There are no protection circuits or power-limiting circuits in the D-100. If that happens, it is anyone's guess what the consequences may be. Many companies may have many different reasons for active curiosity, whether it is a suspicion that their own patents may have been violated or that here is a new circuit worth stealing, but it is certain that people are going to keep trying to find out what is in ARCs modules until, eventually, someone may succeed. There was a strong consensus on one point, though: Whatever the reason for the secrecy, be it patent theft or protection of an original invention, the 'cracking' of ARCs modules offers the kind of challenge dear to the heart of American technology. Others, noting that some of the claimed performance figures were superior to what anyone had previously attained, suspected that the modules might indeed contain unique new active devices as rumored. Some asserted that the secrecy was intended only to conceal the fact that ARC had not in fact come up with anything new and remarkable, and was possibly even concealing the fact that they had swiped some other manufacturers' patented circuitry. Reactions of other manufacturers to this unprecedented (in audio) secrecy varied from a disinterested pooh-pooh to intense curiosity. In fact, we were informed that considerable time and expense went into the development of an encapsulation system that would defy identification of the contents as effectively as anything short of a booby-trap that would remove the hands of anyone who tried to pry into its inner workings. But there were also several little black boxesencapsulated modeules whose outer appearance gave no hint as to their contents except to make it clear that no conventional vacuum tubes were contained therein.ĪRC will shed no light on the contents thereof. The rest left no doubt about the nature of this beast: It is unabashedly solid-state, with what appear to be a couple of dozen (at least) output transistors in an efficient-looking heatsinking arrangement, and several smaller devices that are unmistakably bipolar transistors of conventional appearance. Most of its internal volume was occupied by four very fat filter capacitors and a massive power transformer. Of course, the first thing we did when we decartoned our first D-100 was to remove the top panel and take a gander at the innards. We are happy to say that we had the option to biamplify. We received two D-100s for testing, for a double-barreled reason: because new products tend, more often than not, to fail the moment Stereophile tries to test them and, barring such a likelihood, so that we could biamplify with them.

Reactions to the D-100 have varied from ecstatic to strongly negative, with the ecstatics outnumbering the detractors by a small but definite margin, And curiosity about the new ARC equipment continues at an even higher level than before it reached dealers' showrooms, spurred by the company's Pentagon-style secrecy about their new circuitry.

Now that the first of the 'new breed' of ARC products has been out for a few weeksThis is being written in mid-October 1976it is making even bigger waves than the initial, highly provocative scuttlebutt. Preceded by rumors of 'a new kind of amplifying devicea cross between a tube and a transistor'the announcement of ARC's new power amp and SP-4 preamplifier elicited very mixed reactions from loyal ARC customers, some of whom gleefully anticipated a virtual revolution in audio electronics, others of whom felt betrayed by the company which, having originally convinced them that 'Tubes Are Better,' suddenly seemed to be doing an about-face and espousing the views of the Enemythe 'Soiled-State'forces. We cannot recall when any new products have generated as much of a stir among perfectionists as the new solid-state equipment from Audio Research.

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