2. amps-preamps
  3. 1144214052

Audio Refinement Complete owners: please advise

I would like to hear from other ARC owners RE: what speakers they are driving w/ this amp. I have received very conflicting suggestions and am not sure how to proceed. Can ARC handle large floor-standers such as Paradigm Ref. Studio 100V2, or am I confined to monitors with thsi integrated? My room is 17x28 w/ 15 ft. ceilings. I listen to acoustic Jazz, 60's/70/s rock, singer- songwriters (Hiatt, Thompson, Prine, etc.), some folk and country. Like some volume but not ear-bleed levels. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!
stuartk
stuartk OP
3,155 posts
 
Bignerd100, could you please provide names/models of speakers that you think sound very good with ARC? I don't have many stores in my area.
bignerd100
515 posts
 
NHT 2.5i's, Von Schweikert VR-1, VR-2, Spendor anything, and a whole host of other mid-fi speakers. I have even heard it on Klipsch K-horns.

If you have teh ability to bring potential conteders home for audition it is worth the effort. Otherwise take your amp to the store and insist on demoing with it.

IMO it is best to find your speaker before the amp and then get what you need to power the speaker. If you like the Paradigm Ref. Studio 100V2 then get that speaker and worry about finding the appropriate amplifier later. in the meantime use the Complete as the "A" in A&B comparrisons. You may find (as have I) that the little Complete can best some more $$$ and brutish amplifiers.

Good luck!
s7horton
1,077 posts
 
I've owned the ARC 4 times and have it on the way again for the fifth time. I've loved it with Revel m20's, B&W CDM 1 NT's, and believe it or not, Martin Logan Areius i speakers. I will try it with my current choice, the paradigm studio 20 v3. I agree you have to be smart about speaker choice, but it will uncommonly drive speakers that you think it wouldn't.

The reason I'm going back to it again is because I heard it paired with some JM Labs Electra 906 monitors. Awesome.
Post removed 
ssglx
203 posts
 
I am very happy with my Complete running Soliloquy 5.0 monitors. I've had it at very high levels and have heard some hardness and compression, but not to point of clipping. I do use rather lively and bass-solid cables, and have felt with some cables that I was a bit limited.
I have also run several of the Soliloquy floorstanders with it on audition and it could run and control them quite well.
More to discover