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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
tsushima1
1,165 posts
 
@Bifwynne,
You are not alone. A couple of weeks back I began to sense a slight imbalance between channels, lo and behold, V5 was down to 61mA , V7 On spec, V9 ON spec, V11 down to 62mA.
V5 biased back to spec and remained as such over the next couple of days, on the other hand I could not manage to persuade V11 to re bias beyond 63mA. Substituting with KT150/V7 indicated A problem with the bias circuit to V11 as that valve promptly dropped 5mA.
I advised my dealer of the problem and as I am still under warranty collection was organised PDQ.
The snake in this tale will see me without the Ref150 until after the Holidays. The ladder? Well that has manifest in the form of the Distributers own GS150 in situ For the duration!
Unfortunately, the GS has just the 60 hours on the clock, and whilst hinting of great promise, is still quite 'tight' ergo déjà veu with break in on the Ref150, however I am hoping to rack up enough hours on the GS in order to make some sort of valid comparison.

Jasper.
smoffatt
205 posts
 
Decibell. I would call ARC and ask to speak with Terry Dorn. Terry needs to know about those quality issues you are referring to. Make sure that you have your serial number of each piece while speaking with him. Crooked tube sockets and loose screws bouncing around inside a $30k preamp is unacceptable.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,577 posts
 
Terry is retiring isn't he?
smoffatt
205 posts
 
He might be. Haven't talked to him in quite sometime but Decibell should make the call nevertheless and speak with Chris Ossana. Not sure who else you can talk to nowadays. With Terry gone/leaving, the "old guard" is quite decimated. ARC has not been the same since the days of Bill Johnson, Rich Larson, Len Gustafson and a few others who have left.

The brick and mortar is still there but i'm afraid that the soul is gone; forever.

Bill and Rich would have never tolerated crooked tube sockets and loose screws bouncing around inside a $30K preamp shipped in a single carton.

Don't they have a QC guy? No piece should leave the factory in this condition. NONE. I can understand parts can fail but we're talking serious assembly issues here. Do we have cold solder points too????
Taking the piece back to the dealer is not good enough. Not to me anyway.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
@Jasper ... let me try to translate your "high-English" vernacular into American. As a general matter, ARC says the "slave tube" bias spec should be between 57 and 73 mV assuming the "set" tube bias is set at 65 mV. If you have a tube that is presenting a bias of 5 mV, probably a blown bias resister. I assume your talking about a "slave" tube.

Do I understand your post correctly that you bought a GS-150? If so, I anxiously await your comments ... after break-in.

Meanwhile, I anxiously await for my local ARC service tech to make a house call tomorrow to replace a blown bias resister. Bummer ... no music for 2 days.

@Smoffatt ... very troubling news about Terry Dorn. As an ARC "oldhead," I recall the great customer service from the folks you mentioned in your post, especially Len. Not sure what to say. I am greatly troubled to learn that ARC "may" be shipping shoddy product. I hope your experience is that one in ten thousand case.
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