ARC VSi60 vs Ayon Spirit II/III

Just as a matter of interest, Ayon seem to positively discourage tube rolling in their user manuals, I have the Spark. This may be connected to there making the tubes themselves. I wonder, in reality, what possible drawback there could be, in trying upgraded tubes. I have never seen it so discouraged by other manufacturers.

I have experienced none whatsoever with my Spirit. Mine was originally tubed by USA Tube Audio with a choice of Gold Lion Reissue KT88s or what it was shipped with;I choose the GLs . The original signal tubes I think were EH current issue; some time afterwards I swapped in RCA'a after speaking with Paul at USA Tube Audio.I have since swapped out the 2 front signal tubes with CIFTE Mazda's, and this week swapped in Black Treasure KT88s - only thing that has happened is a more musical presentation. I once a month check the KT88 bias,but the amp runs fine.

I am not directly familiar with the performance of the ARC VSi60, never having owned one, but I do own a SPIRIT III. Without getting into immense detail, my overall impression of the sonic quality and overall performance of the SPIRIT III is not very favorable. The TRIODE mode is thin and "peaky" in the upper frequencies, and the PENTODE mode is "grainy", with a tendency toward overemphasized harmonic distortion in the high frequency spectrum. The entire matter has me a bit "boggled". So far I have tried various manipulations with different cables that I have and a few "swaps" with different source components, just to see what the differences reveal. It's pretty much a case of going from bad to worse. The amp doesn't seem too receptive to any of the cableing and component swaps I have made. If anything, my primary choice source components sound best. I have yet to put 200 - 300 hours on the SPIRIT III, and I intend to do so before I start getting totally hyper about the whole thing. Interesting fact is that my initial reaction to the sonic performance was good, and I expected to see major improvements with break-in. If anything the performance seem to be sliding "down hill". I am at a loss to understand why. At this point I can't recommend the SPIRIT III to anyone. If anything my significantly less expensive JOLIDA 502BRC sounds better and more satisfying. I switched back to the 502 just to make certain my ears hadn't " gone out of calibration". Right now the JOLIDA sounds better with the SHUGUANG "BLACK TREASURE" KT-88'S and NOS pre-amp tubes that I installed a couple of month before I took it out of service. I'm still astonished about that, especially considering that the JOLIDA is Class AB pure PENTODE operation. It may be nothing more than the SPIRIT III having a unusual break-in curve. I certainly hope that's true. An additional caviot - - I do not like the binding posts that AYON (in their infinite wisdom) decided to go with on the SPIRIT III. I can not apply enough finger pressure to keep spade terminations locked down tightly. Definitely contributing to bad interfacial conditions. There it is. If things suddenly improve, I'll let you know.

Lance0955 I am not sure I could agree with your critique of the Spirit, I liked it. I would say the similarly priced Spark. 20 watt Triode only amp, is clearly more refined. Better detail, more neutral across the frquency spectrum, better in every way. That is if you can manage with 20watts.

I spoke to a designer at a show a few years ago who disliked the compromises inherent in triode/pentode operation. The output transformers in particular, could not be optimised for either operation specifically. I don't know what others think about this theory, but my impression on various auditions, would seem to confirm it

The Vsi60 sounds great . but it's had some breakdown issues .