Is there a difference between AR Complete & YBA In

Yves Bernard Andre designed the Audio Refinement Complete and working with his Taiwanese distributor. I believe the only real difference is that the Audio Refinement Complete is mfg'ed in Taiwan to save on costs. One reviewer (IAR)claims that the result is even better sounding than the YBA seperates.

I've not heard the int. amp, but it is very highly rated for it's sonic capabilities. Keep in mind that it is only 50 wpc so your speaker choices will be limited.

I read earlier of a dealer who stopped selling the single Integre becase customer would always opt for the Complete he also sold.

Just beware that that they won't give a 4 ohm rating for the Complete; just the 50 watts at 8 ohms. The Integre is 50w @ 8 ohms and 90w at 4 ohms. So the Complete may not be as good with hard to drive speakers.

If you can afford it, the DT Integre is worth it, if you like the YBA sound. The phono stage with the Integre is first rate. As a side note, at one time YBA use to let you upgrade a single Integre to a DT, but I don't know if they still do.

I purchased an AR Complete around 6 mo ago. I did this to downsize from separates which included a Classe Preamp and Quicksilver 90 watt monoblocks. I have only heard the YBA Integre at a hi fi show, but I do have a friend who owns the YBA 2 amp, which I have heard frequently. I think the YBA Integre will sound a little bit more transparent and a tiny bit more refined, but the difference, to me, is not worth the difference in price. Before getting the Complete, I did audition Classe separates at home and I think the Complete sounded a little smoother and more refined, while the Classe separates were more dynamic (more power, of course). I think the Complete is a good value, if it matches well with your other equipment. I do not find it to be underpowered, but my speakers are very efficient. I do have to say that the Quicksilvers had a much more natural and refined sound (better than the YBA, also) but they are tube amps and have other liabilities. If you're going to spend $1.5K or more on an amp and you don't want tubes, you may also want to check out Electrocompaniet and the Goldmund "budget" line called Job (jobsys.com).

Thanks for the info on "Job" Joe. I will check into that. As for the Complete vs the Integre, I have been told that you can still upgrade the original Integre. All they do is put in the second transformer from what I heard. The distributor for both Audio Refinement and YBA insists that the Integre is much different from the Complete. Although the only thing he could really find to justify the difference was the power supply, supposedly much better in the Integre. He basically told me to listen to both...I will do this of course.

As for the Job stuff I'll have to find a retailer somewhere around here...

The Integre uses Double C Transformers which cost 3 to 5 times what toroidal transformers cost.