40th Anniversary Pre Amp and Repair History

An ARC lasting 20 or 30 years? At the risk of.....oh, never mind ;-) .

I've never read of more horror stories than Audio Research amplifiers.  It seems like every tube failure requires a trip to the factory.   It seems unbelievable to me that they have such a following.  I think the question I'd like to ask is how many are repeat customers?  

I get mixed reviews on this topic. Some people tell me that they’ve owned AR for years and never experienced a single problem; others tell me they’ve had numerous issues.  
This thread is not about bashing AR or any other audio company.  More curious to hear from actual 40th Anniversary Pre owners.  This particular unit is built large, more like a small amplifier than a typical preamp.  Wonder if AR is pushing their preamp design to the “max” and as a result making it more prone to failure and breakdowns.

ARC runs their power amp tubes hard, which results in lower distortion/higher sound quality, but at the cost of reduced tube life. They are not alone in that. Whether the same is true of their pre-amps I don't know. Audiogon member folkfreak had a 40th Anniversary until recently (I heard his system in which the pre was installed), I would PM him.

@bdp24 

you got to hear folkfreak’s system?  You are so lucky as he has a killer system. I am so jealous you were able to hear it.