M
Thanks for the heads-up Dan. I enjoyed reading Roy's Ref 150 SE review. Curiously, I just checked TAB web site. Didn't see Roy's review.
I've been an ARC fan and owner for many years. I happen to own the ARC 150, and now SE version. When ARC finally got around to blessing the use of KT-150 tubes for the Ref 150, I dropped em' in and was really impressed. After reading a number of comments on Audiogon about the SE upgrade, I sprang for it this year. Another quantum improvement.
The Ref 150 SE is a very special piece of kit and I encourage anyone who is in the market for a tube amp to road test it.
Btw, Roy commented that he could hear the internal cooling fans. Not so on my unit. Maybe I'm deaf from listening to the music too loudly.
Roy also wrote that "the 150 SE's chassis cover is also largely unsupported, meaning that it can vibrate. I found that adding a long HRS damping plate to the spine of the 150 SE’s case delivered a worthwhile improvement in terms of the resolution, microdynamics, separation, dimensionality and the blackness of the background. The soundstage went deeper, was much more clearly defined, and the sound was more intimate, more immediate and more communicative."
IMO, that's a bit of hype. In fact, I don't even screw my cover down because it's too much of a PITA to unscrew it when I want to check tube bias. So just on a whim, I took the cover off to see if I can detect what Roy is talking about. Still undecided.
Anyway, thanks for the link.
Cheers,
Bruce
I've been an ARC fan and owner for many years. I happen to own the ARC 150, and now SE version. When ARC finally got around to blessing the use of KT-150 tubes for the Ref 150, I dropped em' in and was really impressed. After reading a number of comments on Audiogon about the SE upgrade, I sprang for it this year. Another quantum improvement.
The Ref 150 SE is a very special piece of kit and I encourage anyone who is in the market for a tube amp to road test it.
Btw, Roy commented that he could hear the internal cooling fans. Not so on my unit. Maybe I'm deaf from listening to the music too loudly.
Roy also wrote that "the 150 SE's chassis cover is also largely unsupported, meaning that it can vibrate. I found that adding a long HRS damping plate to the spine of the 150 SE’s case delivered a worthwhile improvement in terms of the resolution, microdynamics, separation, dimensionality and the blackness of the background. The soundstage went deeper, was much more clearly defined, and the sound was more intimate, more immediate and more communicative."
IMO, that's a bit of hype. In fact, I don't even screw my cover down because it's too much of a PITA to unscrew it when I want to check tube bias. So just on a whim, I took the cover off to see if I can detect what Roy is talking about. Still undecided.
Anyway, thanks for the link.
Cheers,
Bruce