My replacement AVR30 has the same Dirac distortion. I'm sending it back and will ask for a refund. I'm sick and fed up with it all now.
It said 1.34 FW on the front label. Was expecting 1.36 as I know some folks on here had replacements with 1.36. 1.34 is also installed. I wonder if this is not the correct unit from the new batch my dealer promised me.
Ed's last message from yesterday reads,
"Hi...
Regarding your dealer's ability to recreate the setup, at the very least they will have your unit, your settings, and be able to attach some speakers to it. If the fault is within the AVR itself at a hardware level, as I still suspect it is, then the faults will reproduce. I have only heard dirac make that sort of test tone twice -- once on a pre production unit that was broken, once on a beta that had something seriously wrong.
It has not occurred since, nor been reported to us on a main release software.
Your dealer needs to observe the faults and take appropriate action, as your unit is not behaving in a way that we have observed, or can reproduce. Therefore, holding onto something that you yourself say is causing stress and actual physical damage to your health on the hope that software can fix it is perhaps not the wisest thing to do.
If it is hardware, then no software can fix it. If it is software and there is something so unique in your set up that it only affects your unit (we in UK support get 2/3 of the world's cases) then we would happily swap it out to investigate what is actually happening, and why.
But again, it needs to go via your dealer.
Kind regards
Ed".
I am baffled as to why he only now told me that there were two previous instances of Dirac distortion, both due to hardware faults. It would have helped a lot to know this earlier at the time I raised the issue with him.
Ah well, I tried my very best. Will be doing without an AVR for some time I think but am putting a wanted ad for a Yamaha A3070 up now, this is my previous beloved AVR, and it just works. So very gutted that I sold it and lost it. That alone upsets me. That said, I had loved the sound of my Arcam AVR30 - as I always say, it is my dream amp sound wise, and having a 9.1.2 setup was amazing, I had always wanted to have front wides. However, at the same time it has been the worst product I have ever owned and used in my life. I am deeply gutted, but this experience and purchase has not been fair on me at all: I have spent a great deal of money on a product that is broken, and I have spent countless hours, days, weeks, months, bug testing and reporting, not sleeping, feeling anxious, having my ears damaged, and not being able to use my product properly. This was in all the worst time to date in my home cinema hobby. I am deeply gutted, let down and upset, but it is time to cut my losses and move on now.