My new ARC REF 250's

Paul,

I had a Transrotor Fat Bob S for about five years. What a great turntable. Transrotors are special. Easy as can be to set up, Stable and works of art. I will always regret parting with it.

BlueMcIntosh said:
One of my favorite.

Transrotor ZET 3

Transrotor-Zet3-02.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Mike said:
They arrived a little over 5 hours ago. They are much larger than I had expected and really, quite gorgeous. I put them on and instantly knew these were very special amps. The mid range and highs are incredibly sweet. They are very musical. That's the first thing that came to my mind. How real and musical they sound. The bass is a tad less pronounced than the Classe, but I think that will improve as the remaining 595 hours of break in take hold.

Here's a couple of pics:

View attachment 198View attachment 199View attachment 200
Click to expand...

Mike...congrats on your new amps, looking forward to your impressions and more pix;)

Dave
 
Hi Mike,

Congratulations on your new REF 250s. They are great amps and work well with Salon 2s. As for cords, I also recommend Anaconda CX as Tunes mentioned. I also have Cobra ZiTron cords and tried them on the REF 250s and they pretty good but a bit on the lean side. The Anaconda gives a fuller sound.

Rich
 
New guy said:
Hi Mike,

Congratulations on your new REF 250s. They are great amps and work well with Salon 2s. As for cords, I also recommend Anaconda CX as Tunes mentioned. I also have Cobra ZiTron cords and tried them on the REF 250s and they pretty good but a bit on the lean side. The Anaconda gives a fuller sound.

Rich
Click to expand...

Thanks Rich, this is definitely the way I'm leaning. Right now, I just can't turn them off!

Mike
 
How's it going over there Mike? You still with us?!!!:D

So I know you've been busy lately with new gear (don't you have a ARC REF Phono2 SE coming in?) and with the forum, but were you planning on new speakers for this system?


Hey I like your sig. btw...
 
dlb2 said:
How's it going over there Mike? You still with us?!!!:D

So I know you've been busy lately with new gear (don't you have a ARC REF Phono2 SE coming in?) and with the forum, but were you planning on new speakers for this system?


Hey I like your sig. btw...
Click to expand...

Hi Doug - oh yeah, I'm still here. Working mostly in the background on bug fixes and new things for the forum (doing some vbSEO, etc.).

I had the new 250's on for over 9 hours yesterday and a couple today. They sound terrific. I am so pleased with the midrange and highs. Bass is coming along nicely too as the amps continue to break in. I just keep thinking over and over how MUSICAL they are. They are so natural sounding that they actually make my digital sound quite good! With vinyl, they are magical.

The fans run ultra quiet and the amps aren't nearly as hot as I had feared. In fact, I don't actually consider them hot (in terms of the heat they produce in the room)....maybe moderate heat at best.

Very very happy. :) :) :)

Mike
 
Bob they are sounding terrific. I didn't have much time to listen yesterday, but I plan on some heavy listening a little later. I have just north of 35 hours on them I believe. I haven't experienced any yo-yoing affect yet. They still amaze me with their musicality and ballsiness.

The meters are nice and not too distracting. I leave the fans on all the time.

Still hoping to order some Shunyata Anaconda PC's later this week.

Mike
 
They do look terrific Mike, congratulations. They'll only open up over time.

Are you running Shunyata throughout your system?
 
VT Skier said:
They do look terrific Mike, congratulations. They'll only open up over time.

Are you running Shunyata throughout your system?
Click to expand...

Not yet. That's my plan going forward. Although I would love some Tara Labs Gold speaker cables thrown into the mix! :) My plan next year (or later this year) is to really focus on cabling.

Mike
 
Mike said:
Not yet. That's my plan going forward. Although I would love some Tara Labs Gold speaker cables thrown into the mix! :) My plan next year (or later this year) is to really focus on cabling.

Mike
Click to expand...

From what I've read, you just can't go wrong with Shunyata's new Zitron PC's. I'm thrilled with the lower cost Venom 3's and can't imagine the bump in performance going to the Zitron series. Of course it helps to have the type of system it would take to hear the difference. Mike you have the system to do just that. You must have a huge smile on your face every time you fire it up! :)
 
Quick update: the one thing I've noticed about the 250's so far is that they sound terrific even a few minutes after firing them up. They don't exhibit those "cold" characteristics you get with some amps - especially SS amps. In addition, they've made my digital palatable and my vinyl sublime. :)
 
Mike said:
Quick update: the one thing I've noticed about the 250's so far is that they sound terrific even a few minutes after firing them up. They don't exhibit those "cold" characteristics you get with some amps - especially SS amps. In addition, they've made my digital palatable and my vinyl sublime. :)
Click to expand...

So can we safely say you're done for now? :p
 
Joe and Mike are never done.

I am completely done.

Except for LPs and CDs.

Oh wait, cables.

Maybe a power center.

I guess I'm not done either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top