ARC Ref 110 with KT 150 tubes

Well said Wolfy. I'm tired of wining (or is it whining) about those stupid KT-150 tubes. Oh ... and who ever said I would buy KT-150s from ARC for $200 each. Talk about meshuganah. Upscale charges $100 per tube and even that is too much.

@Jamnesta -- just for fun and giggles, I dropped a (Russian new issue) Tung Sol 6550 into my ARC Ref 5 SE. It sounded just fine. As I said, ARC uses the 6550 in the power supply (PS) of its preamps and source components. I surmise that the branding is less important in the PS application as compared to the gain circuits of the amps. Just a guess.

Ghasley, I contacted one of the manufacturers using the 150's in the Ref 75 at RMAF. He told me there were no modifications, just switched tubes and biased in the same range as the 120's, couldn't be easier

As we have become accustomed to of late ! It would appear that ARC Central have circulated an, as yet, confidential memorandum amongst their distribution network in respect to an SE upgrade program for the current Ref line. This leak emanating from a source 'close to' an ARC dealer.

Initial reports make mention of $1K for Ref75 and $2K for Ref150, which if close to accurate, surely cannot include any meaningful upgrade to the Iron, therefore we may well be looking at a handfull of PSU and bias circuit components in optimising the utilization of the KT150.

Jasper.

Bifwynne, thanks for the follow up. I'm in the market for a new preamp and the ARC REF 5SE is on my short list. I was concerned by some grumbling from owners who have received 6550we's as replacements and were not happy, so good news per your findings.
Cheers,
John

A recent clarification folks.

" My dealer answered my email this morning. It seems that Audio Research is being very tight lipped regarding the details however an upgrade will be available later this year and will run around $3,000 including KT150 tubes (for the Ref150). The upgrade price will include several parts upgrades but no specifics given. The new list price of the Ref150se will be $14,995 ($2,000 increase) which has been previously posted "