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My Audio Research experience

To all you goners out there, here is my experience with Audio Research.

Approximately four years ago I purchased an AR Reference 75 power amp.  It was on special at the time and I bought if from a dealer in Brisbane, Australia.

I used the amp for the rear channels of my home theatre system which I only use occasionally because I travel a lot for work and I mainly listen to music.

One night I switched the amp on and a white flash and burning smell came from the amplifier and it didn’t power up.  I thought it may have been a tube, and because I had no spares, I reported the problem to my Brisbane dealer and via email to Audio Research.  A copy of the reply sent from AR on the 5th March 2016 follows:

'Thank you for choosing Audio Research and the REF75. I suspect you had an internal tube arc. The internal tube short can also take out a plate or screen resistor. So just replacing the tube will not fix this problem. The resistors also need to be replaced. You can confirm this by checking the bias for this tube. If the bias reads zero, a resistor is open.  This is an easy repair that our distributor in Australia can do.

The SE update for the REF75 comes with a complete new set of tubes including a new set of KT150s.  This is the only way it is sold. If you so choose, Our Australian distributor can also install this SE upgrade for you while the amp is in for repair.'

I then proceeded to order some more tubes to see if a replacement tube would fix the problem.

I ordered the following tubes:

2 x Electro-Harmonix 6H30Pi Gold with Matched Triodes (Balanced)

4 x KT150 Power Vacuum Tube - [Matching (10+ tubes)]

4 x KT120 Power Vacuum Tubes - [Matching (10+ tubes)]

When they arrived, I tried the new tubes but they didn’t fix the problem as the amplifier failed to switch on.  I then contacted my dealer and freighted the amplifier to Brisbane for repair.  This was done in June of last year.  I included all of the above tubes in the package in case they were needed.  I also would have liked the amp to be upgraded to SE status using the tubes supplied if possible.

In September/October last year I enquired about the status of the repair and before Christmas enquired again. After again emailing AR, I was contacted by the Australian Distributor who told me that the service agent in Brisbane had been trying to get parts for the wrong amplifier and that the amplifier would be transported to Melbourne for repair.  I asked them to get me a price for the upgrade using my tubes.

In January/February of this year, I was contacted by the Australian Distributor and had to supply proof of purchase because there was a dispute over whether the amplifier was in fact under warranty when the fault occurred.  I again asked about getting the upgrade using the supplied tubes which were still with the repair agent in Brisbane.  Eventually I was told that I could have the upgrade using AR tubes only, for the heavily discounted price of $3,000 Australian.  Nothing like gouging your customers!!!!!!  Especially when I could have bought a small car for the original cost of the amplifier in Australia.

I chose to just get the original amplifier repaired under warranty which I was told needed a new main circuit board.  This week my amplifier finally arrived back home after nearly 12 months away for a repair under warranty.  The original tubes have been put in a box with ‘Faulty Old Tubes,’ written on the box.  The tubes I sent with the amplifier have not been returned, and no replacement tubes have been included.

I am amazed that the initial fault destroyed six tubes, so I have asked how the Distributor tested the tubes to determine that they were faulty.  I am now left with an amplifier that doesn’t work and 10 expensive vacuum tubes missing somewhere in Australia.  I am also left with a conundrum, if when I finally get my tubes back and use them to ensure the amplifier works, what happens if it doesn’t.  Will AR then blame me for any fault that occurs on power up because I haven’t purchased tubes from them at their heavily marked up prices????

For me I will never touch another Audio Research product for as long as I reside on this planet.  I will be telling all my audiophile friends and putting this report on every forum that will publish it.  Best of luck for the future Audio Research and may you drown in your policy mess!!!

thazeldean

Showing 5 responses by clearthink

clearthink
1,421 posts
 
Audio Research Products are designed for use in sophisticated Music Reproduction Systems and they are to be used by sophisticated users or alternatively those users who have the means and the inclinations to employ the services of a Qualified Authorized Dealer to help maintain their Music Reproduction System. What appears to have happened here is we have an unsophisticated user who compares his Audio Research product to a car and he is unhappy with the expense and the inconvenience of his Audio Research product. To continue to compare this to a car which is a silly comparison as all will agree it is the same as if the user purchased a new Lamborghini and then burned his clutch out at 1,000 miles because he does not know know to use a manual transmission vehicle and then wants to have it repaired under warrantee but only using the discounted aftermarket parts of his choosing and then saying the car has a design flaw because automatic transmission vehicles  do not burn out clutches.

This user would be much happier if he purchased basic equipment for his Music Reproduction System but then of course he would have less to complain about too.
clearthink
1,421 posts
 
"That said, our ampifiers have a minimum of a ten year warranty INCLUDING TUBES. Minimum? Well, as long as Bob and I live, no one will ever pay for a repair. "

That is so funny! With all due respect to Bob Carver who as all know is an innovative engineer and master marketer who has done much to promote high fidelity music systems using a variety of specially developed technologies this warantee is highly suspect. That is because none of the many companies which he founded and each of which promised many lofty claims for high performance could manage to stay in business for even close to 10 years at least under the same ownership! Phase Linear aka Flame Linear, Carver Corp, Sunfire, Carver LLC have all come and gone which proves a warrantee can be no better than the company that stands behind it! Caveat Emptor!
clearthink
1,421 posts
 
Yes Mr. Carver has been an innovative designer of equipment used in Music Reproduction Systems and he has founded and sold one company after another while making millions of dollars in the process which is the free market at work and while the free market is certainly with it's fault's as all would agree it also is the best system we have and Mr. Carver has demonstrated how it is possible to profit from it. There is nothing wrong with that and no need to apologize I do not think Mr. Carver has broken any laws. But as you have stated because his products are protected under various duly issued world patents the equipment he has produced is really not generally serviceable because competent technicians can not figure out how the products work especially when they are already broken! Thank you also for not arguing the facts that Mr. Carver has never founded a company that lasted as long as the warrantee of 10 years that he is "promising" for these new equipment so that is the point here it is so funny! he could give it a lifetime warrantee and it would not matter because the company will not be in existance or perhaps he will sell it to others and the warrantee will be worthless. That you put your phone number in your post doesn't mean anything at all and if you think I have attacked your integrity as you claim you may alert the moderator's to this post and it will be their decision whether to allow these statements or not again a warrantee is only as good as the company that backs it. As for Audio research which you again mention they have been in business continuously for more than 40 years and they still honor their warantees and their equipment is very serviceable as all who know about them agree yourself included!
clearthink
1,421 posts
 
"Incidentally, and not to be nasty, I nonetheless got a chuckle at the mention of Marantz who nearly went out of business and was just purchased by Sound United, the company who owns and sells Polk and Definitive Technology, two speaker brands unlikely to ever be driven by Audio Research or any current Carver product. One assumes they will cover the warranty currently in existence, but D&M Holdings was a gnat's eyelash away from being taken over by the bank.

I would also like to make something clear: if I could afford it, Audio Research components would be on my short list (with a handful of other brands). Because of my background and my connections, I can deal with reliability issues more easily than the average consumer. For those of us living in the real world however, there are inexpensive amplifiers from China that sound decent "

That's a great way to promote a product some people think that by insulting they're competition they elevate their own Music Reproduction System components to a level that it will appeal to more audiophiles and music lovers. Of course to those who have the knowledge and experience to actually objectively evaluate Music Reproduction Systems it is painfully obvious that the insult is simply a very thinly disguised attempt to distract the consumer from the real facts which is that the item actually being promoted doesn't "measure up" to the Music Reproduction System components that are being insulted. This poster would be well adviced to consult with an experienced expert in advertising and marketing to promote his products because this effort based on insulting high quality components and the financial stability of competitors is an obvious attempt to distract from what the real truth is and most oddly Bob Carver in particular has owned and sold one company after another after another after another which of course he doesn't want us to think about where as Marantz has been around since the very early dawn of the high fidelity movement!
clearthink
1,421 posts
 
"Carver was in middle of Emotiva so no luck getting power tube replacements under warranty "
Yes the Emotiva partnership was another of Bob Carver's ventures and how long did that one last less than a few months? Don't worry though we've be told that Carver stuff is now warranteed for 10 years and even then it never breaks down because of the outstanding engineering and quality control he has. I'm sure fmalitz who said he is done with me will respond again soon to deny deny deny all of this once more.
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