Reference 750 demo-ed today

[klao]

Originally Posted by TOGA

Hi,
Today I have a very good chance to hear new ARC REF 750.
ok, the show condition is not ideal, far from it. But mid and high was pristine.
CDP was EMM XDS1, Ref 40 as pre and YG ANAT REFIII+ Kubala cables.

CMALAK helped me post photo of them in the following post, thanks a lot. Oh, They had different shade of front panel color than other ARC lines. It looks more like gray rather than silver, similar to titanium gray.

Hi TOGA,

Thanks for your report and photos. Just wondering where & which show did you go to see them?

Klao

[TOGA]

Hi all,
ARC told me that, to avoid using noisy fans. It has to be vertical platform like this.
But the way they poorly integrated analog meters in to this huge chassis is understandable.
I Dont think ARC use professional industrial designer to design products, they are relatively
Small company with group of engineers. They don t even care to keep web site up to date
, the remote control is cheap Korean made one, user manual also look very cheap.
So, it is quite understandable why they are not very beautiful, you see many products in reference
line have so variety of designs, from wide green screen of pre amp, to analog meter in new amp and screen of different size of Reference DAC. They care more about the sound. but lack of products designs.
May I mention here again that this new amps have Titanium gray front panels.

Photo was from Bangkok Audio Show. My favorite products this year are of course this Ref 750
, SF Aida, Magico Q1 and 3 , TAD s wonderful system and Isophon speakers from German .
Wilson first introduction here was quite disappointing, they demo Maxx. 3 driven by top VTL tubes,
Top line Nordost Odin cables, music server decoded by DCS Paganini. I blamed the room and I rarely see ones use Nordost with Wilson, so the sound of all Nordost via Wilson was so very Nordost and that titanium tweeters didn't help here either.

And regarding ARC 210 didn't t drive magico V3 well. I guess that is true because many told me that Magico
Q5 and V3 are very difficult to drive. Q3 are easier to drive, but still demand strong amp anyway.
One guy got his q5 and after that his life was busy upgrading the system, because big VTL Siegfried
Can t drive them well, Bryston 28SST2 can, but not very refined enough, he end up using Karan 2000 watt
Mono blocks. That how s difficult to drive some Magico are.

Toga

[Dafos]

Originally Posted by darkstar

Toga,

Have you heard the ARC with the Magicos? I ask because my experience wasn't a good one when I heard the REF 210/REF5 through the V-3s. With that said, the 210s are not the 750s and the V3 is not the Q3, so this combo may sound totally different.

Rich

Ref 250/150 powering the difficult magico mini gives me excellent results.

[howiebrou]

Originally Posted by TOGA

Hi all,
ARC told me that, to avoid using noisy fans. It has to be vertical platform like this.
But the way they poorly integrated analog meters in to this huge chassis is understandable.
I Dont think ARC use professional industrial designer to design products, they are relatively
Small company with group of engineers. They don t even care to keep web site up to date
, the remote control is cheap Korean made one, user manual also look very cheap.
So, it is quite understandable why they are not very beautiful, you see many products in reference
line have so variety of designs, from wide green screen of pre amp, to analog meter in new amp and screen of different size of Reference DAC. They care more about the sound. but lack of products designs.
May I mention here again that this new amps have Titanium gray front panels.

Photo was from Bangkok Audio Show. My favorite products this year are of course this Ref 750
, SF Aida, Magico Q1 and 3 , TAD s wonderful system and Isophon speakers from German .
Wilson first introduction here was quite disappointing, they demo Maxx. 3 driven by top VTL tubes,
Top line Nordost Odin cables, music server decoded by DCS Paganini. I blamed the room and I rarely see ones use Nordost with Wilson, so the sound of all Nordost via Wilson was so very Nordost and that titanium tweeters didn't help here either.

And regarding ARC 210 didn't t drive magico V3 well. I guess that is true because many told me that Magico
Q5 and V3 are very difficult to drive. Q3 are easier to drive, but still demand strong amp anyway.
One guy got his q5 and after that his life was busy upgrading the system, because big VTL Siegfried
Can t drive them well, Bryston 28SST2 can, but not very refined enough, he end up using Karan 2000 watt
Mono blocks. That how s difficult to drive some Magico are.

Toga

Wow. Even the Siegfreid's couldn't drive the Magicos! That said the Karans are excellent amps

[JSCC]

Originally Posted by howiebrou

Wow. Even the Siegfreid's couldn't drive the Magicos! That said the Karans are excellent amps

Take 2 Momentums and lets review again tomorrow!

[Dafos]

While the ARC remotes may look cheap, they certainly are not. The arc supplied battery in my remote leaked and damaged the unit for which I had to pay $100 usd for a replacement!

[klao]

Originally Posted by TOGA

Photo was from Bangkok Audio Show. My favorite products this year are of course this Ref 750, SF Aida, Magico Q1 and 3 , TAD s wonderful system and Isophon speakers from German .

Wilson first introduction here was quite disappointing, they demo Maxx. 3 driven by top VTL tubes,
Top line Nordost Odin cables, music server decoded by DCS Paganini. I blamed the room and I rarely see ones use Nordost with Wilson, so the sound of all Nordost via Wilson was so very Nordost and that titanium tweeters didn't help here either.

And regarding ARC 210 didn't t drive magico V3 well. I guess that is true because many told me that Magico Q5 and V3 are very difficult to drive. Q3 are easier to drive, but still demand strong amp anyway.
One guy got his q5 and after that his life was busy upgrading the system, because big VTL Siegfried Can t drive them well, Bryston 28SST2 can, but not very refined enough, he end up using Karan 2000 watt
Mono blocks. That how s difficult to drive some Magico are.

Toga

Sawadee krub khun TOGA

I didn't have the chance to go in the ARC/YG room yesterday. Got to spend some time in the the Magico/Soulution and TAD demo rooms, though.

The gentleman who got Q5/Karan 2K is friend. Another friend also has Q3. The latter one uses Lamm pre & monoblocks to drive his Q3 with great success.

[TOGA]

Sawasdee krap K Klao.

Nice to hear from you.

[klao]

Same here krub.

I just joined AA and didn't read much of your older posts to know you're based in Bangkok as well. Just noticed you from the photos of the show...

Did you change your mind to get the 750 instead of the 250?

[TOGA]

K Klao, so please keep my identity secret. I joined this board for some time, But I play my stereo set alone, no one in Thailand know me. I like to do it quietly and privately.

Well, how much I wish to own big power tube. I really don't like the look of 750, I like the look of old ARC, like REF600 III. I also don't want to have headache with all those tubes in the future too, but amount of tubes in Ref 250 is acceptable, must try it with my power hungry Salon2. I was almost order Momentum power amp, at initial price of $42,000 it was fine. But in a year price has increased twice now to $50,000 and that was unacceptable anymore. It's not the price difference that annoyed me, but the way they increase price twice when demand is high that seems unfair to customer like me, but to be fair Magico increased price of Q3 too.

Are you also Magico owner ? I used to dream to buy Maxx 3 , but after I own Sophia 3 I think hey this is really good enough, I don't want more. So I have my eyes and ears on speakers with different character, wish to buy Q3 this year and Rockport Avior next year. but that is just a wish.