Audio Research Tube AMP Reliability

I have worked in service, and since the only units a serviceman sees are broken ones (not the other hundreds or thousands that are working) all they will ever have are negative comments. I have owned some Audio Research gear (VSi55 tube integrated, SP5 & LS3B solid state preamp, D52B & D100 solid state amp etc.) and my father started out with Audio Research equipment in the early 70's. He had an SP3A preamp with a Dual 51 and Dual 75 bi-amped driving some of the first pairs of Magneplanar Tympani speakers. He was high-end before such a term existed. Never had any trouble with anything. Recently we took one of his ARC tube amps - A Dual 79 which is a 110+ pound monster of a tube amp produced in very few numbers around 1979-1980. The amp sat for 20 years without being plugged in or powered-up. In bad practice we plugged it straight into the wall instead of using a variac to bring the voltage up slowly. We had no problems, unlike typical older equipment where something pops/smokes/glows red etc. After letting it warm up I connected it to my Magneplanar MG 1.6's and it quickly put to shame the McCormack DNA 0.5 amp I was using (no insult to the McCormack because it is a great amp). I don't know about the latest equipment (although my VSi55 was from 2006) and I could certainly not speak for all their models, but I believe ARC uses high grade components and their reputation is built on reliability and sound quality, instead of marketing and gimmics. Just my two-cents for what it's worth. From the serviceman's standpoint everything sucks when its broke.