Amps I Like

Interesting. It sounds like you prefer modern ARC to historical ARC, and that you think ARC house sound (if I can call it that) has changed for the better over a number of years but to your ears is not (at least the integrated amp) quite on par with Ayre.  I say ‘interesting’ because if anything some of what I’ve read on this site seems to lament ARCs direction and pine for the good old days there. But maybe that’s more as to service and old favorite employee departures than to sound quality. 

I’m too new to the game to have a longer term point of reference, just trying to learn from those with experience and well formed opinions. I’m personally quite interested in ARC because I own a circa 2010 solid state ARC integrated (class D even - wow that’s way out on the ARC property fringes) and really like it. I got it as a demo unit on major sale while demoing a ton of speakers (didn’t have time/energy to put same level of effort into amp selection - it sounded great to me with the speakers I chose so that was good enough for me), and I knew from my last buying experience 20 yrs ago that ARC and Mc were two of biggest and well respected brands, and finally ARC was local to me so some regional pride in going with them I guess. It was kinda like, I can get ARC for this price? Done, back to focusing on speakers in my search. And I’m happy but probably don’t know what I’m missing if anything. 

I guess in some ways different animals since ARC mainly tubes and Ayre mainly SS, from what I can tell. I think Luxman also in the latter camp and you’ve listened to Lux more, pls share your thoughts on how Ayre and Luxman compare to your ears. Thanks

+1 for the EVS 1200, a dual mono module design in an Italian chassis, with lots of tweaks to the newest IcePower modules and the internal wiring.

I probably have 200 listening hours by now, and keep getting blown away as I spin old discs that I am intimately familiar with. Of course the rest of the system needs to be really good to fully appreciate how great this amp is, but IMHO, at $2200, it is a cornerstone to build around

I am an ARC owner. My reservation with VSi75 is the volume control. I have the same doubts/concerns with most integrated amps. Preamps are critical to overall sound and the vast majority of integrated amps are amplifiers with shortcuts taken in the preamp stage, if there even is a preamp stage. Many use buffered volume controls of mediocre quality. This approach saves space, money, and affords a relatively high degree of transparency at the expense of dynamics and soundstage. A simple way to test the truth of this would be to plug a Ref 6 into the amplifier input of the amp stage but guess what; ARC does not let you circumvent the volume control with preamp in inputs. 

ARC amps keep evolving as do most brands over time. The new 160M and S models don't sound like the prior 250/150/75 series. So there isn't only 2 flavors to ARC "House Sound" over the past 20 years or whatever time frame anybody cares to reference. One needs to be more specific about what models they are referring to. There's lots of love out there for the new direction ARC has gone on....although the prices make them unobtainable for many...so perhaps many haven't heard them yet.

Interesting. It sounds like you prefer modern ARC to historical ARC, and that you think ARC house sound (if I can call it that) has changed for the better over a number of years but to your ears is not (at least the integrated amp) quite on par with Ayre. 

I like to leave a lot of room for personal preference, so that's why I describe it that way. I would say I personally prefer Ayre, but is it a "better" amp?? I have a tough time saying it like that.

I say ‘interesting’ because if anything some of what I’ve read on this site seems to lament ARCs direction and pine for the good old days there. But maybe that’s more as to service and old favorite employee departures than to sound quality.

In the late 80s, 90s I was much more of a Conrad Johnson fanboy and could simply NOT understand the ARC fans. So this hasn't changed for me at all, what's changed, IMHO is the direction of the gear. I think even the modern ARCs can be improved with better caps, they love those red Wimas.  But in any event, this is all VERY personal, and not a true measure of quality or engineering acumen.