Favorite ARC Amp: Do we have any preferences?

Jozua

Jozua

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Joined
Jun 19, 2016
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165
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
I have the Ref 150SE and Ref 110.

Much to my surprise I tend to lean to the Ref 110 which I find incredibly musical. It might be "old" compared to the latest offerings but it still gives me endless pleasure.

For the moment the Ref 110 rules.
 
Over the years the only one that has ever grabbed my attention is the new 160M. Not only did it sound pretty good those "meters" were pretty cool.
 
Let me preface by saying I've not heard every ARC amp out there. However, the only one that impressed me was the 160M's. Not that all other ARC auditions/listens were bad, just the 160M made that strong of an impression. Thinking back, I'm not sure I've heard any tube amp with that fast and strong transient on a crescendo. Yet, sound so sweet on piano and violin.
 
I recently heard 160M>>Ref 6>>Meridium 808 all connected to Focal Stella with Clear plus speaker cables and IC; so cool....
 
I have not heard all, but owned the 110. I do not think it is a good amp at all. The 250 SE is fantastic. The G series are nice too. I have no idea of the M
 
bonzo said:
I have not heard all, but owned the 110. I do not think it is a good amp at all. The 250 SE is fantastic. The G series are nice too. I have no idea of the M
Click to expand...

With the wrong speakers the 110 can sound awful. I had the same experience with Krells, a small speaker just throttles the amp capabilities.

One simply needs to take care in how you pair the equipment.
 
bonzo said:
I have not heard all, but owned the 110. I do not think it is a good amp at all. The 250 SE is fantastic. The G series are nice too. I have no idea of the M
Click to expand...

Hey everyone new here - interesting reading and thought I'd like to respond.

For 20 years I ran an Audio Research Classic 60 on my Acoustat 2+2's. I thought it was a great little amp but when I upgraded to a Reference 110 it was a world of difference. So I think with the right speakers the Ref. 110 is a very good power amp. I think the old electrostatics preferred tube amps.

Having said that I'm running Pass Labs on a pair of Klang Ton Nadas I built right now. I'm bi-amped with an Audio Research 300.2 on the low end.

The Audio Research 300.2 is maybe not so good. Good enough for subwoofers but not full range.
 
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