Audio Refinement Complete owners: amp power Q

I have owned 2 of the amps you mentioned and used them with the Tyler Acoustics Tylo Reference Monitors (89db eff, I think). To me, the Bryston seemed to not have enough power at times. The Plinius is another story, with its much greater power output. I preferred the Plinius by a wide margin in my system/room.

BTW, according to a contact I trust, the Plinius 8100/8150/8200 sound nearly the same and the power increase for each successive unit is not that noticable. I also have a friend that owns the 8100 and he really likes it driving his Thiels (not a particularly easy load). If you don't need the little extra power or HT bypass circuit, look for a Plinius 8100 or 8150 in addition to the 8200.

Enjoy,

TIC

post results. I am leaning heavily toward the ARComplete, it seems like a great fit and at a fair price vs. its competition.
What equipment do you have working with the ARC right now? In particular I would like to hear about your choice of IC's/Cables. For cables I am leaning toward Signal Cable, for IC's I'm still not sure.

Jb3

I have a review here on the Europa and am still using my Complete. They are a great match and the more i listen, the more i like. The Plinius is a supurb amp but I feel a bad match for the Europas.

Having lived with this combo for about three months I feel to better the Complete you will need an excellent tube Integrated, the Unico might just be the ticket??

P.S. IMO the Europas are at their best with tubes and the Complete is the next best thing and probably better than 90% of the tube Integrated's out there.

I have yet to hear any compression from overdriving the Complete. My room size is about average and I listen at modest levels.

Hi John,

I don't think you can go wrong with Signal Cable IC's for the price. I used the Analog 2 for awhile, and found it to be a solid performer.

Roy Johnson, who designed the Europa's, highly recommended Audio Magic Sceptor IC's. They were a bit out of my price range, but I did try the Audio Magic Excalibur II with my Complete, and found them to be a noticeable improvement over the Signal Cable. Smoother midrange, cleaner treble, and more detail. Of course, the Excalibur's were about $125.

Two other cables you might consider: Analysis Plus (also recommended by Roy), and Millersound. Millersound IC's are pretty rare, but they are essentially clones of JPS Superconductors and are only about $40-50 used. VERY neutral cables that are great for the price.

Its awfully hard to get around to actually listening to all of these, good to narrow it down. I really like what I see in the Unico too, but as you alluded to, it is a significant step up in price, a step up that may not be proportional to the benefits it produces.
I'm now pretty certain that the Complete offers plenty of power for the Europas, the feedback that I have had has been consistent.