Audio Research Refernce 75se

@mike30 

01-18-2022 12:01pm

@ghasley 

I did, im staying with the Vandersteen model 2 sig3 for now

Cool. There was a time a couple of years ago when you could buy a ref75se and a ref5se for a combined price of between $10,000 and $11,000. That was a great value. Today that combo will set you back aproximately $13,000. If you are dead set on that direction, you might reach out to Paragon as they likely have some ref75se’s new in box for a little more than you are looking at preowned. It would have a warranty and it is an end game amp. I drove Wilson Sasha 2’s and Devore O96’s with mine and it was sublime. You will hear your Vandersteens at their very best. You will also have an amp that is far, far more capable than your speakers but thats ok. Buy the best preowned ARC preamp you can afford…a ref 5se, ref 6 or 6se…even a ref40 if you can swing it. You will have your amp/pre for the long haul. When you someday upgrade your speakers, the electronics will scale. You wont have a wonderful match but it will be very good. You wont have tremendous synergy or volume headroom but it will still be very, very good.

best wishes.

I agree w ghasly

Used to sell ARC. There should be no noise heard from that amp.

Also, if you prefer clarity, reality, correct timbres and detail, Arc is tough to beat. If you like "beautiful, smooth and sublime and "weighty" or in other words distortion added to harmonic orders, you'd be happier w something else.

It all depends on taste. Some people are bothered big time with the ARC sound and some people don't like spaghetti which is unfathomable to me.

@baylinor That is DC offset caused by dimming the LED. 

I’m going to try my Vandersteen with 

those 3 amps, not sure about the pre amp that will be used in the test yet.

1 ARC Ref75 SE (after passing mechanically check)

2 Ayre VX-5 twenty

3 Aesthetix Mimas

I will let you know as soon as I heard and picked a winner.

until then, anyone who heard few of them and can compare would be happy to hear it here.

tyvm

I own that amp.  Agree with others; there shouldn’t be a buzz/hum.  I’ve had issues with other ARC amps, and it was miserable.  (Brand new 160S that had to get a new PCB after a few months, which took several months).  FWIW, I also ran it with Treo CTs for a few months.  To each his own, YMMV, and all that, but I did not think the REF 75 was enough for those speakers.  They sounded dramatically better — liberated — with the 160S.  Until it broke.