Some sad anecdotes in this thread. Examples like these contribute to the “looks” audiophiles get from “normal” people – even those with equally passionate/extreme/expensive pursuits like wine, musical instrument, and vintage car collecting.
It’s very likely that the repair for the original poster’s amp requires $20.00 in parts (I’m being generous and assuming boutique parts) – the sort of repair such as a blown screen resistor that a competent guitar amp tech would bill an hours’ labor for. Let’s be generous and add another hour for ARC’s biasing procedure.
There are those in this thread who equivocate the maintenance costs with that of owning an exotic sports car. I consider this argument to be flawed. Periodic maintenance of a Ferrari is expensive. Maintaining an ARC amplifier is expensive. Therefore, all high performing amplifiers are complicated and expensive to maintain. Members of the club are suffering from confirmation bias.
I absolutely encourage audiophiles to understand their system architecture and how to maintain their gear. At issue here however, is that the industry (manufacturers/reviewers) treat these failure episodes as a rite of passage for audiophiles, as opposed to a component failure and potentially a design flaw. It's not an issue of an unsophisticated user. Parts fail, and on occasion, a shorting tube can take out a component. I get that. I also get that in most cases, the repair is simple and straight-forward.
I am in no way singling out Audio Research or saying that you will not enjoy their electronics. I am however encouraging you to decouple the concept of “difficult care and feeding” from audio quality and musical enjoyment. You have options and can vote with your checkbook.
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design
It’s very likely that the repair for the original poster’s amp requires $20.00 in parts (I’m being generous and assuming boutique parts) – the sort of repair such as a blown screen resistor that a competent guitar amp tech would bill an hours’ labor for. Let’s be generous and add another hour for ARC’s biasing procedure.
There are those in this thread who equivocate the maintenance costs with that of owning an exotic sports car. I consider this argument to be flawed. Periodic maintenance of a Ferrari is expensive. Maintaining an ARC amplifier is expensive. Therefore, all high performing amplifiers are complicated and expensive to maintain. Members of the club are suffering from confirmation bias.
I absolutely encourage audiophiles to understand their system architecture and how to maintain their gear. At issue here however, is that the industry (manufacturers/reviewers) treat these failure episodes as a rite of passage for audiophiles, as opposed to a component failure and potentially a design flaw. It's not an issue of an unsophisticated user. Parts fail, and on occasion, a shorting tube can take out a component. I get that. I also get that in most cases, the repair is simple and straight-forward.
I am in no way singling out Audio Research or saying that you will not enjoy their electronics. I am however encouraging you to decouple the concept of “difficult care and feeding” from audio quality and musical enjoyment. You have options and can vote with your checkbook.
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design
