Audio Research Announces SE Upgrades for Ref 75/150/250 Amps

So.....did the new Special Edition Reference amps leap frog the GS amps?

Man I'm confused. Reference was reference until GS came out, but now special edition is reference again?

ARC is the antithesis of McIntosh. Mc takes seemingly decades to come out with anything new. ARC changes things weekly. I LOVE ARC, but holy cow. If you just purchased a pair of REF250's thinking you had the best 250 watt ARC tube amp, you won't be too happy.


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Frankly, I'm not surprised. How long has the Ref 5SE been out? The Ref 75 has been on the market unchanged since 2012.
 
mep said:
Frankly, I'm not surprised. How long has the Ref 5SE been out? The Ref 75 has been on the market unchanged since 2012.
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And tell me ARC hasn't created confusion with the GS line. "Yes it's better than the REF line, oops, no it's not, well, not now at least."

Don't get me wrong - I still pine for a pair of REF250SE v.3.5SE/GS.SE.5.9's.


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Mike said:
And tell me ARC hasn't created confusion with the GS line. "Yes it's better than the REF line, oops, no it's not, well, not now at least."

Don't get me wrong - I still pine for a pair of REF250SE v.3.5SE/GS.SE.5.9's.


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No disagreement there with regards to the confusion caused by the GS line and where everything stands in the pecking order. In the old days, if it had "Ref" in front of the name, it represented their top of the line.
 
mep said:
No disagreement there with regards to the confusion caused by the GS line and where everything stands in the pecking order. In the old days, if it had "Ref" in front of the name, it represented their top of the line.
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Agreed.


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mep said:
Frankly, I'm not surprised. How long has the Ref 5SE been out? The Ref 75 has been on the market unchanged since 2012.
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When were KT150 tubes first produced? Aren't they more recent than 2012? I just see this as ARC responding to the availability of better tubes and customer demand. Thankfully they offered an upgrade path.
 
cmalak said:
Mike....here's news release with pricing info from TheAudioBeat.com: Audio Research Reference 75 SE, Reference 150 SE and Reference 250 SE - The Audio Beat - www.TheAudioBeat.com
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Thanks Cyril!

From this quote:

"Quoted specs for the amps have not changed. "Although we could change some of the operating voltages and get higher rated power output," says Dave Gordon of Audio Research, "we are going the conservative route, which we think will provide greater reliability and tube life. We expect owners to get 3000 hours out of these tubes, about 50% longer than KT120-equipped amps."

So they expect about 2000 hours on a set of KT120's ?
 
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ARC "needs" some things in this price range if they are to maintain their elite reputation. Their line was getting downright budget priced in today's audiophile world :D:D
 
joeinid said:
Thanks Cyril!

From this quote:

"Quoted specs for the amps have not changed. "Although we could change some of the operating voltages and get higher rated power output," says Dave Gordon of Audio Research, "we are going the conservative route, which we think will provide greater reliability and tube life. We expect owners to get 3000 hours out of these tubes, about 50% longer than KT120-equipped amps."

So they expect about 2000 hours on a set of KT120's ?
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Joe...yes. 2,000 hours for 6550/KT-120s
 
That was always my fear with the new GS line, versus the reference line. That the GS line pricing would manifest as higher price tags when the reference line was renewed.
 
I'm a little disappointed that ARC isn't taking advantage of the full capabilities of the KT-150 tube and I wonder if the GS series doesn't either. Under the rationale of wanting to run the tube conservatively, they are leaving power on the table. Of course, that would have necessitated ARC providing a different power transformer and possibly output transformers as well. Since I have already installed KT-150 tubes in my Ref 75, I wonder what circuit changes they made and what parts are being changed out to improve the amp above what I'm getting by simply using the KT-150.
 
mep said:
I'm a little disappointed that ARC isn't taking advantage of the full capabilities of the KT-150 tube and I wonder if the GS series doesn't either. Under the rationale of wanting to run the tube conservatively, they are leaving power on the table. Of course, that would have necessitated ARC providing a different power transformer and possibly output transformers as well. Since I have already installed KT-150 tubes in my Ref 75, I wonder what circuit changes they made and what parts are being changed out to improve the amp above what I'm getting by simply using the KT-150.
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Mark,

We have different views on this matter. I am happy they did not do it. ARC have tens of years of experience in amplifiers using about 420V power supplies (a lower than average value) and managed to create some very reliable amplifiers, something I praise a lot in the brand - I have many thousands of hours in my REF150 without any problem.
As far as I know the upgrades need changing the output transformers to adapt the amplifier to the KT150's, as well as few capacitors and wiring.

From the Audiobeat site:
"Although we could change some of the operating voltages and get higher rated power output," says Dave Gordon of Audio Research, "we are going the conservative route, which we think will provide greater reliability and tube life. We expect owners to get 3000 hours out of these tubes, about 50% longer than KT120-equipped amps."
 
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