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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

Showing 1 response by tonywinsc

tonywinsc
583 posts
 
I have had ARC gear since 1989. Well, I have had three different preamps the DAC3 and CD3- so not so many changes. The umbilical cord on my SP-15 failed in 2004. ARC repaired the cord and refurbished the power supply for me while they had it. Kind of weird since it just sat on a shelf.
My CD3 MKII player has been repaired by ARC twice. Once for something internal that made the system pop when muting and then one time the CD drive mechanism failed. I have never had an ARC amp. Three repairs in 25 years. That's pretty good, I think.
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