Audio Research Financial Troubles

The company looks relatively stable after being acquired by new owners. https://www.cepro.com/audio-video/audio-research-acquired-by-ar-tube-audio-corporation/

I'm a long-time happy ARC customer (going back to the D76A era) but I am not at all convinced that ARC's troubles are over. As far as I can tell, it still has an enormous repair backlog. The "store" link on its website has been dead for years and its product line has been steadily shrinking (no Ref DAC, no CD player). Its only "new" product introduction is an amplifier that was to have been available a year ago and it isn't clear that the company has any in-house talent to develop anything else.

I wish ARC the best. I'm a nut-job, so I'm actually considering buying a new Ref 6SE, in part because I believe it will be serviceable regardless of ARC's future. I think ARC is doing its best to overcome its issues and that only time will tell whether it succeeds.

mulveling

... ARC’s issues have been resolved ...

Customers who are waiting months before even being allowed to return their products for service would not likely agree that the issues "have been resolved." The company seems to have acquired the capitalization it needed to continue operations, but it looks to me like it has a long road ahead.

hsounds

I own a Ref 5 SE. let me know when I can stop by and grab your Ref 6,3,or 2,SE on the cheap so you do not have to worry anymore.

Huh? I already said I’m contemplating trading my 5SE for a 6SE. (I plan to keep my Ref Phono 2SE.) I don’t have any stock in ARC, so I have nothing to worry about.

mulveling

I've heard out-of-warranty repairs currently have a long queue (~ 6 months). But in-warranty repairs are another ball of wax. Upgrades (e.g. 6 to 6SE) are also processing very efficiently, much more so than before. It's absolutely sensible for the business to prioritize these over out-of-warranty service, while not cutting off the latter. Their product history goes back decades!

I agree that makes perfect sense. Consider also that ARC will not only service but can often upgrade most every product it has ever made. That's quite a feat.