@roxy1927, you mentioned that tubes continually blew. What repairs were done by the authorized rep?
In my opinion, to make a blanket determination that Audio Research products are not reliable is simply not accurate. You will see some Audio Research haters on the internet, and some may have legitimate concerns/complaints. The vast majority I've seen however, were just haters.
I've had over the decades many Audio Research products and many others by other manufacturers. I currently own the REF 10 and I can tell you that there are not many that are even close to the sound quality of the REF 10.
I don't know where you bought your REF 10, or if it was used, abused, etc. But, in my opinion, I would send it back to Audio Research or a better Authorized Rep repair center and get them to really go over it and repair it. In good conscience, you can't sell your REF 10 until you get it repaired correctly anyway, so what do you have to lose?
Also, for the naysayers and haters, as an Electrical/Electronics Engineer, I can tell you that @##$$$ happens. parts break, things fail. Doesn't mean the manufacture is terrible. Just like with cars, sometimes a part passes inspection and fails anyway. Get it fixed. you don't have to buy a brand new car because a part failed. replace the part.
Now, if the manufacturer gave me trouble repairing an item, then I would reconsider dealing with that manufacturer in the future. But, an Authorized Rep repair center is not the manufacturer.
I've had one problem with an Audio Research product. on one of my REF 250 amps a tube blew spectacularly. It took out other components (not just a resistor) and cost me around $2000 or so to repair. Turns out that I had tried to save money by purchasing (matched tubes) from a well known tube supplier and well guess what? They didn't pass Audio Research requirements. When I took the amps to George Meyer AV in Los Angeles, (nearby to me) for repair. They are an Authorized Audio Research repair facility by-the-way, the repaired the unit, measured all the tubes on both amps and gave me the technical sheets on each and it showed clearly that the "matched tubes" were close to what was required. They were, in fact well out of Audio Research required specifications.
About half the price of purchasing from Audio Research, but lesson learned. Won't do that again. At least if I had purchased the tubes from Audio Research, they would have repaired the amp for free because their supplied tubes would have caused the failure.
Replaced all the tubes on both amps (after the repair) with Audio Research supplied tubes and haven't had any issues for quite some time.
Now maybe for low level tubes, purchasing from another supplier may work, but for power tubes? won't go down that road again. However, my point is, did I blame Audio Research? no!
After repair by a repair show that knows their stuff, did I have any further problems? no!
How many of us have taken a car to a service center or independent repair center only keep having problems because it turns out the service center or independent repair center didn't know what they were doing? Was it the manufacturers fault? not really.
Audio Research make high end, excellent equipment and keeps people working and receiving paychecks in these troubling times.
Keep that REF 10 and get it repaired properly. you would be hard pressed to find another pre-amp that is better. They are out their, but very rare. Plus, as I mentioned, you have to get it repaired properly to sell it anyway. So, do it right.
enjoy
