an open letter to william z.johnson

dear mr.johnson,

this is my 2nd time writing to you, in my 20 years as a supporter of audio research. the first time, i wrote to you back in 1990 to inform you about the serious parallel import issue in singapore and i was flabbergasted that i got a personal reply from you. now 17 years later, i would like to inform you about the decline of quality and consistency in your current product line.

for the record, i have owned legendary ARC products such as the classic 30, classic 60, classic 120, LS1, LS2B, LS25MkII and now LS26. except for the LS26, which i bought two months ago, none, absolutely NONE of them gave me any problems that i could ever remember. they were all so reliable and robust. the proud record is broken when i have your supposedly revolutionary preamp LS26. in two months' time, it broke down once and the computer memory/data constantly corrupts resulting in the need to "reboot". the first problem was caused by the small transformer that controls the remote control that failed to operate due to a bad solder. the 2nd problem is more irritating - why is that it always needs to be "rebooted" in order to get back a "clean" state? my technician, the best in my country, is not too impressed with the fact that there are so many china-made parts in the LS26. it is obvious that, ARC, like many other US brands that are facing competition, has to resort to china in order to cut cost and remain competitive.

such inconsistency is highly alarming to a premier brand like audio research that builds its reputation on high-end sound that is reliable.

i urge you and your team to be wary of such repercussions and possible damage to your reputation in the long-term. while it won't stop me from buying ARC products, it will prompt me to compare with other competitive products that is more reliable on my next upgrade.

if only ARC can improve on its reliability then it would continue to be a force in the high-end.