New SS 450wpc power amp from Audio Research partnered with SF speakers at CES 2010...

[cmalak]

AeroSmith...very nice system. What speakers are you driving with the new ARC DS450 amp? Please let us know how the sound evolves as the unit breaks in. To the extent you can compare them to the MX-Rs (from your memory of them), that would be helpful too. Thanks very much. Congrats on the new amp and welcome to AA

[AeroSmith]

Many thanks to you both.

Only 576 hours to go in the DS450s warm up. LOL.

Here's one more shot.

[AeroSmith]

Sorry, I also meant to say: I'm using the DS450 to drive a pair of Revel Salon Ultima 2s.

I'm also using a REL B-1 in the same setup. Though the crossover is set at 22 Hz and the gain is set very low.

[cmalak]

Very nice AeroSmith ...I hope you enjoy them for a very long time. Looking forward to your impressions of them as they start logging some hours on them. One final question, what component rack are you using? It looks very nice and clean and can certainly accomodate a lot of equipment. Just curious. Thx

[AeroSmith]

That's a Quadraspire QAVX Plasma stand with Cherry shelves. I use a smaller variant of the same stand in our family room and master bedroom stereos.

The Revels are well broken in now. It'll be two years in August that I've had them. I'm contemplating a pair of Wilson Sashas for this big system to be honest with you. It's a massive room.

[AeroSmith]

The DS450 is breaking in nicely. It has a much warmer sound than the Ayre mono-blocks. The bass is incredibly full and satisfying. This amp has really given heart and soul to a system that lacked it with the MX-Rs. Still much breaking in to go...

Sorry, it's not one of my better images.

[cmalak]

AeroSmith...she's lookin' real purrdy I can't wait for the DS450s to get to my dealer. I am going to bring that puppy in for a home audition and if it does 80%-90% of what I like from my tube Ref 110s in terms of timbre, tone, texture, harmonics, and 3D soundstaging, plus give me the added oomph and dynamics, than this is a no brainer and the Ref 110s will be on the selling block and these will promptly replace them. I had a pair of Simaudio W8s in my system for 3 weeks while my Ref 110s were being serviced at ARC and I admired what they could do but I could not bring myself to love them. I am hoping it will be different with this innovative SS design from ARC.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by AeroSmith

The DS450 is breaking in nicely. It has a much warmer sound than the Ayre mono-blocks. The bass is incredibly full and satisfying. This amp has really given heart and soul to a system that lacked it with the MX-Rs. Still much breaking in to go...

Sorry, it's not one of my better images.

I'll have to give the DS450 a listen. I didn't think anything really sounded more musical and warmer than a pair of MX-Rs when it comes to solid state and this was on a few different speakers.

[1KW]

Aerosmith you have a very nice system. Enjoy and welcome to AA. If you get a chance post a few more pictures for us to enjoy
I see you like cars too .

[AeroSmith]

Originally Posted by cmalak

AeroSmith...she's lookin' real purrdy I can't wait for the DS450s to get to my dealer. I am going to bring that puppy in for a home audition and if it does 80%-90% of what I like from my tube Ref 110s in terms of timbre, tone, texture, harmonics, and 3D soundstaging, plus give me the added oomph and dynamics, than this is a no brainer and the Ref 110s will be on the selling block and these will promptly replace them. I had a pair of Simaudio W8s in my system for 3 weeks while my Ref 110s were being serviced at ARC and I admired what they could do but I could not bring myself to love them. I am hoping it will be different with this innovative SS design from ARC.

Thanks! With the amplifier change I'm now finally happy with this system. Prior, our bedroom and family room systems were much more engaging. If your looking for timbre, the DS450 has it. And I collect cello recordings.

Originally Posted by PHC1

I'll have to give the DS450 a listen. I didn't think anything really sounded more musical and warmer than a pair of MX-Rs when it comes to solid state and this was on a few different speakers.

You know, the Ayres didn't sound very warm through the Salon Ultima 2s. The MX-Rs ran quite warm though. In fact, with plenty of breathing space, you could barely lay your hand on one for more than a few seconds. Twice they shut down at parties on me.

So they went back to Ayre for virtually a complete rebuild with all the updated components (they were early copies, numbers 41 and 42 IIRC). I never had any shutdowns after that but they still ran hot as the devil. Maybe that's good in Colorado but not here in Florida.

And frankly I found the sound out of the MX-R driven Revels to be quite lean. Granted my room is 28' x 35'. So I bought a REL B-1. That helped a lot. But there was still something missing, timbre and tone and warmth. And the high end was too bright to my tastes (adjusting the REVELs down 1/2 dB in the treble helped this a lot). I was quite frankly thinking about trading the Revels for some Wilson Sashas or MAXX3s. But then there was the heat....

We had recently put an ARC DSi200 integrated in our family room with a DAC7 to drive some ProAc D2s. A Naim SuperNait wasn't doing the job there, in fact blowing a pair of ProAc D1s at a tennis club party. The DSi200 is a joy to use and listen too. It has a wonderfully detailed sound with notes almost being feathered across the soundstage. It also has some serious low end balls and endless reserves of distortion free power. Yet it runs cool as a cucumber. So when the DS450 was announced my dealer and I agreed that it would be a perfect solution for, if nothing else, my heat issue in our game room. That it has completely brought the system to life is all gravy. BTW, I got the new DS450 straight up for the well used MX-Rs. So it's like I get to play with it for free.

One final note: I think the Revel Salon Ultima 2s are amazing full range speakers. But with not one, not two but three crossovers I think they're very difficult to drive. They scream out for a couple of Boulder 1050s, an attractive but extremely expensive solution. The MX-Rs had trouble with them. The DS450 on the other hand is THE BOSS. I've adjusted the B-1 from a crossover of 25 Hz to 22 Hz and gain of about +18 to +8. System balance is greatly improved.

Originally Posted by 1KW

Aerosmith you have a very nice system. Enjoy and welcome to AA. If you get a chance post a few more pictures for us to enjoy
I see you like cars too .

LOL, thanks.

Cars?

Photographs? My second favorite hobby. I'll be sure to keep them coming.