Hi, Kana813 ...
The speakers presently used are a pair of Legacy Signature IIIs. 94db efficiency. Here's a link to the owner's manual:
http://www.legacyaudio.com/images/uploads/manuals/discontinued/signatureIII.pdf
I'm using an ARC REF-3 preamp and the ARC PH-8 phono stage. Digital - ARC CD-7se. At present, I'm using a spare solid state amp replacing my ARC Classic 60 for the time being. I'm looking forward to getting the REF-75 ... my trusted sources tell me that its one of the finest amps ARC has built to date.
As for the comments presented by 213cobra: We all have our biases. I've heard the Zu amps and speakers. In fact, I bought my Legacy speakers from a guy who replaced them with Zu products. He said he couldn't live with the "hardness" of the Legacy speakers. He was using a system that was all solid state. It's commonly known around my audiophile circles that the Legacy speakers have to be driven with tubes in order to sound musical. In fact, a friend has a pair that he drives with a modified Dyna 70 ... and the musicality is amazing. I was always an electrostatic/planer fan until I finally heard a box speaker where the tweeters just disappear, and the Legacy tweeters do that in spades. Unfortunately, these speakers are no longer made, and only available on the used market. I could move up to the Legacy Focus, but I'm afraid of overloading my room (15x18).
But more on Kana813's comments: At first, I thought it was an attempt at buzz-kill. Then I thought, here is a person with an agenda ... most likely a dealer, or someone in manufacturing that competes with ARC. The reason I thought this, isn't because of what he described in the room with the REF-75, but because of his analysis of what he heard in Randy Cooley's room with the REF-250s. THAT, my friends, was one of the finest music retrieval systems I've ever heard in my long experience as a music lover and as an audiophile. Now that I've read more posts submitted by Kana813, I've come to realize that my initial reaction wasn't accurate. He's sincere in what HE hears. The SETs and Zu type speakers CAN sound amazing, especially in the midrange. It kind of reminds me of when I had my modified Acoustat IVs driven by Atmosphere, transformer-less 60 watt mono-blocks. Lots of real beauty in the mids, in fact, mids to die for, with, however, a rolled off top and not much real bass to speak of. But honestly, on some nights, with the lights out, when the power coming into the house was more pure than usual, the walls just fell down and the music was beautiful. So, I'm not taking anything away from Kana813, and what HE hears, nor am I saying that ARC gear is the end all ... only live music is that.
I, like Kana813, have my biases as well. I listen to a lot of live music, from symphonic to blue grass. I have thousands of vinyl records, having collected jazz since high school, and that was a LONG time ago. My first record purchase was a 45 rpm of Jerry Mulligan/Chet Baker - red vinyl and brand new. Hey, that was 1955! For my taste, ARC has made some amazing strides. What ARC is trying to do, and has succeeded in a very large part with the new REF series of electronics, as witnessed in Randy Cooley's room, is to transcend tubes AND solid state altogether. I think they are succeeding. Why should we even notice if the gear is solid state or tubes for that matter? We certainly don't listen with that as an objective when listening to live music, do we? Live music is unforced, no "cringe" factor and very natural.
Some of the posters on Audiogon remind me of when I was a kid and interested in hot rods and motorcycles. We all had an opinion of the "proper" dwell and lift of the camshafts. Is one four barrel better, or two? We argued over compression ratios as well. In the final analysis, it really didn't matter at all. The point was, who could get to the end of the quarter mile first. With music systems, the same thing applies. Does one's music system convey music as the LISTENER wants it conveyed. That is a personal matter, and with ARC gear, their world wide sales certainly speak for itself. My goal is not to be listening to my system thinking: "man, this amp or pre-amp sound great," but instead, "Man, those GUYS sound great. So far, so good with my mostly ARC system.
Oh, and I am personally offended by the notion that the only reason someone would own ARC gear, or any gear for that matter, is to satisfy one's ego. To suggest such a thing, really is an attempt to marginalize the opinion of others. There is an excellent article in the latest Absolute Sound by Dennis Prager that explains this. Hey, we listen mostly alone ... so whom are we trying to impress?
So, with all this said, the money is in, the order has been made ... and the amp should be in my system by the second week of July. Stay tuned for the update. Till then, take care.