Solid State to replace Audio Research REF110?

Knghifi,
You missed the point entirely it seems. ARC and CAT aren't the only ones
who have experienced and talented designers/engineers, in my example I
referenced earlier, my friend went from ARC to VAC. He strongly preferred
the VAC and I agreed with him, simply a matter of taste, I also have owned
ARC and it's a good product but IMO there's better available and I voted
with my wallet and moved on.

I have nothing at all against ARC components and they have certainly
withstood the test of time (as have VAC and other quality products).I dont
believe that ARC amps are unreliable, but their resistor replacement is in my
view a needless hassle.
My point in this interesting thread is I don't think that 'fuses degrade sound
quality across the board' is correct (some designs may and others don't,
it's implementation). My evidence is hearing very good tube
amplifiers(VAC is just one example) that IMO equal or better the ARC
sound. If you disagree that's fine and understandable, just a different point
of view.
Charles,

What bugs me about this thread is all the armchair quarterbacking about circuit design by non-engineers. These designs are all different. BAT does not design like ARC. Any electrical engineers with expertise on tube circuitry weighed in on these issues? I mean, are we really supposed to agree that since one person did not hear degradation with a change to BAT amps that ARC should fuse theirs?
This is all just a bit ridiculous. The only thing these designs have in common is they use tubes.
Charles1dad, we get your point. We don't agree. Saying it again won't change that. You should steer clear of ARC amps, definitely.
I am going over to the Porsche forum now and tell them they have to design their cars for better gas mileage. I will tell them that my Fusion gets better mileage and they need to do whatever Ford does.
That was an analogy, I kid!

Reading that back, it sounds a bit harsh. Sorry.
This is supposed to be fun.

Dbarger .... I'm not a EE, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. ;')

Dbarger,
Hey man , yes relax! We'll all just offering opinions which are bound to
differ. We all can agree there's more than one approach to handling a blown
tube and its outcome. This is fun and also educational from my
perspective. Obviously ARC has their reasons as do those brands that
choose an alternative method. I'm just trying to learn something here. My
ARC-VAC comparison was simply to illustrate two highly respected brands
that do it differently, that's all.
Charles