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ARC's new REF-75

I read Paul Bolin's review of the new REF-75 in AudioBeat and was really taken by it. So, this past weekend I drove down to Newport Beach and attended The S.H.O.W. to take a listen. In spite of the room being a bit bright, I could clearly hear the advantages this amp offers.

The REF-75 is physically beautiful with a kind of retro look. Must have been the meters. I love the looks of this amp! I placed my hand on top of the amp and it was barely warm to the touch. It runs really cool in spite of not having fans. Another advantage ... no fans ... no fan noise.

Right off the bat, the REF-75 was so grain-less, it was simply amazing. The sound comes out of a perfectly black background and the inner detail is amazing with great decay on vocals and simple instrumentals. I love classical guitar and small jazz groups, so this is right up my alley. Vocals were amazingly clear and realistic as well because of the lack of grain. Separation of instruments is another VERY strong point of the REF-75, adding realism to orchestral music. Tonality is one of the first things I listen for ... and this amp is right up there with the best of the ARC amps, including the big REF Monos. The demonstration was made using Wilson Shasha speakers ... 87db, and the meters hardly moved at all even while listening to full orchestral music. The darned thing just coasted no matter what was thrown at it. So, dynamics are terrific ... the amp supposedly uses the same power supply as that in the REF-110, so that would account for the dynamics and particularly good bass punch and depth. Huge sound stage as well. Width, depth and height were more than expected ... in fact, huge in every way.

The REF-75 I listened to at the SHOW was a prototype, but based upon what I heard, I'm buying one later this month. I've owned and/or listened to a lot of ARC amps over the years, and I can say without reservations, that this is one of the very best amps ARC has ever done. The release date is toward the end of June and the retail price is scheduled to be $9,000.00 US. Oh, and if you own a REF-110 ... sell it quick!

As a further note, I visited the Optimal Enchantment room and auditioned the new ARC REF-250 mono blocks. Randy Cooley, the owner of Optimal Enchantment, had the system set up in a suite and really had the system/room dialed in. Randy always has a great demo and has an impeccable taste in music. What I heard in Randy's room this year was simply magic. It had me shaking my head in disbelief wondering how much more information could still be hiding in those record grooves. Was it better than what I heard in the room that demoed the REF-75? Ahem ... it was, after all, Randy Cooley's room. :>)
128x128oregonpapa
kana813
956 posts
 
213cobra-

If someone doesn't have speakers that are over 100db/w/m efficiency and needs an amp in the same power range as the
REF 75, what would you recommend?
salectric
747 posts
 
Kana813, You asked 213Cobra for an alternate amp in the same power range as the REF75 that is more musical. Although I don't claim to be 213Cobra, I can certainly recommend the Emotive Vita monoblocks to be a highly musical alternative in the same power class. My Vitas now have Tung Sol KT120s and so should be roughly comparable in terms of power. More importantly, in terms of sound, they allow music of all varieties to sound like itself without the ARC house sound distractions.
djanggo
24 posts
 
213cobra thanks for taking the time, you have made some fair points. Good thing is that in this hobby, its like walking into an ice-cream parlor, everybody get to choose their flavors--no right, no wrong, no absolutes.
213cobra
885 posts
 
Kana,

That's a good question. The difficulty of finding *any* suitable higher power pentode or tetrode push-pull amp using modern tubes and having natural voicing is enough to make my first recommendation abandonment of lower-efficiency speakers. But I know not everyone will do that. It would send a hell of a message though. If I needed ~75w/ch and I was predisposed to tube amps to get it, my first stop would be the Melody 845 push-pull triode amp at 70w per monoblock. Cost is similar or less.

Another option available to you because of ARC's long history of owner-friendly business policies is to find a good condition ARC Dual 76A and send it back to Minnesota to be refurbed to current standard, and then have a local tech retube it again with known NOS tubes.

Another option is the Tim DeParavicini-designed Quad II-Eighty monoblocks. Also his EAR Yoshino 899 or 890 power amps. As someone mentioned, big VTLs in triode mode are contenders. That's a flash answer to your question. If I think of others, I'll circle back. I mostly find natural sound between 5 - 50w these days.

There's also always McIntosh, though I think in powerful amps their quad-differential/autoformer output SS models (specifically and exclusively) are now preferable to their push-pull tube amps -- which is an exception for me to say. They're not a clear preference over ARC REF -- just different. In some respects these are all "lower-tech" circuits than the ARC REF amps, but for convincing musicality at the 75w power level from tubes, they are honest alternatives I hear as more natural, sonically. But they are also all amp types that are in my rear-view mirror.

Phil
johnsonwu
469 posts
 
I somewhat concur with 213Cobra.
I am using speakers of 90dB/W/m efficiency and I am driving them with 30-35W triode mode amps that started their lives as 100W UL or Pentodes (I mod them to triode and run them half-power)
Anytime you parallel tubes in PP mode you add smear no matter how hard you try to match a quad.
Also most "100W" amps use trannies that can barely go 100Ws. By running my amps in half power I get a lot more good headroom from the trannies. Many will say "oh 30W is not enough it distorts when played loud". Guess what? A lot of times its the driver stage wimping out, not the output stage. A well designed amp with a current-stable driver stage will get you all the power you need even with 2 KT88s or EL34s or 6550s on each side.
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