ARC VSi75SE v. MF Nu-Vista 800

The advice I've gotten here is, as usual, excellent.  But TBH, I really am losing my mind.  “Overthinking”?  Well, yeah, maybe.

Priority #1 is giving my Harbeths whatever they need to shine, spending up to $10-12,000.  There are constraints, but are dealbreakers if the sonics are there.  The perfect choice would be an amp that:

i) my 70-year-old back can lift

ii) has an HT bypass

iii) will also work halfway decently powering the front speakers of a home theater (e.g., minimal warm-up time)

iv) has either a line- or speaker-level output for a sub

v) can be programmed to work automatically with a Logitech Harmony

I’ve considered several ARC & MF Nu-Vista models, as well as integrateds by Hegel, Levinson, HiFi Rose, and Ayre.  Bottom line is that the best-fit ARC model is its entry-level I/50, which lacks most of the functionality I want, but at least is light & has a HT bypass.  The Nu-Vista 800.2, which has just begun to ship, has an equally impressive reputation, but at 300/500 wpc and 90 pounds, it’s not perfect.  A better fit would be the lower-powered, lighter 600.2, reportedly due Q1 2024, but so far that’s just a rumor.

So maybe I need to rethink this from Square One.  I just started looking at a Pass Labs solution: the 20lb XP-12 preamp and 48lb XA25.  Just not sure if a 25wpc class A has enough oomph for the Harbeths, but I think Stereophile gave the Pass a rave review based on listening through a larger Harbeth model than mine.

Still, the I/50 is tempting.  It’s just hard to say whether I’d prefer the ARC or Pass “house sound”.  It’s not even personal preference, since there’s no way for me to audition either one first-hand.

I guess this is all part of the fun of this hobby!  Was it J. Gordon who defined “audiophile” as a person thinks more about stereo equipment than he does listening to it?

Key typo in my last message: That list of "constraints" are NOT dealbreakers.  They're nice-to-haves, significant, but I'd work around them if I had to.

I love Harbeths. They need lots of current to wake them up. 
they sound really good with tubes but a solid state amp will drive them to their full potential. If you can swing it, look into Hegel H390 or H590. 
Good luck. 

arafoq: The H590 is definitely on my short list, but some of the comments here suggest that even the entry-level ARC I/50 -- as well as MF’s limited-edition Nu-Vista products -- are in a whole different class. Again, w/o the ability to actually demo any of these amps, all I can do is ask and listen to responses.

The little Pass Labs amps, I believe, are quite robust when it comes to current sourcing. Wattage doubles, in fact, from 25 to 50wpc when going from 4- to 8-ohm (presumably resistive) loads.

One reason I’m considering the Pass now, at this late date (aside from reading so much praise from Audiogon users), is Herb Reichart’s rave Stereophile review, in which he pairs Pass’s integrated INT-25 with larger Harbeths than mine.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/pass-labs-int-25-integrated-amplifier

Btw, that review includes comments from Joe Pass himself about why his low-powered Class A amps "drive so many loudspeakers with so much dynamic authority and unmatched transparency".  Worth a quick read.

OP,

I have got a seventy + year old back as well. I use talk and if necessary a $20 bill or two to deal with heavy equipment. There are all sorts of ways to arrange for you not to have to lift audio equipment. I will definitely not compromise the sound at my age to a trivial problem like my ego says I have to do this myself.