AudioAficionado.org - Kalvin Dahl

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- Audio Research (https://www.audioaficionado.org/forumdisplay.php?f=91)

- - Kalvin Dahl (https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=38183)

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lost Bears (Post 823829)

Kalvin quit on a Friday, He was unhappy with the new system and all the extra work it entailed. That Monday I called the service department to order a part. The person answering the phone was less than competent. I don't think he could tie his shoes on his own. He told me I had to send an email for parts. For the next week the service did not answer the phone or emails. Then I finally got a reply to my email a week and a half later. I have to order parts through my dealer. That was what the email said. I never had to do this before. I have been ordering parts and dealing with Audio Research for the last 30 years.

Long gone are the days when Leonard was head of the service department and the service was truly excellent. Don't get me wrong, Kalvin was very good. But it has been a slow and steady decline. Try ordering a part for an older piece. They most likely won't have it.

Audio Research use to be like a family. If you owned a piece you were a member of the family. It did not matter if you bought it new or used. They did everything they could to keep every piece working and sounding as good as when it was new.

Almost the same thing happened over at Martin Logan when Jim Power exited, combined with the big corporate take over the little 'personal' things go buy the wayside unfortunately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lost Bears (Post 823939)

I buy my tubes from Jim McShane. Great guy to deal with. He burns them in a bit before matching like ARC does. I just replaced the KT 120s in m Ref 110. The matching was dead on. Very little drift. I have not had to adjust the bias since my first check.

'Ditto', Jim is top notch IMO......

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lost Bears (Post 823939)

Jim McShane doesn't have KT150s.

For me if not ARC, I'll buy from Upscale for 50% less expensive. I need 16 of them. :tears:

Quote:

Originally Posted by kngale1 (Post 823971)

Jim McShane doesn't have KT150s.

For me if not ARC, I'll buy from Upscale for 50% less expensive. I need 16 of them. :tears:

Nothing wrong with that. Upscale does a fine job, I ordered KT-150's from them in the past with no issues. At the time, ARC told me to do that. :thumbsup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpgr4blu (Post 823804)

Hi Tima:
Do you know the reason why Kal is no longer there?

Hi jpgr4blu - I don't have specifics to relay about Kalvin's departure. No fault is asking of course, however those sorts of personnel issues and decisions aren't, imo, really suited for public bulletin boards.

Passing through several acquisitions, it's not surprising the company is faced with adjusting to multiple changes that result from that. Standardization of processes and procedures across the various entities under WOM would not be surprising. I have no inside knowledge there, but attempts at economies of scale, etc. are not unusual.

Kalvin (and Leonard before him) had years of accumulated experience under their belts along with deep product knowledge. Its probably unusual for a small company to have a drop-in replacement and implementing a new process for customer service and parts sales takes time for everyone to adjust and refine. Operating through e-mail request and response means there's a record of customer-company interaction independent of whomever is answering the phone; it may not be perfect but in a way it's reassuring. If there is a procedural transition underway, I have no problem cutting them some slack and being a bit patient.

ARC's dealer network is v important to them, so its no surprising they'd look for local dealers to be the front line for sales and dealers may have been looking for more of that as well. The more resources the company can devote to designing, manufacturing and repairing hi-end products while keeping in-house sales efficient, the better the opportunities they may have for going forward into the future. I'm not meaning to be an apologist, just suggesting that a prosperous Audio Research is really in the interest of all of us who appreciate their products.

Thanks Tima:
I appreciate your answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tima (Post 824024)

Hi jpgr4blu - ... it's not surprising the company is faced with adjusting to multiple changes ... Operating through e-mail request and response means there's a record of customer-company interaction independent of whomever is answering the phone; it may not be perfect but in a way it's reassuring. If there is a procedural transition underway, I have no problem cutting them some slack and being a bit patient.

ARC's dealer network is v important to them, so its no surprising they'd look for local dealers to be the front line for sales and dealers may have been looking for more of that as well. The more resources the company can devote to designing, manufacturing and repairing hi-end products while keeping in-house sales efficient, the better the opportunities they may have for going forward into the future ...

This is very well stated, imo. I think there's every reason to expect continued excellent customer service from ARC. One reason that I'm so optimistic is the caliber of the company's most recent new models - they seem to build upon the company's heritage of manufacturing top quality products. It looks like ARC's new corporate owners understand and respect what the company stands for ... a few hiccups during the transition are to be expected.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kngale1 (Post 823971)

Jim McShane doesn't have KT150s.

For me if not ARC, I'll buy from Upscale for 50% less expensive. I need 16 of them. :tears:

Hi ,

Ive ordered KT150's from Jim McShane last year for a friend who was retubing his REF 750. It was'nt readilly available from Jim and we paid in advance. After one month he sent us the set for the REF 750 monoblcks and my friend has been using it for 6 months and no problem what so ever. My friend usually buy his tubes from the local dealer of ARC . But because he wanted to use the new KT150's instead of the original KT120's , ARC during that time cannot supply him w/ the 32 KT 150's ( 4 matched octets ) his amplifiers need . I got in touch w/ Jim & he was able to deliver.

Tdh888

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdh888 (Post 824503)

Jim McShane didn't stock KT150s When I contacted him due to lack of demand.

When shopping for power tubes (NOT NOS), I look for dealers with higher quality and larger supply of tubes for a better match. Upscale states they pay extra for tubes with higher micromhos. I always buy from ARC and considering giving Upscale a spin.

I've used Upscale audio in the past for signal tube 6922 types for my ARC Ref 2 MK1 preamp and Kevin Deal was the real deal who had suggestions as to what sounded best. However, I have always sourced other tubes for my previous ARC gear directly from ARC.

That being said, I will miss the personal touch that both Kalvin and his predessor, Leonard gave back in the day.

Here is some data. Two years ago I ordered a pair of tubes
and it took 3 days from order to receipt.
Now I ordered the same tubes and it will be about two weeks from order to getting tubes.