Audio Research REF 80S Reviews/Comparisons

Wow, thank you ghdprentice

charles1dad (always love your posts) and

tomic601

As I said above I will report back. My AD who has been an ARC dealer for many years pitched the new ARC trade-in program for the Ref 6. Instead of paying $3K to have one’s existing Ref 6 upgraded to an SE the offer is to send back the Ref 6 and get a brand new SE for $4.5K. My reply was "why would anyone want to pay an extra $1,500 for basically the same thing". He laughed and said, "yeah, well, the program was a response to the fact that they are badly backed up doing repairs and don’t have the time to do upgrades to existing units". ARC’s service department told me it would be 4-5 months before they will even provide me with a return authorization to send in my Ref 150SE for repairs! So while I appreciate the congratulations my decision to buy the Ref 80S was somewhat under "distress" (that being a reference to the definition of a true arms length sale as one in which the seller is under no particular compulsion to sell and the buyer is under no particular compulsion or need to buy). For two thirds of the price I could have purchased a pair of Manley Snapper monoblocs which are also true balanced and in light of my love for my Steelhead and love for how responsive Manley Labs is to any question or request for help I was very close to buying the Snappers instead. What I love about Manley is that their products are not only tried and true but then stay constant. The Snapper remains virtually unchanged for almost 20 years! Obviously the Manley approach is in stark contrast to the ARC approach, the latter of which reminds me of Apple phones.

Well, congrats Mr. Smith!

That is a bit of a frustrating situation with the long service delay to push you there but with the other ARC gear I suspect the REF 80S was in your future no matter what : )

Is the 150SE operable for you to compare or will you only be going off memory?  I truly do hope you have zero doubts and it is a slam dunk upgrade.  

The features and aesthetics are fantastic so looking at that amp alone will bring much joy.

I am happier than I have ever been with the 75SE/5SE/2SE and feel quite fortunate to be here.  For the first time in my life there is nothing about my system that shows fault.  I of course want to upgrade other things for the fun of it but am trying to tame that beast.

Looking forward to hearing your impressions right out of the box and as times goes on.  Enjoy!!!!

Thanks dhite71 OP

My 150SE is not operable. When it does come back repaired I will  have a tough choice to make. Between the cost of repairs and a new tubeset that I am sure ARC will insist upon I am not likely to recoup a lot of money-relative to costs-on the used market so I may keep it. 

I don't expect the 80S to make a huge difference. I hope there is an incremental change for the better. Even if there is not, I will admit that the idea of less tubes to maintain, the new feature set, and the drastically better looks (the 150SE is pretty plain jane!) will be sufficient for me. But I will be frank-with the new four layer circuit board and what is claimed to be a better circuit design I am optimistic I will like the sound better. 

I would love to know who at ARC is at the helm of recent circuit design. ARC touts Warren Gehl as "design engineer" but I don't buy it. Ever since the tragic early passing of this guy, ARC (imho) has not been clear as to who the brains behind the operation is. 

The best things for me is that 80s have RCA input besides with XLR. They finally realize that both kinds of input will be more welcomed than that before with XLR only.

I am a true believer in true balanced. The Ref 6 was optimized for running balanced and even though some may disagree, running true balanced is not only about hum rejection. Since my Ref 150 SE blew, I have been using my Ampsandsound Nautilus which offers both fake-balanced (transformer coupled since on SET amp can not by definition be balanced) and SE inputs. I have tried both. Even with the transformer coupled "balanced" inputs, running XLR's rather than RCA's sounds much better. My XLR's are Cardas Clear Beyond. My RCA'S are Analysis Plus Silver Apex. No doubt "it all depends" but with the Ref 6 the scary-real soundstage depth, height, and width collapses with RCA's. Bass tonality suffers too. 

As another example, I have a Luxman 750u headphone amp. It needed a minor repair (internal fuse). The tech who repaired if for me, Steven Leckrone, emphasized to me that the Luxman circuitry on his test bench made it clear to him that running balanced from input to output (the headphones) was essential for best sound.