A friend of mine was swapping tubes in his Audio Research Reference One preamp when he bent and broke one of the leads on an FET that has a heatsink very close to a tube so I contacted Kalvin at Audio Research for a replacement "Green White Brown" FET.
What I received was a Green Green Brown FET in a mailer envelope. They charged $15 for the FET and another $15 to send it in the mailer envelope!
Not to mention the whole parts process took 2 weeks from start to finish and I don't even have the correct "hand painted" part yet.
Needless to say, Audio Research will not be getting any more of our hard earned money for their "hand painted" parts. Or any more components for that matter.
I've heard of and experienced similar situations with other companies and most of them are appreciative of you buying their products and would gladly have dropped the ten cent part in an envelope and sent it our way and not committed highway robbery. I would hate to think what tubes from Audio Research would cost?
What I received was a Green Green Brown FET in a mailer envelope. They charged $15 for the FET and another $15 to send it in the mailer envelope!
Not to mention the whole parts process took 2 weeks from start to finish and I don't even have the correct "hand painted" part yet.
Needless to say, Audio Research will not be getting any more of our hard earned money for their "hand painted" parts. Or any more components for that matter.
I've heard of and experienced similar situations with other companies and most of them are appreciative of you buying their products and would gladly have dropped the ten cent part in an envelope and sent it our way and not committed highway robbery. I would hate to think what tubes from Audio Research would cost?
Standard practice, the little plastic door on the bottom of a Sony Trinitron that hid the tint/ etc. controls was $40 in 1981. About 1" X 5".
Many companies would not be able to service such older models, or sell replacement parts for them.
ARC can service anything that they have ever made, back to the early 70s. Many of the parts
required for servicing that they have in stock are otherwise unavailable. The cost of holding an
inventory of such parts for years is high.
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It seems like a lot but I agree with most here- keeping all those little bits for eventual calls like yours is a large burden to bear. It might be expensive and might be easily replaced with a cheap part, but who knows? They have a quality standard they're adhering to regarding parts selection.
With all due respect for ARC, the paint they use to "code" their components is of such quality that even lacquer thinner will barely break it down. But once it does finally clean away from the semiconductor the reveal is a heavily sanded component that is guaranteed to not expose its identity. The process of disguise must require meticulous sanding and an expert level of artistic painting. A level of personal attention unheard of in other companies products. I've never seen hand sanded and painted components in any Krell or Levinson piece. Slackers.
They want the colors to last long enough so that in 20 years it is still legible and can be replaced with the right part.
Would you rather have ARC refuse to maintain their older equipment? Service is expensive, upwards of $100 per hour
for labor for a decent tech at any electronics company.
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Many years ago I called the local branch of a nationally famous plumbing rotary rooting outfit for a service call. They said US$225 just to show. No fix; no guarantee; just to show. I've often recalled that number just to keep some perspective. Too much for me, but maybe that's what it takes to do biz.
For whatever it's worth,
Chris
For whatever it's worth,
Chris