Ref75se to Ref150?

[pete6737]

Hello All,

I know that some have said that my Ref75se purchase under powered my Salon2s. Until recently, I could say that it worked fine. Today, I was pumping some bass throughout the system with some Daft Punk with my 15 year old son. We heard something like the amp was running out of gas...The bass got floppy as I never heard it before...Yes I had my Ref5se at 65-70 ish, but I feel like now is the time to think about POWER. Has anyone moved up from the 75 to 150? I am trying to justify that expense... I could also buy a used Ref75se and bi amp them, not sure which is better.. Looking for advice.. Thank you in advance! Pete

[audiohippo]

You should be able to push those speakers to 98dB @ 3m distance with the Ref75. That's pretty loud.

As the sensitivity for the Sasha's is slightly better the Ref75 can push them to about 102dB

Do you always listen to must at that volume? Mine is between 60-85dB which requires under 4 watts of power.

Where was the needle at?

[jpgr4blu]

With the Wilson Alexias, the Ref 150se is a huge sounding step up in bottom end grunt from the Ref 75se. It is also a step up in every other way, but especially there. I would get the Ref 150se for Alexias.
Of course, I think the Ref75 is exceptional for the $ but you don't know what you are missing until you actually make the comparison in your system with your speakers.

[pete6737]

I don't normally listen that loud. That's why I just found out where the threshold was. It was loud but the Salon2s clearly can put out more. It was like a club in the room when we were jamming but it was clear the amp was struggling. It's a lot of money for those last few db's of punch but I think that I could benefit at lower volumes with more grip with double the power. I may take a more powerful amp for a spin. I'll see what my dealer has on hand. The meter was pinging a bit past halfway during the big push. The bi amp idea came to me when I saw some Ref75s selling in the 5k region. Then with the addition of more of that Wireworld cabling it might be cheaper to get a Ref150! I'm trying get ideas to see if it's worth it to step up. Since I have not compared the two as yet. I told my wife that I was done buying "expensive silver boxes" but maybe I need just one more I want to know what I am missing!

[audiohippo]

Originally Posted by jpgr4blu

With the Wilson Alexias, the Ref 150se is a huge sounding step up in bottom end grunt from the Ref 75se. It is also a step up in every other way, but especially there. I would get the Ref 150se for Alexias.
Of course, I think the Ref75 is exceptional for the $ but you don't know what you are missing until you actually make the comparison in your system with your speakers.

I can't doubt what you say here as I have never heard this combination and too would recommend the OP gives it a demo in their system.

re: Alexia they are 90dB sensitivity and to hit 85dB @ 10 feet only requires 3 watts, I highly doubt any sonic benefit could be heard at this volume. At 100dB / 93 watts, this is where I see the benefits in the Ref150.

pete: what is the size of your room and the distance from the speakers to the seating position?

[MPS]

Have you read:
http://www.audioaficionado.org/audio...75-ref150.html

[Harlequin]

I would recommend a home demo of the GS150 if you could swing it Pete.

[elem79]

Originally Posted by Harlequin

I would recommend a home demo of the GS150 if you could swing it Pete.

I second that recommendation!

[pete6737]

My dealer has a GS150 I can demo. I'm not sure I like the styling. I like the looks of the Ref150 better. I'm not sure if they sound the same. If I had the money I'd get Ref250s but that's way out of my league. My room is 13.5 X 24FT. I sit about 9 feet from the speakers. The Ref75 handles most of what I feed it. Now that my room is dialed in and I have a good idea what everything sounds like, I am just noticing where it lacks the umph I was looking for on some tracks. For 90% it's fine, but that last 10% is gonna cost me...I'll get the demo in a couple of weeks when my schedule allows for serious listening/comparing. Thanks for the advice...Pete

[Priaptor]

Originally Posted by Harlequin

I would recommend a home demo of the GS150 if you could swing it Pete.

I am glad we are on the same page on this.

I recently sent in my GS150 for repairs because "something blew" which was not the tubes but bad transformer which they replaced as well as some other things. What I previously thought was amazing is even better with the quieter transformer and whatever changes they made.

This is the best amp I have ever owned or heard for that matter.

I truly love it.

I too recommend an audition. As mine was one of the first I would recommend a listen with one that had the current transformers as it is a big improvement at least to me.

Howie