Review of Audio Research Ref 150 amp from TheAudioBeat.com...

[Ritmo]

Can't wait to get my digital copy of Stereophile. That 150 is a sweet sounding amp. I've heard it with the Sashas recently - very nice.

Mike

[Dafos]

Originally Posted by darkstar

I received my stereophile today and just read JA's review. ARC is on a roll

It was mentioned in another thread that it was a certain Eric Lichte who did the review. Did JA pitch in any comments regarding it's sound or did he simply do the technical measurements and analysis which he does for all gear reviewed by Stereophile?

[cmalak]

Originally Posted by Dafos

It was mentioned in another thread that it was a certain Eric Lichte who did the review. Did JA pitch in any comments regarding it's sound or did he simply do the technical measurements and analysis which he does for all gear reviewed by Stereophile?

JA just did the technical measurement in the Ref 150 review.

[RevelMann]

Originally Posted by cmalak

The REF 150 just received a rave review and a Class A recomendation by the reviewer in the latest Stereophile which I just received. When either Stereophile or ARC post the review on their websites, I will post it in a separate thread. But the reviewer says the REF 150 bested all prior amps (tube or SS) that he has reviewed or owned and this is his new reference power amp.

Looking forward your post of the review

[darkstar]

Originally Posted by Dafos

It was mentioned in another thread that it was a certain Eric Lichte who did the review. Did JA pitch in any comments regarding it's sound or did he simply do the technical measurements and analysis which he does for all gear reviewed by Stereophile?

My bad, it was Ericke who did the review and as Cyril pointed out JA did the technical measurements. Sorry.

Rich

[Elberoth]

Originally Posted by karsajid

I have a Ref 210 with factory 120s, and it now has just crossed 400 hours.

You need to be patient with ARC amps. At least 600 hours sounds about right for breakin. My friends Ref 110 with 5000 hours sounds wonderful and powerful, better than my Ref 210 at this moment.

In my experience, Ref 110 sounds better than the more powerful Ref 210. For whatever reason.

[karsajid]

Originally Posted by Elberoth

In my experience, Ref 110 sounds better than the more powerful Ref 210. For whatever reason.

Adam, can you tell me what you thought the 110 did better? What were the speakers used for the comparison.

Thx

Sajid

[microstrip]

Originally Posted by Elberoth

In my experience, Ref 110 sounds better than the more powerful Ref 210. For whatever reason.

Elberoth,

I would agree with you until the day I listened to the REF210 with KT120 tubes. IMHO, the original REF210 with 6550s never seemed to be a very powerful monoblock - this was felt specially when used with Wilson speakers - your Sasha's inclusive. Sometimes it seemed to sound too polite and restrained. However just changing the output tubes to the KT120 seemed to bring a new life to this amplifier.

[New guy]

Originally Posted by Elberoth

In my experience, Ref 110 sounds better than the more powerful Ref 210. For whatever reason.

I wonder if this will be case as well from Ref 150 to Ref 250.

[enatai252]

I have both and prefer the 250... But would happily live with only the 150. Neither of the two embarrass each other...the 250 just maintains composure at higher SPLs