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Audio Research Reference 150 and Sonus Faber Cremona

How would this amplifier pair with my Cremonas, original floor standing model? Currently using Classe CA-M300 mono locks, but am tempted to try a tube power amplifier. Using ARC LS-27 preamp.

Cremona's are rated at 4Ohms but with a fairly hard to drive phase angle, so I'm not sure how well this tube amp will work. The Classes are rated 300/600 Watts into 8/4 Ohms


fundsgon
fundsgon OP
150 posts
 

Is anybody powering their Cremonas with the Ref 150 or some other tube power amp? What is your experience? My Classe monoblock have great bass, generally sound sound good, but can have a hard edge in the upper mids. Maybe that's the speaker or the amp.

lostbears's avatar
lostbears
538 posts
 

 I drive a pair of Sonus Faber Elipsa SEs with a Ref 110. It is an excellent match.

 Generally they are known to work very well together. Audio Research is owned by the same parent company as Sonus Faber. They are demoed at shows together a lot and Audio Research uses Sonus Faber speakers in their main listening room.

You might want to browse the AudioAficionado.org board. There are a lot of people pairing Audio Research with Sonus Faber. They have a special section for both a Sonus Faber and Audio Research.


 
jakegt3
40 posts
 
I'm powering my Cremona M's with a Reference 150.  I'm also using the Reference 5SE and Reference CD9 player/DAC.  It's fantastic.  The strong points are 3-dimesional soundstaging, phenomenal low level resolution, pinpoint imaging, very smooth but very extended high frequencies, and, of course, midrange bloom.  The electronics are also astonishingly quiet.  I cannot hear even a trace of electronics hiss when I place my ear right up to the tweeter.  I listen mostly to classical music and the acid test for me is massed strings.  This system does it better than any I have heard.  All the solid state amps I have tried have too much high-frequency edginess, which I'm very sensitive to. 
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