Thoughts on Audio Research D70

Just to chip in for a minute, i have a pair of CL120's since 1990. Those have been modded by Steve Huntley and the inputs were also balanced.
I agree with Hifigeek about those Chinese bottles. The day i got them home from the dealer and plug them in, 2 tubes failed within 5 minutes. I have retubed those amps with 6550 SED Winged C many times since then and have not had a single issue with any of them. I have had the opportunity to "test" a VT100MKIII and VS110 and a VS115 in my system and i'm still holding on to the 120's. Having separate power supplies in monoblocks configuration have advantages which the D series don't have.

I would like to listen to a REF150 next. Last time i talked to Steve before he closed GNSC he recommended i listen to a 150 but only in my system in my room as at a dealer sound room with different ancillaries would not be a fair comparison.
Sly

Johnsonwu, i am following this thread with interest. I have has several ARC amps and preamps modded by GNSC )Steve Huntley) over the last 10 years.

I still own a pair of Classic 120's which i hope to put head to head with a REF150 soon. I also have a REF3 LE and REF Phono 2 both modded by Steve.

The only thing that Steve did not replace in the critical signal path are the interstage coupling caps (4 in each unit). He felt that the stock caps were good enough and need not be replaced. What ARC use in their SE upgrades for the REF5 and REF2's are teflon 150 vdc 10.0uf =/- 10%.
What similar caps would you recommend as replacement (Vcaps?). I doubt that ARC would release those proprietary caps for installation in the field. Any recommendations much appreciated. Thanks again.