Does Audio Research publish serial dates?

No table; ARCDB records serials only as anchors to a revision ("usually around 074220" for the M-60B-2) without years.

How do I date an ARC by revision?

The revision chain is documented per model — the SP-3A-1 is 1975, the D-76A 1975, the SP-8 Rev 7 1985 — and the decoder reads it from the model name.

What year is the SP-3?

The database says 1972–1976 while ARC's own historical letter says introduced in 1971; the archive keeps both readings at medium confidence.

The maker's archive

Audio Research hi-fi.

Audio Research, founded in 1970 in Minneapolis, made the valve preamplifier respectable again with the SP-3 and has documented its models obsessively: the community ARCDB records every model's years, its revision chain and its original list price.

Country: USA
Active since: 1970
Coverage: 1960–2023 · 20 code systems
Dating tier: Codes only
In the archive: 0 series · 20 code systems · 18 models
Years documented: 1960–2023

What dates this maker

No serial-to-year table; the revision is the dating spine (SP-3A-1, D-76A, SP-8 Rev 7 — each revision is a documented period).
Model years and revisions from ARCDB; factory upgrade programmes bracket the 1970s lines.
Component codes on the boards for a floor.

Watch out

A revision letter is a documented production period, not a build certificate: factory upgrades moved units between periods.

Audio Research model revisions (the brand's main dating instrument)1969-2000s, revision by revision · 79 rows · Medium confidence

ARC suffix grammar: A/B/C, MKII, Rev N, SE1969-2010s · 4 rows · Medium confidence

ARC factory upgrade programme (a revision that is not a build date)1978 onwards · 1 rows · High confidence

Audio Research official reference (manuals and schematics with revision dates)1970s-present · 2 rows · High confidence

ARC valve safety - pointer to the wave-1 universal sheetwhole valve period · 0 rows · High confidence

Japanese capacitor date codes - pointer to the universal layerwhole vintage period · 0 rows · Medium confidence

Hunts capacitor date code (WHITSUNDAY)1950s-1969 (Hunts taken over by Erie in the late 1960s, probably 1969) · 25 rows · Medium confidence

British year-letter date codes (TCC, Dubilier, Radiospares, Woden, Welwyn)1950s-1960s · 4 rows · Medium confidence

Mullard 'mustard' capacitor date codelate 1963 onwards (used occasionally in late 1963, more frequently from mid 1964) · 3 rows · Medium confidence

Egen potentiometer date code1960-1964 (year letters documented by the source) · 2 rows · Medium confidence

EIA component source/date codeswhole vintage period · 1 rows · High confidence

Safety warnings that apply to any vintage valve hi-fiwhole vintage period · 4 rows · High confidence

Japanese electrolytic capacitor date codes - the shared YYWW mechanicdocumented samples 1993-2023; no maker states when a format started or ended · 0 rows · Medium confidence

Nippon Chemi-Con date code (year digit + bracketed character)2000s production (the repair page was published November 2005) · 2 rows · Low confidence

Nichicon date code (plant letter + YYWW)1990s-2010s (documented 1993 and 2013 samples, same format) · 4 rows · Medium confidence

ELNA date code (four digits, YYWW)1990s-2000s (documented 2000 and 2003 samples) · 2 rows · Medium confidence

Rubycon date code (plant letter + YYWW)1990s-2000s (documented 2002 and 2008 samples) · 3 rows · Medium confidence

Matsushita / Panasonic lot-code date (xYMD), SMD parts2020s SMD parts (documented example decoded as April 2023) · 1 rows · Low confidence

Nichicon month letters J-Z (official notice, power capacitors and reactors)2004 production numbers; the notice itself is dated 2022-04-01 · 4 rows · High confidence

Class A heat, bias and the dating trap - safety notes for this wavewhole Class A vintage period (1967-present) · 3 rows · High confidence

18 Audio Research models are catalogued with their production years, specs and safety notes.