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Audio Research Reference 5SE reliability

After reading the glowing revieuw on the Stereophile-website by Brian Damkroger on the ARC REF5SE there was a comment that: quote: by Audioware on nov 15, 2012,

"These pres are outstanding. However the problem is their poor reliability. 06 (six) of them were already on my services bench this year to fix problems with the transformer that feeds the dgital, the remote control and the on-off switch, circuits. It is a small xformer below the circuit board that burns out frequently. Another very serious problem is with the 6H30s filament regulators that do not stand for the increased current demanded by the new 6H30s intead of the old 6922s. ARC has to pay more attention to these problems!"

I already checked my dealer, who was really surprised and did not recognise these problems.

Comments will be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
sequence56
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Anwar, what is the input impedance of your McIntosh MC452 amp? Is it over 20K ohms?
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Anwar, I checked the MAC web site. Input impedance is 22,000 ohms Balanced and unbalanced. That just 2K ohms over the minimum ARC recommends. If you load any other devices (e.g., subwoofer) to the Ref 5's output, you may overload the Ref 5.
djcxxx
100 posts
 
I drive my MC601s with the 5SE, no problems. The 601s are 20K and I believe the 452 is as well. I have always been an ARC tube amp customer, but I was so impressed with the 601s I traded in my VT200 for them. Never been a Mac fan or a "hater", but these are really very fine amplifiers.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Djcxxx, your MC601's input impedance of 20K ohms is the maximum load recommended by ARC. If you are running anything else off the other Ref 5 outputs (e.g., a sub woofer), the combined impedance load that the Ref 5 sees will likely drop below 20K ohms. It might be worthwhile to have a call with Kal at ARC to learn if he thinks the 20K ohm load is ok.
anwar
119 posts
 
Bifwynee, my Ref 5SE output goes to Bryston 10B-SUB, then to McIntosh MC452 (driving Focal Utopia 3 Diablo) and JL Audio Fathom f113.

I contacted Ron C of McIntosh through email and he confirmed ARC preamps work well with McIntosh amps. But no success contacting ARC technical support yet due to time zone (I am in Malaysia) as no ARC email contact is available.

After adding the Cooler Master 12V PC chassis fans (1200rpm and they are really quiet) at the left side of Ref 5SE, no more over heating issue.
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