Thf:
In my opinion, the Lamms hybrids are very competitive with other top-shelf solid-state amps, the downsides being a slightly dark character that requires a bit of system matching or tube rolling, they produce a lot of heat, and I think they are ugly. They are extremely well-made and Lamm has a reputation for supporting its products. I can only guess how they sound when partnered with your ARC Reference preamp (probably pretty good -- the ARC Reference preamps are reputed to be sunny and open sounding). A final comment about the Lamms: while they are very good, my understanding is that both Lamm's hybrid and tube amps are a bit overrated, and that the honey of the Lamm line is Vladimir's $14K preamp.
I do not know about the availability of these products where you live in Asia, but if you are opening up your list of contenders, I would mention the CAT JL-2 stereo or JL-3 mono tube amps. They are incredibly well-built, will man-handle any solid-state amp you are likely to consider and would likely be exquisite with Extremas. But if your choice is limited to the Rowland, the c-j, and the Lamms, I would go with Rowland -- his stuff sounds and looks really good, it won't break, and if it does break, Rowland will likely be around to fix it (PS - I use a Rowland Coherence II preamp and Cadence phono stage in my main system, and used to own Rowland Model 6 monos w/ batteries that worked really well with an ARC LS-3 solid-state preamp in my second system).
In my opinion, the Lamms hybrids are very competitive with other top-shelf solid-state amps, the downsides being a slightly dark character that requires a bit of system matching or tube rolling, they produce a lot of heat, and I think they are ugly. They are extremely well-made and Lamm has a reputation for supporting its products. I can only guess how they sound when partnered with your ARC Reference preamp (probably pretty good -- the ARC Reference preamps are reputed to be sunny and open sounding). A final comment about the Lamms: while they are very good, my understanding is that both Lamm's hybrid and tube amps are a bit overrated, and that the honey of the Lamm line is Vladimir's $14K preamp.
I do not know about the availability of these products where you live in Asia, but if you are opening up your list of contenders, I would mention the CAT JL-2 stereo or JL-3 mono tube amps. They are incredibly well-built, will man-handle any solid-state amp you are likely to consider and would likely be exquisite with Extremas. But if your choice is limited to the Rowland, the c-j, and the Lamms, I would go with Rowland -- his stuff sounds and looks really good, it won't break, and if it does break, Rowland will likely be around to fix it (PS - I use a Rowland Coherence II preamp and Cadence phono stage in my main system, and used to own Rowland Model 6 monos w/ batteries that worked really well with an ARC LS-3 solid-state preamp in my second system).