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ARC Quality Issues Ref75 Ref5SE Ref10

Over the past two years I had several issues with ARC Ref gear and am wondering if I'm the only one out there having so much "bad luck"?

My issues started when I bought a Ref5SE plus Ref75.
The two meters in the Ref75 had a noticeable different color and had to be replaced by my dealer.

Two of the Ref5SE tube sockets were soldered crooked to the board. I found a loose screw bouncing around inside the chassis when I unpacked it and found that the two crooked tube sockets were not even bolted down to the metal support on the main board. ARC apologized and replaced the brand new Ref5SE.

The replacement Ref5SE blew up after 600 hrs of use. A small component in the power section exploded with a single loud bang with smoke following.

To not end up with a nearly new but repaired preamp I upgraded to Ref10. The Ref10 power section also blew up after two months and only 390 hrs of use. One or more of the smaller white caps in the power section exploded (four or five significant and loud bangs with smoke). My dealer just informed me that ARC is going to replace the failed Ref10 against a brand new one.

I can not believe I am the only one having repeated problems with ARC's new gear!?

Feedback and comments will be greatly appreciated !
decibell
smoffatt
205 posts
 
Have had ARC many different amps and preamps for over 25 years without any issues and some modded by GNSC. I was considering replacing (scaling down) my all ARC REF separates with a VAC 160iSE. As good as VAC products may be, i won't touch it. If you can not have a dealer in a city of over 3M people with a world renowned audio show being held each and every spring, that tells you how serious they are at expanding their market share across the US and Canada. I would have to drive 400 miles to audition a VAC product. ARC's been around for 45 years with a well established dealer network and likely will be around t'il the day i die. The little boutique shops like VAC; when the owner/designer dies the brand dies.
One such company is Hovland and Joule will likely be next.
david12
1,454 posts
 
Only owned the Ref 75, no problems at all so far after 15 months. Re tubed with KT150's, no problem there either, except the amp top will not fit over the tubes.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Decibell ... of course I can't dispute your sad tale. If it happened ... it happened.

For the record, all of my electronic gear is ARC. Never had a problem, save for an occasional and very rare pesky blown bias resister.

As I am sure other owners of ARC would attest, every ARC unit comes with a QC card that shows all the QC checks that every unit undergoes. Even Bill Gehl, ARC's official listener, performs a listening test before any unit leaves the factory. And this applies to new units that come off the production line as well as units that go in for repair.

Sorry to read about your troubles. But for the benefit of other readers, Decibell's ARC troubles are a rare anomaly. I hope ARC puts everything in proper order for Decibell.
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,602 posts
 
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I've never had a quality issue with an ARC product.

I've owned 5 different models of their line stages, 3 different models of their phono stages and 3 different models of their cd players. Never a problem with reliability with any of their products in more than ten years of ownership.
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bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Who jinxed me? I just blew a bias resister. :(

The ARC tech is coming out on Tuesday.
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