The Absolute Sound Reviews ARC Reference 250se

[stjlinus]

how did the 250SE demo go?

[LovingMusic]

It was a very good learning experience, as I had not had amps of that quality in the system before. The salesman suggested I plug them directly into the wall as opposed to my PSA P10. I had a friend familiar with my system with me. I also played a few selections for the salesman with the 601's in place so he could get an idea of what I currently have. Once he installed the 250SE's the improvement was apparent. Without getting into a list, let's just say, top to bottom, the clarity, sound stage depth, and dynamics were improved. The largest improvement, surprisingly to me, was the depth and quality of the bass. Much more textured and just more of it. We all agreed.



Did I purchase? No. I had the amps from Thursday through today, but packed them up Saturday night. I hooked the 601's up but this time plugged them directly into the wall to see if there was a difference to be heard. I had them in the wall several years ago, but not with the REF6 and not with LessLoss power cords. I am pleasantly surprised at how much better they sound going directly into the wall. They definitely closed the gap with the 250SE's. Nobody could argue they sound as good, but they are very, very good and for the money involved I can wait. Perhaps if ARC updates the 250's again in the future I will have another look. Their updates seem to bring significant improvements on already excellent products. For now I am going to contact my electrician and have dedicated lines installed. The experience showed me how good SOTA equipment can sound, but it also showed me what a great value the McIntosh 601's are.

[tima]

For now I am going to contact my electrician and have dedicated lines installed.

A wise move! If that was the only thing to come from your 250SE evaluation, then it was well worth it.

[Sea music]

LovingMusic, my experience mimics yours. A while back, all of the comments about
Mcintosh being a rolled off smother sound got to me. I was loaned a ARC 75se for
a long weekend. I wanted to see what I was missing. I have MC301's in my system.
I agree that the ARC 75se bested the Mcintosh in every category, sans one, power.
What a came away with however is how close the Mcintosh is. I just could not trade
two beautiful 300 watt mono blocks for one 75 watt ARC. The effortless power of the
Mac's contribute to there sound.
I will admit that an ARC system is high on my bucket list but for the money Mcintosh
brings a lot to the table.

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

I, like one of the people who commented on the thread were a little surprised to hear that $34,000 for a pair of amplifiers was considered to be "mid-priced".

I know there are amplifiers for $150,000 per pair, but still, $34k is an awful lot for anybody but the very wealthy and still fits into what I would call high priced.

The audiophile magazines certainly are NOT writing for average people interested in music systems.

Well said Gary and I couldn't agree more, 34k is an awful lot to pay for 'euphoric distortion' !