New Audio Research Reference 150 SE

02-26-15: Philb7777
Geez, I bet it will be $10k for a pair of Ref 250's. That's too much scratch......

Philb7777, you were close. Today Kal said $9k for upgrading Ref250 to SE which includes a new set of tubes. New Ref250SE is $34K. A $8K increase from Ref250. I guess a new set of tubes from ARC including KT150, 6h30 and 6550 is ~$4k so $5k for the upgrade. $2.5K per mono.

I have ~400 hours on my Ref250 now and it sounds amazing so decided no tube rolling or upgrade until tubes need replacing. For now I'm leaning towards upgrade route when it's time.

Knghifi,

I'm with you. I have around 900 hours on my Ref 250's right now so in another 1,000 hours or so, I will start to contemplate this. Options include sticking with the KT 120's, foregoing the upgrade and ordering Kt 150's, or getting the full upgrade with any circuit changes that may be of additional benefit. $9 K is so much money though, this upgrade better be transformational. I certainly won't be the one to beta test it, so I looking forward over the next several months to see how this plays out.

I wonder if ARC intends to phase out the current Ref line and replace it with the SE version at the increased prices. Or perhaps the current Ref version stay and the new SE versions fill in the gap between the current Ref line and the G series.

I also wonder if ARC intends to fill out the G series line. Possibilities might include a GS-250 and GS-750.

Dunno ... of course. But it seems that ARC is going up-market.

Bifwynne ...

From one "schmuck" to another *lol* ... my new REF-75se is supposed to ship tomorrow. Should have it by Thursday. See the new thread I started on this issue.

Happy listening ...

@Oregonpapa ... looking forward to reading your comments. Did ARC tell how long the break-in period is?

Btw, I mentioned this above, but think it is worth repeating that Kal at ARC advised me that ARC has finally gotten around to blessing the KT-150 for use in the "regular" Ref 75 and Ref 150.

I bought 2 quads of KT-150s for my Ref 150 a couple of weeks ago. Yes, my amp sounds better. But 15% to 20% better might be a stretch.

Kal assured me that the SE version would make much better use of the KT-150s because revisions "tune" the amp to better match the KT-150s. Not sure what that means, but hearing is believing. I look forward to reading Oregonpapa's comments.