Audio Research I/50

A local dealer let me take one home for a few days.  I thought it was great, especially for the price.  I wanted to order one but there's a 2 month+ wait and I have a Leben on order that I have a 5 month wait for.  I was using the ARC as a temporary amp while the Leben was being made. I still may get one once the DAC module comes out in June. They are not auto-bias. You need to flip it over and do it manually as someone already said. That's according to the dealer.

I assume they were trying to hit the $5k price point and auto bias would add a couple hundred? Maybe it really only needs biasing if you use different tubes and this isn't a product they expected tube rollers to buy? Metro hipsters may be more apt to just use it as is? It really does sound good. Can it sound better with different tubes? Most likely, but the price then goes up. AR touts their tube testing and matching in the Darko video. They want to keep it all in house. Even advertising trying different tubes like Upscale does for Primaluna gets people thinking about it. Upscale sells "upgraded" tubes, AR sells replacement tubes.