Why are People Dumping their Audio Research Gear and What Does it Say about them?

While I have asoft spot for ARC having owned some of their monoblocks, preamps, and a balanced line driver, the fact is these components when they go wrong can be very expensive to fix, and outside of the factory itself, its not easy to find qualified techs to fix these components. Imagineif the factory no longer is there to support the product….

While some (many? most?) ARC owners never have a problem with any of their products, their designs are well known to have a couple of design weaknesses, at least in terms of product reliability:

1- ARC doesn’t fuse the output tubes in their power amps (they maintain fuses degrade sound quality), instead using sacrificial resistors and related electronic components to protect the rest of the amplifier when a tube implodes. When that happens, the owner has to not only replace the tube, but repair the amp. That cost can add up. They also install those tubes into tube sockets mounted on circuit boards rather than the amp’s metal chassis. Brooks Berdan always had a lot of traded-in ARC power amps in his used racks, all with scorched circuit boards. Those trade-ins were replaced with products from the amplifier companies Brooks chose to sell: VTL, Jadis, and Music Reference. Brooks himself also owned an Atma-Sphere amp or two.

2- ARC uses electronic parts under-rated for the voltages they see. When I turned on my new SP-3, the incoming voltage rush immediately blew the first resistor in the circuit. Roger Modjeski repaired a lot of ARC pieces when he started in the electronic repair field while still in high school (Bill Johnson owned and operated a repair shop before starting his first company---Electronic Industries, which he first sold then bought back from Peploe), so when he started designing and building his Music Reference electronics he intentionally used parts rated at ten times the voltages the parts would ever see. Because of that practice---as well as the inherent stability of Roger’s circuits---MR products are renown for their unusually high reliability. Do they sound as good as those of ARC? That’s up to you to decide.

The Music Reference RM-200 power amp has been Michael Fremer’s reference "budget" priced (of course Mike’s definition of "budget" differs from many of ours ;-) tube amp for a quarter century. In that time frame, how many ARC New! Improved! designs have ARC aficionados seen come and go? In that quarter century the RM-200 underwent only one design change---to Mk.2 status. No constant product introduction/SE revision/model replacement merry-go-round for Music Reference. Just buy them (I just last night snapped up an RM-5 Mk.IV pre-amp. Okay, IT was revised a number of times ;-), install them in your system, sit back and listen to the music, and be happy.

Ralph Karsten at Atma-Sphere, rather than constantly replacing models with new ones every coupla years, keeps his designs available for a looonnng time, offering updates---instead of new models---every few years. His MP-1 and MP-3 pre-amps have been in production for over 30 years! In those 30 years, how many ARC pre-amps have been introduced, improved, then discontinued and replaced? Karsten incrementally improves each model---offering updates at moderate cost, resulting in greater long-term value for the owners of his gear. That’s the approach I prefer. And you?

There’s Too many European Mfger’s that make Amplifiers that are much more musical in the same ARC price range....and of course they’re going to tell you that they are going to " stay in business". :<)    If they told you they were going OUT.....you'd see alot more dumping.. Believe it when it’s a fact !  I wish them luck. No one wants to see an established Mfger in 2 channel hi-fi go bankrupt. It's not good for entire industry.

@mbmi: One of them being UK-based EAR-Yoshino, electronics featuring the design genius of the late Tim de Paravicini (Pink Floyd Studios, Water Lily Records, The Mastering Lab---where Doug Sax did his work, Mobile Fidelity).

@bdp24.....absolutely.+..Aavik, Norma, Audio Hungary...Lots of great German and let's not forget the beautiful gear from Italy.....and many others. There's an awful big selection out there in the marketplace..

Audio research build quality is crap vs what it used to be ,the Ref stuff is very good 

this is why they went bankrupt ,they are now owned by anew influx of owners and $$ they were living off their reputation way to long , McIntosh another abuser 

inside parts quality leaves a lot to be desired ,great examples of what moderation can do to make them much better .

passlabs,  Luxman and many others put much better parts quality in which gives you much more for your monies .having owned a Audiostore , and in Audio over 40 years .I look at the build quality now before buying anything ,I think others too hav3 the right to know .This too applies to Loudspeakers inside Rarely do you see the critical Xover parts quality ,Why because the vast majority use average parts at best ,many times capacitirs from China ,and ceramic resistors which IMO are crap 

ho to humble homemade Hifi just to see capacitor  ratings , 

I love my ARC REF6, and wouldn't sell it even if ARC closed their doors.  I'd hold onto it until it died.  Of course, sometimes I wish that I had gotten a solid state pre, just so I didn't have to be concerned about tube reliability, but it would have to sound better than my REF6, and I am not sure what that pre would be or how much it would be.  But ARC is too good a company with excellent reputation and brand recognition to let fade away.  The article on TrackingAngle.com is very positive news.

Conrad Johnson went through the same thing several years back. I suspect the same will happen with Audio Research.  The company will be bought out and people will still be able to get them. There are electronics Engineers, technicians capable are all over the United States that can repair them.  I would not run away so fast. You might be able to get a real deal on a fine gear made to last a lifetime. 

How do you know that people are dumping their gear?

After turning on the REF6SE I have to decide whether to fire up the pair of VT-150 SEs (1995, GE6550s, Telefunken E88CCs) or the pair of REF160M MKIIs (2023 KT150s, 6H30s). Both designs have spectacular sound quality. Both very well built. 

For me it started with the SP3a and a D76 (1975).

Reliable sources state that on Monday, the new owner(s) will be announced. Meanwhile, business as usual.

@pcrhkr 

It’s already done. Audio Research has been purchased and the new owner will be formally disclosed tomorrow.

ARC has been saved. The new owner’s name is revealed tomorrow. 
 

https://trackingangle.com/features/audio-research-corporation-saved-restructured-company-remains-in-maple-grove-mn-at-least-for-now