To Almargm Thank you for your advice, but you need not apologize for a " "negative post" You are usually right. I feared that the ARC 150.2 and 300.2 were just spin offs of another class D version. I mentioned in other threads in the past that I owned the RED DRAGON M-500 mono blocks about 4 years. Il loved the way they looked and they had plenty of power. The pre-amp of those days was a BEL Canto Pre3 which is excellent with an outstanding remote control. This combo was hooked to Acoustic Zen Adagios Hardly a shabby system!! However in less than one hear, I began to hear or discern bright and edgy sound. They were not defective, and I had taken great care in making sure that pre/ power amp out impedances were compatible So, I decide to downsize , and bought the Rogue Sphinx v.1, but later and reluctantly sold the Adagios because of their weight, and difficulty in moving them around
. I proceeded to buy the Golden Ear Technology 7's which were the rave of CES 2012. They sound very good, and about I year later bought a pair of Wharfdale 80th Anniversary Denton speakers a smallish bookshelf to play around with. . They are colossal and amazing speakers and actually sound better that is, more natural than GET 7's They also are comfortable with the Sphinx integrated. Just yesterday, while listen to them, I thought why not just stick with this sound and save the money because how much better are the Dentons, or GET' 7's going to sound with approx. $2500-$3000 worth of separates . BTW, about a year ago I changed the Sphinx two output tubes to Mullards 4003CV's on recommendation by another member who claimed the Mullards took most of the edge off of Rogue's Hypex Class D amp. It did but not totally.
I feel like I am chasing my tale. on this new quest. The question is not "What am I trying to improve. in the sound?? I don't think many audiophiles are not trying to improve one aspect of their system's sound in particular, as much as looking for sound that is either "just right" for them or just sounds right. In terms of speakers the Denton deliver this quality in spades.
You and comrade Schussor who response follows yours, and many other members have far more knowledge of high end than I do. In retrospect after over 41 years involved in audio, I have concluded that I was just a dabbler, that is, not committed to spending more money or big bucks to get what I wanted, except for my second high end system which I bought at 50 % because I worked part-time in an high- end audio shop the from 1987 to 1991. I bought $5600 system for about $ 2500 including speaker cable and interconnects..
OK, so without droning over my audio history, let me say that it may be time to suspend this quest for separates, because I am getting opinions from every side and many often cancel out each other related to equipment, I may have expressed a growing interest . But that is OK, because I don't want to shell out $2500 for components used or new or a combo of both to find out that the sound even after burn-in is only marginally better.
At the same time the speakers, I currently own are not the of magnitude of Wilsons or upper tier Focal, Nola,, Magneplanar, etc.. Also, what I have in speakers may not really demonstrate the quality of the pre-amp and amp I choose..
To date the amp situation, the ARC 150.2 was sold on ebay. So that is out, and the seller of ARC 100.2 will not budge on his $1550 offer. Despite its alleged cult status as the best SS amp ever made by ARC, I feed it is worth possibly $950-1100, and no more. It is only 100RMS, and may not drive Maggie .7 to their state of art performance should I go in that direction this year. . I can not go for 1.7r's because they are too big for my listening room, and surprisingly a few members and owners claim the new Maggie.point 7 sounds better.
Lastly, on the pre-amp scene , the Van Alstine SL Vision preamp and its full vacuum tube brother are in the running ( both are $899, but I was informed by an anonymous audiogon member, that AVA $1899 pre-amp is the killer, and to avoid the other two which he heard at the AXPOXA and they sounded awful.). . Keep in mind, that $627 must be added to the retail price of all there pre-amp if your need the optional remote and MM/MC phono stage . Two other pre-amp is the Conrad Johnson pre-amp line stage which received a rave review by Sterophile's Larry Greenhill in December 2002 which makes the piece at least 14 years old. There is one for sale on AG, and the newer and current ET3 pre-amp line stage on ebay.
However, there are many testimonials to the CJ 18LS which would require headphone amp and phono stage, both which I need The last horse in the race is made by Quicksilver and called the "QuickSilver Remote Line stage" Very good reviews on the blog Audioreview, but they are old and short. The unit requires both phono and headphone amps which would jack up its resale price.for me Cheers, Jim . .
