Whither Audio Research

[jasonbourne71]

No tears for ARC shed by me!

 

[facten]

Expensive gear that only the 1% can afford

It will be interesting to see how your general narrative pays out over here; it didn't get favorable play over on Audiogon

 

[mtemur]

Unlike wine or whisky tube gear only declines sonically over time/use.

Do you mean aging of tubes sonically degrade tube components over time? If consumable nature of tubes can put a product in “sonically degrade over time” category then most of other tubeless components are in the same category. For example;
- All turntables need a retipping of cartridge after a while,
- A CD player needs a laser replacement or a whole new transport,
- A speaker needs a bass reflex foam replacement,

If you don’t mean tubes then which parts degrade over time “sonically” on a tube component? How it’s any different than solid state products?

 

[andromedaaudio]

Very unfortunate to hear this news about ARC ( if its true .)
One of the best tube choices around afaik .

 

[Lee]

It will be interesting to see how your general narrative pays out over here; it didn't get favorable play over on Audiogon

Membership quality continues to decline.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Unlike wine or whisky tube gear only declines sonically over time/use.

New member .
New nonsense

 

[oddioguy]

The truth is that anything a tube can do a transistor can do better! Speaking as an owner of lots of vintage tube gear - which goes unused!

You sure about that ? Ever own a modern tube amp or preamp ?

 

[Gregadd]

I/50

You sure about that ? Ever own a modern tube amp or preamp ?

The truth is that anything a tube can do a transistor can do better! Speaking as an owner of lots of vintage tube gear - which goes unused!

Sounds like time for a yard sale.

 

[oddioguy]

I’ve got some SS gear that’s been idle for years. Gave most of it to my brother who has tin ears….

 

[oddioguy]

I can not afford the SS gear I would choose anyway

 

[Fsonicsmith]

New member .
New nonsense

JasonBourne is active on the audio-gear-seller site and he espouses nonsense over there dominated by negative snark towards anything that does not measure well or meet his affordability requirements. It's like the spread of an invasive species.

 

[Scott Naylor]

JasonBourne exists solely to argue and inflame. He does get the distinction of being on my ignore list on more than one forum. That's something, I guess.

 

[PeterA]

Membership quality continues to decline.

Lee, what do you mean by "membership quality continues to decline", and are you referring to Audiogon or to WBF? Decline how?

 

[godofwealth]

Unlike wine or whisky tube gear only declines sonically over time/use.

FWIW, I’ve owned ARC tube gear for over 30 years and they are absolutely bullet proof and reliable. Their build quality is laboratory grade. Just try lifting one of their Reference preamplifiers or CD players. I can’t tell you how many solid state preamplifiers and amplifiers that I’ve owed in that time period that have gone bad on me. And don’t get me started on junk DVD players and universal players. SACD players? Ha, talk about unreliability.

Meanwhile ARC products continue to function day in day out without a hitch and they will continue to be used in many audiophile systems for decades to come, even if the worst happens and the company closes its doors.

They in fact do age like fine wine. They get better over time as their build quality is hard to duplicate today. Not unlike my Quad ESL 57, which is over 50 years old and functions absolutely reliably every day. I still prefer it to almost any other “modern” loudspeaker. Same holds true for ARC products.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Expensive gear that only the 1% can afford.

Everybody can afford a 5 K amp

Stop drinking start working

Unlike wine or whisky tube gear only declines sonically over time/use.

 

[Fishfood]

Lee, what do you mean by "membership quality continues to decline", and are you referring to Audiogon or to WBF? Decline how?

I'm sure he's talking about Agon. My recent experience has been that pretty much every interesting post turns into members yelling at one another and there's very little expertise left over there which is a shame. The ad section has been taken over by retailers who repost so often that checking new items is annoying. Love USAudioMart these days.

 

[Lee]

Lee, what do you mean by "membership quality continues to decline", and are you referring to Audiogon or to WBF? Decline how?

Just referencing JasonBourne.

 

[Lee]

FWIW, I’ve owned ARC tube gear for over 30 years and they are absolutely bullet proof and reliable. Their build quality is laboratory grade. Just try lifting one of their Reference preamplifiers or CD players. I can’t tell you how many solid state preamplifiers and amplifiers that I’ve owed in that time period that have gone bad on me. And don’t get me started on junk DVD players and universal players. SACD players? Ha, talk about unreliability.

Meanwhile ARC products continue to function day in day out without a hitch and they will continue to be used in many audiophile systems for decades to come, even if the worst happens and the company closes its doors.

They in fact do age like fine wine. They get better over time as their build quality is hard to duplicate today. Not unlike my Quad ESL 57, which is over 50 years old and functions absolutely reliably every day. I still prefer it to almost any other “modern” loudspeaker. Same holds true for ARC products.

Good post. I have experienced the same thing with my ARC products going back to 1994.

 

[Bill Hart]

Sad news. The SP-3 showed me the way back in the day- we had a shoot-out with another highly regarded preamp and the ARC piece was an ear-opener. In 1975, I bought an SP3-a-1 and Dual 75a and eventually upgraded to the SP10mkii and had a succession of their amps.
I still have some of the old literature (along with my Dual 75a, which I kept, bought a set of power tubes from ARC many years ago but never got around to refreshing it). Showed them marketing with Magnepan- the big Tympani panels and a full ARC tube system was a pretty impressive system in the mid-'70s.
I know the company went through a lot of changes. Got to meet WZJ a few times- he was a little fearsome- it was hard for dealers to get the line. I remember their attempt to do solid state with "analog modules" (I think that's what they were called).
They went through a period where the sound was dry and a little bleached but by the time of the Ref series, they seemed to have gotten their sound sorted out.
I hope for the sake of their customers and the legacy of the marque that the company will survive but not happy news. I guess a lot of factors go into this- I'm not going to speculate on all the reasons but my experience with the original company-- when Len still ran the parts department-- was great. That was many years ago.

 

[Dave Gordon]

Hello, everyone. This is my first post on What's Best because I want you to know what is happening at Audio Research. Some of you know me since I was hire by Bill Johnson at Audio Research in 1989. I left for a few years and returned to ARC in 1996.
We will be posting a statement on the Fans of Audio Research's FB page, and also the company's FB page as this seems the fastest way to get the facts out.
Nathanu's post is correct. What almost no one seems to realize is that Audio Research has been running since the assignment was filed on April 4th, almost four weeks ago. That was a week and a half before AXPONA, where our VP Sales (Allan Haggar) worked with Quintessence Audio (REF10, REFPH10, 160M MkII). We are staffed, with customer service answering the phone, the service department is repairing products, production is building new products, we are receiving parts, our sales department continues to accept orders, and our shipping department is shipping parts and product orders along with service work.
Trent Suggs was relieved of control of Audio Research. We have been working with individuals who want to purchase the company, and I expect that we will have a new owner within the week. There will be continuity as production, engineering, purchasing, service, and critical personnel will remain working for Audio Research. Warren Gehl, too.
I am writing this quickly as there are a lot of things to attend to immediately. Thanks to Mike for sending me this link to this so I could respond.