Rogue vs ARC

First of all I do not have any extensive experience comparing Rogue and ARC amps. I switched from the Pass labs Aleph 5 to the Rogue M-150's several years ago and liked the change it brought to my system. I recently upgraded my M150 to M-180 very nice improvement. I just want to add support to what other Rogue owners have said, the sound is good, the service is good, the price is reasonable and another feature that has been touched upon is their flexibility, i.e you can use 6550, kt88, kt90 and EL34 output tubes, each output tube is individually biased so matched sets are not required, they can be switched from ultra linear to triode on the fly and they handle the very difficult load my Martin Logan Summits beautifully. Clearly I am a satisfied Rogue customer.

When rogue first started its true, they were good budget amps,but they were not built anywhere near arc standards. Rogue today however is a better company than it was then. Mark has learned a thing or two and now makes some of the best made gear in the industry. Look at the pictures on there web sight for the new five grand pre amp. outstanding build, all aluminum casework, mundorf supreme caps ect, check it out for your self. ARCs reference gear is better still, but for twice the price.

Sorry to chime in a different light. To some degree ARC's predicament is kind of they're prisoners of their own success, they have a large installed base of products out there. Their products never die and owners keep sending them back to be restored, refurbished, and go back to be used in their systems. So now they have a couple of units that are 20 yrs old and perhaps a newer piece which of course they want to at least visually look like it all goes together.

Under new ownership ARC's challenge going forward is to move on make changes and continue creating classics without upsetting a lot of owners.

I have had both. The Rogue M-180's and the ARC 110. The ARC does not even come close. The bass is so much more there on the Rogues. The Ref 110..what bass..? it has none! For $5500 retail the Rogue M180's are VERY hard to beat. Even against my Lamm M1.2 Reference ($22,690), the Lamm's were better, but not $17,190 better! I would like to know every ones source. an Air Tight PC-1 supreme on a VPI classic turn table is hard to beat. Yes the cartridge is 3 times more money then the TT, but use that through a $25,000 pre and a $12,000 phono stage, and $32,000 Focals, and you would be suprised how the Rogues become giant killers.The Rogues also killed my VAC 300.1's as well. Listen with your ears and not your wallets.

I have never owned ARC gear, but from the several times I have heard ARC based systems, I have been impressed. However, I am an extremely happy owner of a Rogue Audio
Cronus, and it is truly a wonderful amplifier. It's approaching its third birthday, and it makes wonderful music. It's built to extremely high standards, and I have always been treated very well by Nick and Mark at Rogue. They have been there to give me support and advice whenever needed, and I think the company is getting better and better. Happy Listening.