Have ARCAM lost their way?

[bristollinnet]

Over the years I've bought a lot of Arcam products, and they have always been good value for money and genuine audiophile products, and available. Howver, I'm concerned that they are now falling into the trap of over-promising and under-delivering. The Arcam A19 (some two years old now) continues to get a good press, and probably justifiably so. But where is the rest of their much promised revamped FMJ range? Despite being 'announced' ages ago, there is still no sign of their disc players the UDP411 or the CDS27. No reviews (very telling) - no apparent stock - nowt. The A39 is just as elusive. My local dealers seem just as frustrated with Arcam pushing back delivery dates not just once or twice, but to a point where they (and I) have little confidence this stuff is actually coming. Talk about a slow boat from China. Maybe some more announcements at CES in a few weeks - perhaps something at the Bristol Show - perhaps...

My point is this - the next time Arcam (or anyone else for that matter) announces product to the specialist press - don't believe a word until you can actually listen to and buy the stuff.

 

[chebby]

Talk about a slow boat from China.

... and from the USA nowadays. Arcam is now Canadian owned and manufactured in the USA and China.

 

[OliG]

I agree that there is a distinct lack of information coming out from Arcam about their new products. The UDP411 and A49 are examples of this. Although there has been some press coverage of the latter at trade events and so on, I really haven't heard anything about the former even though it is out and available to buy. My local dealer had to phone Arcam to find out its price.

That being said, I purchased a P777 and AV950 this year and absolutely love them. The AV950 has been out for a while but, again, I've not seen a review for it anywhere.

I have confidence in Arcam as a designer of very good products, but I think their PR and marketing could be vastly improved.

 

[brierlsj]

Placed my order with my local Arcam dealer here in the UK back in November and kept getting the date pushed back, did not blame the dealer he was just the fall guy with more delays to report. In mid December my email to Arcam customer service revealed they had just received some stock (30) but my dealer was not one of the chosen few. You can imagine my frustration when I found this out, my brother-in-law tracked one down in Kent at Sevenoaks in Sevenoaks and with reluctance I cancelled my order with the local dealer (not happy) and secured the one at Sevenoaks which my brother-in-law picked up and we met just before Christmas for the hand over.

I looked great and sounded fine when I quickly played a SACD but having noticed that on the Arcam web site there was a software upgrade, decided to do this before I explored all the options and put it through it's paces. After downloading the software onto a USB stick and read with care the release notes I then followed the instructions and began the upgrade. All went well as I followed the prompts after which it applied the upgrade which was displayed as % completed. At 100% I was asked to remove the memory stick and then it the applied the upgrade to the CPU and asked me to wait and wait and wait and wait!!!

After 2 hours of waiting I rang Arcam technical support where I was told they had removed the upgrade from their web site following problems reported by users (indeed they had). The chap on the phone told me they had found a problem with a very small percentage and decided to withdraw the upgrade and perhaps I might have a 'problem'. Given they had only shipped thirty and I was not the first with a problem and the software upgrade had been withdrawn it did not feel like a small percentage given most of the 30 units were still with dealers.

I was told to switch the CDS27 off, wait 10 seconds then back on .... to my dismay although the green powerlight was on the central display was dead and no matter what you did the unit was dead. Arcam tech support told me they needed it back and would reload the new operating system and get it back to me quickly. I waved my new purchase off when the DHL driver collected it on the Tuesday before Christmas.

The moral of the story is being first to buy new technology puts you at the bleeding edge and in this case painfully so. I should / could have waited till tests had been completed by What Hi-Fi and free good stock was available but on paper this looked just perfect to go with the Arcam A19 and Kef LS50's I had just bought to celebrate my 60th birthday so I pressed ahead.

 

[emperor's new clothes]

Sorry to hear about your nightmare experience. The consumer deserves better than this and ARcam should hang their heads once again following their previous AV amp "glitches". I have been waiting for the CDS27 and A39 for audition, but have just bought the Marantz PM&SA8005 -great deal and £1000 cheaper than the Arcam duo. Will be interesting to compare to the irDAC. Having read about Meridian MQA, am also reluctant to buy a streaming product until the dust settles. Good luck with the CDS27, I have no doubt that it will sound superb when it returns from Arcam.