Rowland versus ARC

tdimler,
You make a good point about ARC preamps and their inability to drive a sub. Al(on Audiogon) told me that before and that’s why I ruled ARC preamps out...I have a JL Audio F112 sub.

IMHO your speakers are fairly efficient and should respond well to a tube amp and preamp. I actually slightly preferred the ARC Ref 40 and Ref 150 over the ARC Ref 40 and D'agostino Momentum stereo amp after an in house weekend long test with Wilson Sashas. I was concerned about the loss of grip and slam with a tube amp, but the loss was so slight compared to the gains in the midrange and high end as well as the height, width and depth of the soundstage that I went all ARC. Of course, Rowland amps will be similar to D'agostino in liquidity and transparency with warmth--so you simply can't go wrong. 

I sold my Melo's Ref. preamp and packed away my Monarchy DAC, so now I'm running the new ARC/DAC9 with the ARC6 into my old Krell KSA 150 amp which is wired to my Apogee Slant 8 electrostatic speakers. So I went from 4 Sovtec 6922 tubes to 10, 6h50 super tubes according to BAT. 
The new sound stage became much wider and deeper than the "above combo" that I had done away with. The only problem that I had, I noticed that I had lost some of the bottom end in my music. Since the woofers in my Apogee's are only 8ins. to remedy this problem, I threw in a 10" Velodyne subwoofer. I'm running XLR cables from the top to bottom in my system, so my XLR's cables running into my Krell from the ARC6, I pulled them out and they are now running into the subwoofer and now I'm running two new XLR cables out of the subwoofer back into my Krell. The verdict is in, this was a match made in heaven, everything blends in so perfectly, and I have no complaints. 

@serious7,

That's quite a interesting setup you have, btw great system. I bet your system sounds phenomenal. 

When i went from all solid state (Classe, Krell) to all tube ARC setup, I was in same dilemma with my power hungry monsters - B&W 800D2. First thought was to change the speakers but I wasn't quite ready to give up my beloved 800's. Since I prefer not to use a sub for 2 ch audio, I end up going the bi-amping route with Class D (LF) and Tube (MF/HF) amps. And this is by far the best setup i have had in 15 plus years of tinkering in high-end audio. 

In fact, I have managed to surprise few friends on how good 800's sound with tube amp feeding the mid's and high's and Class D powering up a pair of 10' bass drivers. 

Not sure what I'm missing......But I've been using my ARC Reference 3 to drive drive TWO subs (albeit, powered) with no problem at all.  (B&W ASW800's).  I'm also powering a McIntosh MC452 and ARC VT-100 with outstanding results IMHO.