Any reliability horror stories out there?

Sim Audio MOON I-5, what a lemon.

I had a REAL horror story when my I-5 took a static discharge from me touching the volume control. Volume went from 10 to 50 in less time than it takes to blow up expensive Avalon speakers. What a lemon this amp was. I was given NO help whatsoever from Sim Audio and they have been blacklisted from my audiophile list forever. If at least the thing would have sounded good - it didn't - they sure have the thick faceplates and high prices for what little actual refinement they provide...I finally replaced the thing at my cost, and got rid of it shortly after. Avoid if you can !

Hmm, sounds like "Sin" audio. that sucks

I echo Audiofeil's comments about Audiomeca. I had the DAC from hell and could never conceive of buying another one of their products.

Ken Golden

Thanks Mikej for the flammable Audio Research story. Perhaps if Hollywood makes a sequel to 'Backdraft', or some other fireman drama, this could be worked into the script - could be a great opportunity for product placement for ARC.

I've had less exciting problems with ARC products, but problems just the same - a resistor failed in a CD1 (simple fix); the on/off switch failed on an SP9MkIII(simple fix); and a valve socket played up recurrently on a D125 (more involved fix, took a while to be diagnosed = 8 new ceramic/gold pin sockets, rather than replacing the faulty bakelite one). Further back, a Luxman SS amp, which was expensive at the time, required factory modification to stop recurrent failures - it still works, 23 years on, albeit with a few extra hums and buzzes.

I don't know why this thread went off on the french. My audio Aero Capitole is wonderful.