have the time to change the filter and coupling caps it has never been serviced other than replacement tubes.
b). SP7 preamp - the mate to the D75 for the same time period currently retired but works fine and will probably rejoin the D75 when it is re-capped
c). CA50 - I did send it back to ARC once but it turned out to be an intermittent 6922 no problem with the amp itself
d). SP9MKIII another bad 6922 shorted and took out $250 worth of FET's and some resistors. It was an expensive way to learn that JJ6922's just are not suitable for use in ARC products.
e). SP3A1 - diodes shorted in the power supply board shortly after I purchased it which appears to be common problem. Currently awaiting repair or upgrade to SP3C (ihave not yet decided which)but it is even older than my SP7.
So that's one man's experience with a variety of ARC products over the years. Not too bad. I would say better than average. Probably McIntosh is the only brand better in my experience with names such as Counterpoint, GAS, NAD, Marantz, Dynaco, Sansui, Pioneer,Sherwood etc.
Good luck,Jerry
a). D75 - has been my old standby for 30+ years. I recently retired it till I have the time to change the filter and coupling caps it has never been serviced other than replacement tubes.
b). SP7 preamp - the mate to the D75 for the same time period currently retired but works fine and will probably rejoin the D75 when it is re-capped
c). CA50 - I did send it back to ARC once but it turned out to be an intermittent 6922 no problem with the amp itself
d). SP9MKIII another bad 6922 shorted and took out $250 worth of FET's and some resistors. It was an expensive way to learn that JJ6922's just are not suitable for use in ARC products.
e). SP3A1 - diodes shorted in the power supply board shortly after I purchased it which appears to be common problem. Currently awaiting repair or upgrade to SP3C (ihave not yet decided which)but it is even older than my SP7.
So that's one man's experience with a variety of ARC products over the years. Not too bad. I would say better than average. Probably McIntosh is the only brand better in my experience with names such as Counterpoint, GAS, NAD, Marantz, Dynaco, Sansui, Pioneer,Sherwood etc.
Good luck,Jerry