ARC Support

Another thing that really bugs me is their tube prices !
From their catalog:

VT100, VT100MKII (8) MP6550 (8) 6922 $839.40

Other sources charge under 400 for these SAME tubes. These are bone-stock, modern day svetlana's and sovteks. You can buy them over the counter at over a dozen places in ANY major city. ARC's claim that their tubes are 'more tested' has little relation to reality.

I like their equipment. They use good solid engineering with readily available tubes and materials. (I also like the sound) It's some of their corporate policies that are just awful.

I've also found Leonard to be most uncommunicative. Anyway, I hear ARC is already coming out with a Mk. II version of their mono amp just below the Ref 300 grade.

I live in the UK. Last year I bought a used ref2 from a private seller on Audiogon. Before the unit was shipped I telephoned Leonard at Audio Research to ask for the unit to be voltage converted to 240V at the factory. As described in posts above he refused to carry it out. I therefore had to take the unit to the UK distributor, Absolute Sounds. When I telephoned The MD of absolute sounds he reeled off a list of horror stories about the dangers of bringing in used goods from the States and did everything possible to dissuade me from proceeding. He quoted me a price of £375($525) for voltage conversion -outrageous but I had no choice. However, when I took the unit in, he told me that the conversion would actually cost £675 ( about $925)because they had to order extra "parts". The work involved in voltage conversion is minimal- even according to Leonard himself!

I feel that this kind of behaviour represents pure greed on the distributor's part- they cannot stand the fact that they have 'lost' a new sale even though I would never buy new hifi from the USA in Britain due to the extortionate mark-up ( $ price is simply changed to £ in most cases). ARC are in collusion with their distributors to prevent international trade in used products.

Also I agree that their introduction of costly 'upgrades' barely months after the introduction of a new product is reprehensible and insulting to customers who have made such an expensive investment.

Unfortunately the gear sounds good IMHO........

Over many years Len has treated me as if I were royality.They stand behind their products and offer parts and service for any product they have made for the past 30 years. Only a few hi-end companies have been in business that long.They are not the product of the week.ARC has always been reasonable for any mods,parts and service which I have required and I have found the service,product and their people to be fair and honest.A very happy and satisified ARC customer Rosemke

ARC Service in my many years of experience has been truly exceptional ! They have gone the extra mile for me. Parts are supported to the last screw. In contrast: When I called Classe about a possible replacement faceplate on a power amp, I use in a second system, they responded that they no longer stock the faceplates. Age of the Classe? <4 years! An unrelated but still important issue: ARC still has living wages for their employees and just don't design a piece and send it to China, or some other low labor/environmental standard country, to have it built in sweat shops. My experience with Leonard has always been like a diamond in the rough. Fantastic! The company is not very big and must provide protection for itself or become just another to become owned by another mass market Japanese company like Madrigal and McIntosh.