My Arcam AVR280 has died, only 3yrs old

eightlegs

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Well 3 years and 3 months to be precise but not good! Guarantee is 2 years.

Looks like the DSP board has died as the only way I can get sound is via analogue source using pure direct mode. Not much use when everything apart from the CD was a digital source. Searching around it appears that there have been a fair few AVR2**'s and AVR3**'s with the same DSP board fault usually ending up as a c£250 repair from Arcam.

Now, I didn't purchase this from new but still I think its a tad poor that such well regarded equipment has this kind of life expectancy of one or more components. When it worked I couldn't fault it - amazing sound.

Or am I looking at it wrong and high end Hi-Fi gear is more akin to aggressively tuning high performance engines to within an inch of their life or overclocking PC's to their upper limits? If the components are stressed to the limits of their capabilities then they will fail early. But then for a consumer product shouldn't this have been thought about already?

I haven't contacted Arcam yet but I will just to see what they say. Im sure I remember something about electrical goods being 'fit for purpose' and things should be expected to last for a reasonable amount of time but I don't know where I stand on this.

What do you think?


Iain.
 
Thanks Larkone there's some intersting reading there. Will investigate further then see what Arcam say.
 
My Chinese-made AVR100 lasted 2 years before the front left and right channels and pre-outs gave in. I used it as a 3 channel amp for another year before it wouldn't display anything when switched on.

My Cambridge-made A85 is coming up to 10 years old and has been fault free has as my CD72T whch is 10 years old in April although it hasn't had much use since I built my HTPC in 2007. Small sample size don't jump to any conclusions, ymmv etc.
 
Quoted from EU 2 year guarantee. Sale of Goods Act gives us 6 years to claim for faulty appliances

There is no 6 year guarantee
We don't have the right to free repairs up to the 5 or 6 years in the sense that any faults up to 6 years should be repaired free of charge but I do think many faults that render an appliance uneconomical to repair within the 6 years should be potentially covered (depending on full circumstances). It's not necessarily automatically unreasonable if a fault develops on a washing machine or other white good within the first 5 or 6 years. Appliances can and do break down and this is accepted in the Sale of Goods Act. However, whilst it might be considered reasonable for a fault to develop on a £200 washing machine after 2 years washing for a family of 4 every day it might not be considered reasonable for a washing machine costing £600 to suffer the same.
Major faults occurring within the first 5 or 6 years (which these days commonly render an appliance beyond economical repair) are a different matter though, and I believe many cases may well be covered. If an appliance breaks down and is unrepairable because of the huge cost quoted to repair it within the 5 or 6 years (especially after only 2 or 3) then I believe there is a strong case that the product has definitely not lasted a reasonable time. You have to take into account how much it cost though, and how much use it's had. Maybe if a washing machine only cost £200 and did 5 years of heavy washing it could be considered a reasonable lifespan, but one costing £350 and only washing for one person, or a couple, should surely have lasted longer? It's very much open to interpretation but don't forget the Sale of Goods Act specifically qualifies the phrase that a product should last a reasonable time by saying “reasonable” is “that (which) a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory”.
 
Thanks I'll remember that when my washing machine breaks down.

Luckily for me I didn't need to go down that route and I can't praise Arcam highly enough for their superb customer service :)
 
Luckily for me I didn't need to go down that route and I can't praise Arcam highly enough for their superb customer service

Which was? Good news should be broadcast.:clap:
 
Thanks I'll remember that when my washing machine breaks down.

Luckily for me I didn't need to go down that route and I can't praise Arcam highly enough for their superb customer service :)


Which is exactly my experience with Arcam customer service - faultless.
 
lpm said:
Which was? Good news should be broadcast.:clap:

Well lets put it this way - they proposed a resolution I couldn't refuse ;)
 
neo_2009 said:
Care to elaborate ? :)

I would but I don't think it is appropriate or constructive to air in public my private dealings with Arcam. I'm sure if anyone else is in a similar situation then contacting Arcam directly themselves will hopefully sort out their problem.
 
Ok, you are right.

I was asking because i've bought an arcam avr350 last year from bartletshifi, and i'm afraid it would die after the 2 years warranty.

I love it so much that i want to keep it at least for the next 5 years ...

Good to know your problem is solved :)
 
Thanks for understanding. Don't worry about what might happen though. Enjoy your AVR and deal with any problems IF they arise :thumbs
 
Ok, you are right.

I was asking because i've bought an arcam avr350 last year from bartletshifi, and i'm afraid it would die after the 2 years warranty.

I love it so much that i want to keep it at least for the next 5 years ...

Good to know your problem is solved :)

I agree with eightlegs. Enjoy your AVR350 - and don't worry about what might happen.

I also have an AVR350, which is now just over 5 years old. Apart from a very small problem with the volume control knob, which Arcam offered a solution to last year, it works a treat. Yes; it does pass my mind every so often how long the AVR350 and DV137 might last before going wrong - particularly as they hardly get any time off! There really is hardly a day that goes by without me using them.

Apart from the above, I was under the impression that Arcam extended warranties on all non-FMJ (i.e. Diva) products a couple/few years ago from 2 years to 5 years. That wouldn't have included my machines, which were bought brand new in December 2006 and January 2007 respectively.

My very first DVD player, a Sony machine which cost me £250 in 2000 packed up after 5 years. Who knows what'll happen?

I also didn't feel like broadcasting my experiences with Arcam customer support too much, apart from praising them. Sure, it would appear that some people on these forums are unlucky with their products (of whatever brand), but some people also appear to lack tact, the ability to communicate their problems in a concise and contructive manner, and follow the logical steps to reach a conclusion to a problem.
 
Apart from the above, I was under the impression that Arcam extended warranties on all non-FMJ (i.e. Diva) products a couple/few years ago from 2 years to 5 years.

I contacted bartletshifi last week, to clarify the Arcam extended warranties, but it only applies to the FMJ range.

Unfortunatly, the extended warranty doesn't apply to the DIVA range :(
 
Check Condor Audio | , download and read the Arcam AVR350 PDF - there is a solution, and the DSP board is not to blame.

You are Condor audio? Would it be possible to include the ripple figures you measured in the 280/300/350 project pdf rather than just say too high? If the resistors were supplying over voltage wouldn't Arcam have fixed that early and not let it continue across models, what was their response to your findings?

In the cd92 article you state that they replaced a laser with an inferior version and didn't change the whole unit (old gears) did you get a response on that from them?
 
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yachadm said:
Check Condor Audio | , download and read the Arcam AVR350 PDF - there is a solution, and the DSP board is not to blame.

Many thanks for that. I had actually found your site whilst researching this problem and I must say I found it very useful and informative. I believe Arcam do now address these voltage issues during the DSP repair as my unit is being completely overhauled and brought up to latest spec as well as a new DSP board. Again many thanks for your help.
 
I've sent support@Arcam a mail to get their opinion on what Condor raised and a quote for repair a few days ago. No reply as yet.
 
Ah, there you are Crusty! Haven't seen you here for ages.

Yes, I'm still here. I don't have much involvement with Arcam as a brand any more which is why I don't pop up in here very often.

However I'm still active on these forums and still in the industry.

Cheers,

Chris.
 
It seems Arcam don't respond on their support@arcam email so I will write to them. From the research I have done it seems that several people have had the boards changed more than once which suggests what Condor is saying could be true and there was an inherent fault across different models. If that is the case it makes me question the quality of the fault diagnosis and the testing of the units. If the inherent fault was picked up by Arcam then surely they should have re-called the units, people paying £250 to have dsp boards replaced out of warranty could be questionable as well - I certainly would not have been happy.

There also seems to be wide spread problems with the psu and the fan temperature control which causes further problems on some versions of some models due to over heating - all in all a bit of a nightmare. There are several threads like the one below across various sites.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/arcam-products/518836-arcam-avr300-problem.html
 
Hey guys,
With all due respect to your dissatisfaction about having to pay for repairs, you need to understand some basic facts. All electronic equipment, no matter how good it is, WILL degrade over time. Hotter units accelerate the aging process.

Menahem Yachad

I don't think it is unreasonable for people to be annoyed at paying out for an inherent fault (if it is) which occurred just after the warranty (at that time 2 years) had expired. I expect any expensive piece of equipment I buy to last at least 5 years and be trouble free - that's not too much to ask is it?

It's good that Arcam now have a 5 year warranty but I prefer to listen to my system not send it back to be fixed. If lots of dsp boards were failing would it not have occurred to them that something it depended on wasn't right?
My view is they either knew there was a problem but didn't want to go to the expense of a recall or they didn't properly test their equipment.

I said earlier I've had an a85 and cd72t for nearly 10 years but the avr100 was hardly used and has failed with 2 different major faults, it is only the fact that you posted the avr350 fix that I've looked into my issues further as I replaced it and put it down to being made in China and poor quality control.
I decided I wouldn't buy an Arcam receiver again and researching the faults has only confirmed that decision.
 
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