ARCAM AVR300 - beware

Wow I feel your pain and frustration. Sounds like you've exhausted most options. What about your local audio dealer. Have they been any help or perhaps another dealer who wants your business? There's a similar thread at avsforum you may want to look at about the Arcam AVR 300 back in 2011.

Regrettably the vast majority of HT electronics are Chi-fi disposables with an estimated reliability life mirroring the warranty period. ARCAM also moved it's top AVR production out of China back to the UK a few years back.

I also had a top CAMBRIDGE AVR that required warranty repairs to fix certain Chi Fi manufacturing Build quality issues. I eventually migrated to UK high-end separates .

This is an old model with known motherboard issues identified a decade ago without prejudice to the fact that it also well past it's sunset period

Your time to replace or upgrade the AVR is here.

Thanks for the heads up Jswell666, I was just about to drop some serious money on a new unit, needles to say I wont be going with Arcam, its people like you that bring value to this site!

(1) At it's worst, ARCAM is no worse than all the others in a crowded
strata of AVRs.

(2) At it's best, it's audio and video performance compared to the
alternate choices, are among the very best out there.
(3) WRT build quality and resulting reliability expectation: At the '300' price
point it was and still is "a pick 'em" choice in a built to the
cheapest cost in ChiFi arena that triggers a buzzilion choices from all
manufacturers.

Regrettably, that is why I eventually abandoned the AV receiver and
migrated up to three "hi- end" UK designed AND built power amps (non
Arcam), the ARCAM BluRay and a "hi-end" US AV preamplifier/processor
separates in a 7.2 HT system, (for the best-of-breed build quality and
reliability and not just for the performance uptick. )

The old discontinued models (like the 300) have been upgraded by
several replacement versions since these old models passed their sunset
milestones wrt to reliability.

There is an invariable time honored fact in this hobby, and especially so in
the HT market = build quality matters, and you get what you pay for.

The high(er) end ARCAM AVRs are class leaders (Google the reviews )
There are numerous posts in Audiogon about how ARCAM fell into the
Crappy Chi-Fi Build trap for a while before moving it's flagship AV
receivers back to the UK

The gremlins that initially infected and haunted the 300 and other sunset
products do not warrant automatically ARCAM as problematic. there are
equally many many posts of similar breakdown in all of the other receivers

I have to agree with Akg ca: we cannot lump ARCAM into unreliable status over a series of receivers. The AVR250-350 units were built immediately after the EU enacted RoHS standards in 2006. eliminating lead from solder, from which a great many products were built horribly. ARCAM's previous AV receivers; the AVR100 and AVR200 were built with leaded solder and are still regarded as reliable tanks all these years later.

Industry wide electronics reliability was so vastly compromised by eliminating lead in solder that both the Aviation and Medical industries were granted exemptions from enforcement at first!!!

I was an ARCAM Authorized Service Center back then and we had the best service billable year EVER in the history of my employer thanks to RoHS and all the piss poor manufacturing that was coming in the door from both Pro and Consumer electronics brand regardless of country of origin.

ARCAM is and always was, truly committed to good sound and it was unfortunate that RoHS nearly killed them. I love my ARCAM DV88 dvd player for its sonics, it's still the best CD player I have ever owned

In Tennis vernacular, "Point, Set and Match" awarded to Mcintech for his post.

W/o prejudice to the build quality gremlins discussed, sonically the ARCAMs, have been and continue to be, among the very best of all the AVR alternatives.

FWIW, I had the very top CAMBRIDGE AVR which rivalled all but the very top unit of the ARCAM line. Like the ARCAM it is also fine, fine kit that also beats 99% of all comers; but it also had a similar MB solder problem that was fixed under warranty.

That is why the 3 years warranty for CAMBRIDGE and -- even better yet -- the 5 years warranty for ARCAM are so valuable and desirable.

Contrast these with the limited warranties available on most of the Asian products.

PS: the ARCAM Blu-Ray is robust and beats everything else out there for HT including the high quality kit offerings from OPPO and my old CAMBRIDGE (latter two clones of each other). ARCAM can and does make good products.