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ARC...D-90B or D-115MKII? - Driving Maggie 1.6s

Greetings!

I'm about to venture into tubes and don't want to spend a ton of money. I'm looking at these two amps for approximately the same price.

Is one of these better than the other? I'm expecting delivery of my Magnepan 1.6s on Thursday. It seems like both amps would have enough power to drive them w/o much difficulty, so I'm just looking for comments from anyone who's familiar with these pieces.

BTW - The rest of the system will be:

Audio Research CD-1
Audio Research LS-9
Interconnects are Homegrown Audio Super Silver and Audioquest Opal X3. Speaker cables will be either Audioquest GR-8 or Goertz MI2.

Thanks so much,

Dan
danheather
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
I am driving my 1.6's with Rogue 120 Magnums (120 watts tube) and have just enough power to rock pretty good.
I do not know anything about the ARC amps, but from my experience I recommend the tightest bass and the smoothest highs with all your equipment and cables for these speakers.

I hope this helps in some way.
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
Hi Dan

I have a buddy that bought my D-115 Mk2 to replace his D-90. It really took him a while to decide which one HE liked better. After rolling some of the inputs on the D-115, he finally sold the D-90 but still felt it better in some respects, sweeter mids. The d-115 does have more powerful bass. All things said, I like the d-115 but it is a preference thing. At the same price I would go with the d-115, feeling it offers better value. If you have the chance to listen to both, don't turn down the opportunity. You may opt for the 90.
gmorris
351 posts
 
I used the D115 MkII for 12 years to drive the MG 3A and 3.5/R. The D115 MKII was an excellent performer, and is highly recommended for the MG 1.6. I would use the quasi-biamping technique with the ARC.
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danheather OP
108 posts
 
Thanks guys!

I've decided to purchase the D-115. Thanks for all of the advice.

What is the quasi-biamping technique? Is that bi-wiring? If so, I'm definitely intending to do that.

Thanks,

Dan
baddlcif61f
1 posts
 
Just a note... I own a D90 (orig w/6550s) and if I recall
the D115 was made in (more or less) the same era. I just purchased/installed the cap upgrade from Audio Research and it was well worth it. I had no idea what I was missing... As an EE and former tech, I still have problems thinking that it would make that much difference, but the fact is that either of these amps run pretty warm and power supply caps will have a degraded lifespan (avg 20-30+ years gets cut down to more like 15+)... I am driving B&W N804s with no problems and lots of reserve power so I can not imagine the 115 not having enough.

Just my $0.02.
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