I have to choose one..

[TOGA]

This is really the most difficult decision to make for me.
Will use this new amp for long, don't wanna make wrong decision.
R75 seems very powerful enough for Magico Q3 and lowest and easiest to maintain, but due to being new, got no discount.
R150 will make me choose next speakers in the future with more flexibility regarding sensitivity, but it doesn't have meter and all adjustment must be made with cover removed.
R250s are even more flexible in term of speakers matching, but they have so many tubes that I have to take care of, 22 of them !
Even though all of them sound fantastic.

Toga

[Ritmo]

Toga,

Just one point of view.

The Ref 75 sounds as wonderful it looks good. A terrific buy if you are sticking with very efficient speakers. I heard this amp with the Vandersteen 4s and the Nola KOs and it sounded a lot stronger than 75 w/ch.

The Ref 150 doubles the power and sounds terrific as well. Yes, it is a bit plain in the looks department but you get more flexibility out of this amp.

The Ref 250s give you a lot more power and yet it still sounds wonderful. They look great as well. Yes, 22 tubes is a whole lot of "bulbs".

Toga, you can't go wrong with any of these. The decision would be based on how much power you need, flexibility desired and budget.

Mike

Buy a Modwright KWA-150SE. Sounds like tubes & you don't have to worry about replacing any tubes, plus it's good value. Also will have better control & low level detail than certainly the Ref 150.

ModWright Instruments | KWA 150 'Signature Edition'

[TOGA]

@David, Actually I am very close to ModWright dealers, I bought almost everything
from this dealer. But Frankly, I don't have the passion for the brand yet. I have heard
KWA150 (not SE) driving Thiel CS3.7 before. And I like Moon or Vitus more. I borrowed LS36.5 once to use with Moon W7M, and I liked Moon P8Rs more, that was many years ago. Now I am in ARC camp
@ Mike, I totally agree with you. I am flexible on budget. If I go for R250, I will sell Sophia3 and Moon W7M. If I buy R75 or R150, I will not sell anything. So eventually I pay the same.
I will give Ref 75 a shot, I will make an offer to my dealer tomorrow, if they can accept $$$ that I offer I will go for it. In future if new 150SE is released, I will accept
some loss to trade R75 for it. I can accept cost of R250, but can't quite accept cost of tubes replacement.
Toga

[SundayNiagara]

Originally Posted by TOGA

@David, Actually I am very close to ModWright dealers, I bought almost everything
from this dealer. But Frankly, I don't have the passion for the brand yet. I have heard
KWA150 (not SE) driving Thiel CS3.7 before. And I like Moon or Vitus more. I borrowed LS36.5 once to use with Moon W7M, and I liked Moon P8Rs more, that was many years ago. Now I am in ARC camp
@ Mike, I totally agree with you. I am flexible on budget. If I go for R250, I will sell Sophia3 and Moon W7M. If I buy R75 or R150, I will not sell anything. So eventually I pay the same.
I will give Ref 75 a shot, I will make an offer to my dealer tomorrow, if they can accept $$$ that I offer I will go for it. In future if new 150SE is released, I will accept
some loss to trade R75 for it. I can accept cost of R250, but can't quite accept cost of tubes replacement.
Toga

I would think your dealer is doing more than looking in your pocket, what kind of advice is he giving you?

[microstrip]

In your place I would get the REF150. It seems the best value for money and it is great sounding. The bias is very simple to set and does not need to be checked very often - I did it twice in 1500 hours play time. It can power 95% of the speakers you can think about and it is almost a REF250 with a split supply - remember the REF250 has there pairs of push pull tubes and the REF150 has two. And although the meters are nice to look during the first weeks soon you will forget them.
Or just wait for 150SE ...

[TOGA]

One of the guy who serviced me for years advice me that he felt my Q3 is very easy to drive so he not recommend R250, he said sonic gain comapared to 150 is not as much as an increased cost. but he said between R75 and R150, R150 is more assured that power will never be deficient, while R75 may hit its limit in some circumstance.
But I consult to my wallet and it said go for Ref75.
Toga

[jdandy]

Toga.......Stop teasing yourself. Go for the Ref250 amplifiers. Tube maintenance is not nearly the issue people think it is. You will easily get 3000 to 4000 hours from the power tubes. Even using the 3000 hour number, at 5 hours a day, 7 days a week of use you will have 600 days, or nearly two years before you will need to start thinking about power tube replacement. That's less than $2.00 a day you'll need to set aside to be ready for a complete tube swap on both amps when the time arrives. That is no big deal. The chance of you running those amps that much every single day is probably slim to none, so the time between tube replacements will be even longer.

If you're planning on deciding which amps will serve you best for the long haul, don't box yourself into a corner for any future speaker changes you may decide on. Buy the amps with enough power to drive anything that may eventually be connected to them. Go for the Ref250's and be happy knowing you have some of the best tube power amplifiers on the planet.

[TOGA]

See ? It's not an easy decision.
Even many of you have different opinions.
Let's see, if I get the price of R75 that is convincing enough ( much lower than 150 ),
then I will go for it. If price is too close to R150, then I will back off and reconsider options again. I am interested in 150SE yes, but I can't wait. Upgrading is possible but that is for future. Before year end, after long time of my hard time job training, I have to get new amp as a reward to myself, so no wait. In order to buy R250, I must sell Sophia 3 and/or Moon W7M which will takes some times to do..
I agree with Mike that whatever I chose, I will not go wrong.
Toga

P.S. A pair of ARC 6550c in my country is $250, so I guess KT120 will cost about the same, cost of tube replacement must be considered carefully.

[bakerman]

Originally Posted by microstrip

In your place I would get the REF150. It seems the best value for money and it is great sounding. The bias is very simple to set and does not need to be checked very often - I did it twice in 1500 hours play time. It can power 95% of the speakers you can think about and it is almost a REF250 with a split supply - remember the REF250 has there pairs of push pull tubes and the REF150 has two. And although the meters are nice to look during the first weeks soon you will forget them.
Or just wait for 150SE ...

+1. There is enough power here for most speakers. As far as the meters go, they aren't a necessity and for me don't add to the aesthetics of the piece. I like the clean look of the REF150 but, I'm not putting down the cash.