Audio Research REF 75SE and REF 80S

My personal opinion without knowledge is that it’s a lateral move plus the classic style of the ref 75 rings my bell. In all the years that ARC has been around i can’t fathom that they are still making breakthroughs. i would think that marketing is leading the way and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

update to ref75se

autobias incorporated and a fan (one of the best things about ref75 was NO FAN!!!)

se designation was given to earlier reference amps to designate their ability to run newest most powerful kt150 tubes... now it is the standard tube, so no more ’se’ needed

seems like an update, not so much an upgrade, certainly not a new model/breakthrough... but who knows if and by how much the sound may have improved... my guess is not by much

Another marketing ploy to extract more money from the insecure and gullible.

It says can be played in triode mode as well as pentode mode. I wonder how triode mode sounds.

Its a "baby" REF160S.  New circuit board, etc.

The REF80S is to the REF75SE as the REF160S is to the REF150SE.

I look forward to hearing opinions as I enjoyed the ref 75....

@ jasonbourne52

Having a bad day, huh?

People who are willfully ignorant deserve what they get.  A buyer who does not research something like this and is unhappy after purchase is willfully ignorant.

A buyer who does the due diligence and still buys is an informed buyer.  Contacting the company with such questions seems like the minimum effort one would take.

I am positive, after the last few years, that willful ignorance is rampant in this nation, so your post may be somewhat relevant.  However, it appears from the many posts I have read that most on this Forum are pretty savvy and check things out before buying.

As for marketing, I am reminded of a cartoon in a Kliban cartoon book that I will not describe.  You either know it or not.  

Without marketing, products would be big secrets inside companies and they would fail from not selling anything.  The responsibility is on the potential purchaser.

Hope your day improves!

Cheers...

the triode / ul switching option is definitely a new wrinkle now added - no doubt in response to their sense of primaluna siphoning quite a bit of low end model sales... 

Anyone out there have actual listening comparisons to share?