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Audio Research Corp.


seti

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Happy Sunday, Seti..

I have been using an Audio Research VT-100 for several years and I am certainly more that satisfied. It replaced a Cunterpoint SA-220 hybrid power amp in my system, and I found it to be an amazing upgrade. Although it has some 100 watts-per-channel, it's probably usually loafing at or around the below-one-watt level most of the time, and it does so beautifully. The amp is unbelievably quiet, probably helped a bit by having a dedicated power circuit... fully enclosed in steel conduit. I am running it in a balanced configuration to my preamp... Kimber KCAG interconnects. I love this thing!

Rob

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Never owned one of their amps but have had several of their tube preamps. A couple of SP9's and a SP14.
Build quality is great, I agree. Really dig those small toggle switches. To me the sound was very articulate, maybe too bright and shy of bass.
The JM BBX sounded much better to me. If Mark could place his layout/design into an AR cabinet, or better yet, a C22 array, holy smokes that would be the nuts!
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Good
Build Quality .. Components +++
Sound .. Articulate, Detailed, Resolving
Appearance .. Professional packaging, Rack Mount 19"
Factory Support Upgrades Availible

Bad

Build Quality .. complicated. expensive to fix, maybe a trip to the factory
Sound somewhat lean bass as a trademark, somewhat cold for a tube amp



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Good

Build Quality .. Components +++

Sound .. Articulate, Detailed, Resolving

Appearance .. Professional packaging, Rack Mount 19"

Factory Support Upgrades Availible

Bad

Build Quality .. complicated. expensive to fix, maybe a trip to the factory

Sound somewhat lean bass as a trademark, somewhat cold for a tube amp

Oooooooo, I agree 100% with DS' list of the "good"... and maybe even the big bux to fix in the "bad" category, but "somewhat lean bass?" Not in my house! "Somewhat cold?" Not here! The combination of Sonic Frontiers source stuff, the VT-100, and the Klipschorns is simply superb. But then, all of this "how does it sound" stuff is the very essence of subjectivity!

Anyway, I've got to do some work on the weak link of my system: the room. [*-)]

Cheerz,

Rob

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Good

               Build Quality ..   Components +++

               Sound          ..    Articulate, Detailed, Resolving

               Appearance  ..    Professional packaging, Rack Mount 19"

               Factory Support  Upgrades Availible

 

 

Bad

Build Quality  .. complicated. expensive to fix, maybe a trip to the factory        

Sound              somewhat lean bass as a trademark, somewhat cold for a tube amp

Oooooooo, I agree 100% with DS' list of the "good"... and maybe even the big bux to fix in the "bad" category, but "somewhat lean bass?"  Not in my house!  "Somewhat cold?"  Not here!  The combination of Sonic Frontiers source stuff, the VT-100, and the Klipschorns is simply superb.   But then, all of this "how does it sound" stuff is the very essence of subjectivity!

Anyway, I've got to do some work on the weak link of my system:  the room. [*-)]

Cheerz,

Rob


 Room is a big tweak. I put a 10 ft long by 12 feet wide thick curtain up in my room and it totally calmed it down. The room was so live before the curtain now it is just live enough.


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Room is a big tweak. I put a 10 ft long by 12 feet wide thick curtain up in my room and it totally calmed it down. The room was so live before the curtain now it is just live enough.



Seti... My little room isn't totally 'horrible' but it is little (only 12' X 21' with a 8' ceiling, some of you guys have closets bigger than that). Even though the room has heavy drapes (even on windowless walls) in the primary 'reflective' areas, I am thinking that the room would benefit if I did a better job of absorbing what's going above and between the Klipschorns. To that end, I'm toying with making some curved absorbing panels, filled with OwensCorning 703 and covered with fabric. It may be an exercise in futility, but I will probably build them anyway. If I do, I'll post photos.

But first things first, my sweetie-pie wife is getting a new knee on Tuesday, so I'll be pretty busy taking care of her for a while.

Cheers,

Rob

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I've had a D-75, a D-75a, a D-79, and a D-160. They all sounded magnificent with Klipsch speakers. I'd go as far as saying the D-160 was the best amp I've ever heard.

The down side. Each of them developed strange and expensive problems, which usually involved smoking a set of 6550s. It got very fustrating - always listening for the mordant "pinging" that meant the tubes were running away again, and that I had seconds to leap out of the comfy chair and rip the plug from the wall before high rise flames came billowing out. It was a different problem on each amp - a diode or two on the D-75, bad tube sockets on the D-75a, and a bunch of things on the D-160 - on the last go round, the repairs alone were estimated at over $800, exclusive of the eight 6550s. I don't remember the specific problem with the D-79. I do remember the fuses were around $8 and I bought a box of them.

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I . Each of them developed strange and expensive problems, which usually involved smoking a set of 6550s. I..... I had seconds to leap out of the comfy chair and rip the plug from the wall before high rise flames came billowing out. ....... repairs alone were estimated at over $800, exclusive of the eight 6550s.

I have heard this many times ...[*-)]

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I have a 25 year young SP 11. First trip to the factory was 2 months ago. Sound of this pre amp is still awesome. Holds price "used" extremely well. Blue book is still $1800. Was great with Klipsh Horns and now with RF 7's. Factory support awesome.

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Did they sound better when engulfed in flames?

Certainly warmer.

A few members of ACA have their stuff - you might want to check ouf some of the profiles on the ACA site to see who and with what. My impression of the power amps was certainly positive and they do look the part - large heavy monoblocks with little gauges on them shownig power.

Gotta love that kind of thing....

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You can read the details of my current setup below. I can offer the following experiences. My silver faced ARC VT100 Mk I power amp is a nice quiet amp. I sent it back to the factory recently and, for about $400.00, it was completely retubed and gone over. It has a tendancy to emphasize slightly sibilants and other "hot" high frequency information when compared to my "new" used pair of Welborne 300B SETs. I prefer the sound of the SET amps. At ca. 7 watts/channel, sibilants' emphasis is lessened and I hear more detail, inner voice articulation etc. Nonetheless the ARC is a really nice sounding amp. With my source material, room and listening habits, I do not detect that the Welbornes are underpowered, but I know many on this forum consider much more power to be essential.


I also have a beautiful black faced ARC SP-8 Mk II preamp. I sent this to ARC for an update as well. They replaced the caps and did new tubes. I purchased this preamp partly because it is supposed to have a legendary, high-quality phono section, and it IS nice, but this is a "high gain" preamp. I am not a technical type, but, as I understand it, due to this "high gain" it generates some noise that my K-horns reveal. This same preamp on my PSB Stratus Golds, a far less efficient speaker, is very quiet. It is just unacceptably noisy with my K-horns. My Juicy Music Blueberry Xtreme has a nice sounding phono section and produces far less noise than the SP-8. Since I got the Blueberry, the SP-8 has been sitting in storage.

I must say, I have had good expereinces with ARC as a company. I bought both of my components used, and they treated me well, answered all my questions and provided good service.

If you decide to buy some ARC equipment, I hope you will post your thoughts back here.

Best,

George Roland
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I've got a VT-50. It was the first tube amp I ever owned -- nice sounding amp. As soon as I turned it on, before it was even warmed up, I knew that my Jeff Rowland amp was going to be sold. It also bested all the other very good solid-state amps I've owned from Threshold to Classe. I've sinced acquired more tube amps and would have to say I prefer the overall sound of my Wright Mono 3.5 2A3 amps. They obviously don't go as loud as the VT-50 (which is a 45 wpc amp), but do sound better and are more musical overall. Nevertheless, the VT-50 is a very nice sounding amp and not a bad choice if you need the power. Very soon I'll be getting a set of pCATS, so we'll see how those stack up.

I've also owned a ARC LS-3 solid state preamp. For anyone looking for a solid state preamp, this is an excellent sounding unit and can be had for relatively little on the used market ($500-600).

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