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Audio Research Ref 110 break in period

Fellow owners with first hand knowledge, please let me know what your experience was with the break in period. I understand ARC says it can last 600 hours, but I think that more applies to the brand new stuff with Teflon caps (Anniversary Preamp and Ref 5) though I could be wrong... What stages did you hear and at what points? I am very pleased with mine so far and it only has 60 hours under its belt so far. Curious as to what else I can expect from it.
bavarian05

Showing 3 responses by bavarian05

bavarian05 OP
65 posts
 
Both. Brand new unit from ARC with KT120's. Ordered it and within 4 business days it was built and delivered. My dealer approached me with it while auditioning a ARC VS115 and a Mac MC275. According to my dealer it was one of the last few they were building and if I was ready to do it immediately (which I was thankfully) I was able to spec the color I wanted as well. (Black) I feel very fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time.
bavarian05 OP
65 posts
 
Anyone with first hand experience out there?
Would love to hear what stages or changes I can expect from this amplifier once through the intial break as opposed to right out of the box.
bavarian05 OP
65 posts
 
Nice amp! Thank you for the feedback.

Did you upgrade from a Ref 110? If so, I would love to hear the improvements you have found over the Ref 110. So far with my Ref 110, I cannot imagine a better tube amplifier, but I know the huge increase in power supply caps and new teflon output coupling caps have to make a very nice upgrade on the Ref 150. I am going to have my LS17 preamp upgraded to the new SE version by ARC in a couple of weeks and am looking forward to hearing the new Teflon caps... According to ARC there are deeper, richer tonal shadings and even less "grain" overall - not that I have been able to detect any apparent grain now. Guilding the lilly...
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