New review of Ref 75

[TOGA]

Ok,it can t quite comparable to Moon. They are so different.
I purchased tube amp to play some types of music. These music don t sound good at too high volume.
Vocal, solo instruments, these are for relaxing time. And in this duty Ref 75 is magically great.
It has organic sound, warm and inviting.
Ref 75 will not make rock concert excitement from blu ray or make gun firing sound from DTS Master BD very well,
And that is when the Moon comes in.
Toga

Ref75 drives Sophia3 without sweat.

[sanji]

Originally Posted by karsajid

Its surprising how so many people are saying that the Ref 75 is capable of driving full range, low impedance speakers. How is it with your Sophia 3? Does it tax the amp a lot at reasonably high listening levels?

The Sophia 3 is really easy to drive. The impedance dip is to about 3 ohms which is 1 ohm from the nominal impedance. I've seen the REF 75 drive them pretty loud in a good sized room with about 5 watts.

[flang]

Did anybody trie the Ref 75 against the 150 ??
I am Owner of the 150 and tried only for Fun the 75 and I was very suprised and I was asking me why to buy the 150 ??
For me the 75 is a little more lovely in the Highs and Middles and for my SF Amati Futuras there is enough power also for High Levels !
Maybe I am wrong and please let me know Other opinions!
Greetings from Austria
Franz

AR 40 Annivers.
Cd 8
Ref 150
Oracle Delphi with Graham and Grasshoppers
Olive 6 HD
Amati Futura

[joeinid]

Hi Franz,

Sometimes more power is not necessary but both the Ref 75/150 are awesome amps. I think the 75 was not available when you bought the 150 so do not worry. You could always add one later on

[Banter]

Hi Toga,

Now that you have had some time with the ref75, would you mind giving us some feedback.

I had Ref.150 but had to give it up due to the fumes emitting from those transformers. Was making wife nauseating. I regret the dicision but some crazy 500/600 hours of burn in was just too much to make someone this uncomfortable.

[TOGA]

Hi, long time no visit,due hard work.

Now hard work is finished. I have more time now.
Since i bought r75 i have not reconnect my solid state amp back even once.
It should complete the breaking in by now. Yes of course it sounds like music.
No fume no smell. I use audioquest WEL power cord with it, seems to work well.

One thing i will have to do is to send Transparent speaker cables across the world
To factory for recalibration for tube. Yes , no going back for SS.

Toga

[joeinid]

Great news TOGA. The Ref. 75 must be a wonderful amp. I am glad you are happy.

[Banter]

Originally Posted by TOGA

Hi, long time no visit,due hard work.

Now hard work is finished. I have more time now.
Since i bought r75 i have not reconnect my solid state amp back even once.
It should complete the breaking in by now. Yes of course it sounds like music.
No fume no smell. I use audioquest WEL power cord with it, seems to work well.

One thing i will have to do is to send Transparent speaker cables across the world
To factory for recalibration for tube. Yes , no going back for SS.

Toga

Thank you Toga, for the update.

Enjoy the work of art!

[TOGA]

After a few month with Ref75, the first day that I got it Dafos came to visit me.

He heard it on its first 4 hours . Since then Until last night.. I never wanted to connect Moon W7M
Back in the system anymore.. Until..

I went to have some drink at beer garden with live music playing. Real band playing popular song using
Cheap amps and cheap PA horn speakers .. But there was one thing I think I enjoyed in the sound,
Its the liveliness , the loudness and punchiness. Dynamic of drum and voice. It s something that i think
I don t have from my own expensive tube system.. All ARC make much more lush and smooth sound.
But that is never like live performance.. That make me realize that if i want sound of live performance,
I need to have different kind of system. This make me think about sound of Burmester 077+911 , the sound
That i found very exciting but tiring in long run. But it happen to be closer to real live performance than
ref75.

So now i connect Moon W7M back in. Even from cold start i felt the extra snap and speed. Sharper transient
. Soundstage is much wider almost surround sound like compare to more compact soundstage of ref75.
Noise floor is lower so i hear more into the mix. That what how i felt returning to great solid state amp after months
With lush sounding small power tube.

Ref75 will remain to serve when have mood for romantic and relax sound. But i will have to keep high power
Solid state amp for sound that is closer to live performance. Live performance here is mean the amplified
One. Using PA amp and PA speakers.

Toga

[joeinid]

Thanks Toga!

Variety is the spice of life.