Audio Research Reference 3 Seeking help

Agree with Liz. It's hard to make perfect better. I used to own the Ref 3. It's a classic linestage. I was underwhelmed when I switched it out for the Ref 5 (not SE). The Ref 5 (not SE) was NOT in a different league.

Don ... I must respectfully disagree with your comment that ARC has poor customer service. It's difficult to judge the situation described by the OP just comfortably sitting in my music chair ... so I won't.

But based on my personal experiences dealing with Kalvin Dahl and Chris Osanna, IMO, ARC provides top drawer customer technical support and product advice. Heck, when a pesky bias resister blows, a local ARC authorized service tech makes house calls. Saves me schlepping a bulky 75 pound amp around. Further, if you search the Forum archives, you will see that many others share my opinion.

Tsushima ... respectfully, don't you think that ARC is within its right to be discreet with the type of technical info that is the subject of the last posts. Seems to me that ARC, or any company for that matter, has a right to keep proprietary information out of the public domain if it so chooses.

Of course, I suppose that if one is so inclined, they can buy a Ref 3 or Ref 5SE and reverse engineer it. Of course, that may cost the curious $13K MSRP to but a Ref 5 SE as the price to sate their curiosity.

Don ... obviously we have very different views about ARC and some of its people. We will just have to agree to disagree.

Gpgr4blu ... my experiences with Kal and Chris are the same as yours.

Don_c55 ... this is my last post on this thread. Did it occur to you that Hifigeek1 is not a "one trick pony"?? That is, maybe he services many other brands and may also have other commerical interests going on as well. If you're so interested, why not ask him. Frankly, I don't think it's any of your business.

Further, as is the case with most gear, part failure occurs -- period .... The older the equipment, the more frequent the failure rate. There is a lot of serviceable ARC gear that is decades old doing what it was originally designed to do; to wit, make beautiful music. Caps dry out and need replacing. Switches wear out. Bias resisters burn. And so forth and so on.

Gary (Hifigeek1) is a long standing and respected A'gon member. ARC is a fine company. Look at my system description. Except for an occassional pesky burned biased resister in my amp -- NEVER had a problem with equipment reliability!! And ... IMHO, I am blessed to own a killer rig that is powered by ARC gear.

Don ... let this one go. You've stated your opinion. We all got it. I have no intention of trying to change your mind. I have no dog in this fight. My only point is to put out there that I *AM* A HAPPY ARC customer and I believe that there are many others.

Have a nice day. :)