The day I've been waiting for has arrived.

[Still-One]

Toga
You could be correct about the Transparent cables. At the Reference level you purchase them for either hi or low impedance (what used to be for SS or Tube). They may no longer be correct going from the Moon to AR. When you go to Reference XL, Reference MM or Opus they are manufactured for you specific components.

JIm

[TOGA]

Thanks Metaphacts, you're right. absolutely and I agreed. Actually I like to collect speakers, Anything that is good enough and I can afford, I like to keep them. I am not choosing between Sophia3 and Q3 here, so I don't really put much effort to do a fair and perfect comparison. Ref250 came today because I sent Ref40 for repair and asking them to bring Ref250 here for me to try when they return Ref40. If asking about speakers one should buy , that will be Sophia3, it cost less than others while make same great music experience. May be next year I should try Rockport Technology too. Pity I can keep Ref250 for only 3 days as I have to return to work for days.
TOGA,

[TOGA]

Thanks Jim, I asked factory , they replied that by using cables tuned for low Z with hi Z source, problem will not be that serious, but they not recommend doing vice versa, but from what I remember they mentioned about harsh treble as the main problem.Unlucky that second best cables I have on hands are Kimber 8TC with banana plugs which not compatible with ARC, Q3, or Sophia3. I am quite sure that if feed power to Ref250 with Transparent AC cords, it will make much better impact and speed. Well right now I am listening Ref250 driving Sophia3, oh sound so beautiful.. (yes even with aluminum towers right between them) ..

TOGA

[Dafos]

Toga, thanks for the very informative and detailed feedback. Great picture of your room with excellent mouthwatering gear! I must say though that you must listen at pretty loud levels. With my ref 250 driving the inefficient and power hungry magico mini, max volume level I reach is around 55. Please continue to provide us with your insights on how the ref 250 matches with the Revel's.

[Ritmo]

Toga,

Thanks for your report. Clearly, you are having fun with some very nice toys.

Look forward to your experience with the Ref 250 and the Salon 2s.

Mike

[Dafos]

Btw, toga, did you note how many hours the ref 250 has been used? There's an hour counter somewhere at the right front area of the amp when looking from the top but it's a bit difficult to locate. This is crucial because ARC recommends a 600 hour break in period.

[TOGA]

Hi Dafos and Mike,

First of all, there're two reason why volume level of ref40 was that high, 1. I think output of Esoteric DAC is quite low in the first place and 2. my room is acoustically to the dead side and quite large. thick 100% carpet coverage.
The more I listen to Ref 250 the more I like it. It sounds quite similar to Vitus 50watt
monster class A amp. Only in the the dynamic swing and bass impact and speed that Vitus can do better. overall they are so similar and I like Rf250 more.
Ref 250 shines when use with Sophia3, but with less deep bass than Q3, but highly musical. With Q3+ Ref250, tonal is definitely darker. bass was richer, overall sound thicker. treble from Q3 tweeter is more integrated into the music, but in a much darker tone. I think thicker sounding of Q3 will be improved if install spikes under speakers. and may be the shunyata Anaconda CX AC cord feeding Esoteric contribute to this. Q3 at dealer driven by Soulution didn't sound like this, it was lighter leaner and faster pace.
What I feel Ref250 didn't do compared to Moon was that dynamic swing was not that wide. the loudest passage and not-so-loud passage was not as much different as from Moon. This was similar to what I felt when I use Levinson 436. Also the very fast playing of double kick drums, like 4 or more kicks per second, became blurred and not sound like separated kicks. I heard this blur of fast playing kick drum on ARC CD7 Cd player too, Moon Andromeda CD player was the player that show me great deep bass definition and speed then I sold CD7 at that time. But don't worry such fast playing kick drums is only played on certain kinds of music, in my case heavy metal, like my old time Metallica. for other 98% of music I think Ref250 is highly lovely. Oh and I really want to have it. Just now the Q3 has higher priority, and besides, I have to try D'Agostino Momentum first. If Q3 proved to be good all arounder, I can sell it together with Salon2 and Moon amps to get a Momentum. for Ritmo, unbelievable but true is that Q3 did make stronger and better defined bass than Salon2, treble was pretty similar sounding.

Will report when drive Salon2 with Ref 250 tonight my local time of UTC+7

Toga

Toga thanks for sharing -- very interesting. Good luck with the rest of your reviewing and keep us updated.

[Dafos]

Thanks toga for the additional feedback, just keep it coming pls! I agree with your idea of settling for the ref 150 for easy listening music at lower levels. I had the 150 before I upgraded to the 250 and honestly, unless you really crank the volume using very difficult speakers, the stereo amp is easily 95% of it's bigger mono bloc brother. Btw, is your ref anniversary power supply sitting on top of a center channel speaker?

[TOGA]

Well, this is, as I said not a pro reporting. But I will keep you posted. Ref250 will be with me for only one more night, they rest on platform that I normally put Ref 40 on it. And yes Ref 40 is now on center speaker and power supply on Esoteric transport. Only this way that all the cables are within range of each other in case I wanna swap amplifiers for comparison. Really wanna try 8 ohm tap. May try tonight. there is great risk that spade may scratch the back panel during the process as the last 5cm. of my speaker cables are rigid and the cable is stiff too. I think my report based on unideal set up is quite reliable because I mostly mention tonal and dynamic, I never mention something like sound stage or stereo image that would require careful set up. Once I pay for speakers, I will find best location using XTZ analyzer then install spikes. As of now I feel Ref250 are best sonically matched to Wilson Sophia3, with Magico it sound rather thick.
one more , fan noise of Ref250 is very quiet, not an issue at all.