Anyone Compared ARC Ref 75SE and 75 With KT150

Why compare monoblocks with higher power (and cost)against stereo amplifiers with lower power (and cost) thinking it reflects on the absolute amplifier quality? The only thing that can be determined is which is a better match for the speakers being used.

And yes, the more powerful and more expensive amplifiers may be better by some definitions but that does not diminish the performance of the lower power/cost amplifiers when appropriately matched with speakers.

I thought waiting for 600 hours will not bring the quality I was getting from from 250s. I have asked my dealer to ship me 250SE and I should be receiving them tomorrow or Monday. Will post comparison of gs150 asp do 250se.

Veerapeneni ... as others have posted above, both amps must be fully broken in (600 hours) before doing serious critical listening.

Btw, did you ever speak with Kal. He is very familiar with ARC's products and can give a sense of what to expect.

Here's some Ref 150 SE comments. Last night I was listening to some old CDs of John Gardiner conducting the Orchestre Révolutionnaire (Canada) performances of Beethoven symphonies. IMO, the level of sound stage imaging, detail, tonality of sound was noticeably improved. Of course, my comparison is to my system pre SE upgrade/KT-150s and pre DEQX.

I attribute the improvements in large part to the KT-150/SE upgrade. That said, I can't ignore the possibility that my DEQX PreMATE also made a significant contribution as well.

BIF

Is that some sort of arousal stimulant you are on Bif ?

Regarding the break in time on the REF 75se ... I now have 530 hours on my amp. I haven't listened to CDs for the last half of this time. I've been enamored with the AT-ART9 and have been listening exclusively to analog. The other night I decided to go back to listening to CDs ... and I couldn't believe how much improved my digital (ARC CD-7se with the factory improved power supply) sounded. The first recording I threw on was a Harmonia Mundi sampler that I picked up at the CES in Las Vegas years ago. Its one of my reference CDs. To say that it sounded like a different CD is an understatement. They were in the room ... in the freakin' room!

This amp just continues to amaze.