How is Audio Research's Retubing Services?

I have had ARC retube my VT-100mkIII once and it worked out very well. Be aware that if your original boxes are not up to ARC's standards for shipping they will return ship in new boxes and charge you $40 for the boxes.

I'm also curious to know, once you've had your amp retubed by ARC, how did it sound when you got it back? I'm also thinking that the $1,000 I'd spend on retubing the amp might be better spent on purchasing a new Ref 110...which I heard at last January's CES. Absolutely incredible sounding amplifier. Really a 'Reference' product if ever I heard one.

Kevyo,
You shipped your amp to them, which they received on Aug 1, and your still waiting? Wow, that's not very good customer service. Do you call ARC and make an appointment, or do you just send it to them and they work it in when it's convenient for them? I don't know about you, but when I pay premium bucks for service, I expect premium service. If they are too busy to work on your amp they should at least tell you when they will be able to get to it. It's called professionalism.

Trust me,you want ARC to do the work as they will go over the unit and check everything out. If anything else is wrong with the unit, they will find it.
Also, if any other updates or improvements have been done to the particular unit since it was manufactered, they will also include that in the work.

I had my ARC VT100 Mk III re-tubed by ARC, but they sent the tubes to the local dealer, who did the actual retubing. (And, indeed, the dealer did a very responsible job, and found a minor biasing issue, which was fixed locally with a part supplied by ARC.)

If you do a lot of reading around, you will note that there is some controversy about re-tubing ARC VT100's. Note, for example, that Upscale Audio will not sell tubes for re-tubing VT100's. That, for me, has been a factor in deciding to let ARC do it, under warranty.

Also, I've had a fair number of tube amps over the last 25 years. I've sooner or later blown resistors in darn near every one of them (taking out a tube as well). (Well, in fairness, I should say I haven't done that to my BAT VK75, which I've had for a month.) That has caused me to lean toward relying on the manufacturer to provide replacement tubes, and to do repairs. It's a pain to deal with shipping (if you have to ship it in), but it's nice to have the manufacturer go over it and pronouce it ready-to-roll.

I understand the pain of paying more than you like, but there is a nice comfort factor there, too, it seems to me. Tube amps do a lot of hard work at high temperatures, and seem to me to deserve a little TLC.

FWIW-I would worry about damage during shipping the unit more than what ARC would do to it.

Who do you think would do a better job than the manufacturer of the product?

I have sent my VT100 MKII for an upgrade to a MKIII and they have received it on August 1. I am still waiting for them to call me for my credit card. They are slow in their repairs. I am hoping they do good work and for the wait they should.

Kevyo