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ARC VT100MkII

I'd appreciate if any of the VT100MkII owners can share their thoughts about this amp.

I am considering this amplifier.
It will be run via balanced cables with the rest of my ARC components - LS-25MkI preamp and CD3MkII cd player.

Cabling is Acoustic Zen Silver RefII from CD3MkII to LS-25 and Matrix RefII from LS-25 to amp. Speaker cables are Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun.

Questions I have about the VT100MkII amp:
1) What is its sonic signature? Is it relaxed, laid back, forward?

2) How hot does this amplifier get?

3) How audible is the fan noise from about 7-8 feet away at low volume listening?

4) Will it manage to drive my B&W N803 speakers?

5)Any issues such as reliability aside from re-tubing?

I listen mostly to rock, blues, jazz and some classical. I like natural, dynamic presentation, but not harsh, analytical or forward sounding. Imaging and soundstaging is important. Good bass is a MUST.

I have listened to this amplifier before and the only think I remember is that I really liked it but it was long time ago and it was driving speakers that are easier on amplifiers than my N803s are.

Thanks very much for your thoughts!
128x128audphile1
steveaudio
331 posts
 
Audphile1, I don't know how much more difficult the M802's are to drive than the N803's. I've owned several sets of b&w's tho. With my M802's, I was usually thinking, TWO VT100MKII's might be the ticket.

I did re-tube my VT100 myself once, & almost electrocuted myself--I got zapped, but good (you have to bias it with the amp turned on). I think I got a quote of $500 + shipping each way to have ARC do it.

If you want a tubed power amp, & don't mind schlepping it/paying for retubing when the time comes, would a larger amp, or monos, be a possibility? Just with the larger, floor-standing b&w's, I'm thinking, 100 wpc? I dunno.

Just my 2 cents, good luck, steve
audphile1's avatar
audphile1 OP
4,323 posts
 
Steve, well that's my biggest concern. The power of VT100MkII may not be enough for the B&Ws. Although I had a 100w/ch SS amp(McCormack DNA-0.5 Deluxe) it sounded quiet good, but the bass was always a bit boxy sounding. The woofers on the Nautilus are pretty tough. When I went from DNA-0.5 to DNA-125 I noticed a very slight improvement in bass and it became clear to me that more power is needed. So I stepped up to DNA-225. I do really like this amp. It is a very good sounding piece, but I figured, I would like to try tubes. The rest of my gear is all ARC, so the natural match in tube amps(out of the ones I can afford) is the VT100MkII. I wish I could try it first, but the probability of that is close to zero. I'd love to get VTM200 but they are very big and at this point out of my price range.

Porziob, heat is a small concern only, but as long as the amp does what I want/expect it to do, I could care less.

thanks
woodburger's avatar
woodburger
143 posts
 
Hot, but it vents nicely.

Fan wasn't noisy to me, but I had it on a separate circuit so I could use the PP (see below) and likely had it running a little slower than stock.

Retubing a pain.

Sound quite good, though somewhat less dynamic than I'd like (into Wilson WP 7s). PS Audio P600 helped before I moved and got dedicated power outlets; then I didn't miss the PP. Plenty of bass. Compared to the Nuforce 9s which I replaced it with, the ARC sounded compressed dynamically.
audphile1's avatar
audphile1 OP
4,323 posts
 
Woodburger, thanks for your comments. What are Nuforce 9s? Digital?
woodburger's avatar
woodburger
143 posts
 
Check out their site. Not really digital - I think analogue switched digitally.

As they say: "The Reference 9 SE incorporates an improved power supply board with a low-ESR capacitor bank. Further enhancements include a separate switching power supply for the analog front-end, ..." and from the 6Moons review: (this) "amplifier technology is based upon the principle that a power oscillator can be modulated by an audio signal to produce an amplified audio signal obtained with a reconstruction filter but without the bandwidth limitations of a fixed frequency carrier-based conventional PWM control. It uses a high-performance analog modulation technique and a close-loop control system. Therefore NuForce refers to its audio amplifier as analog switching amplifiers."

One of the more pleasant surprises I've had in this hobby .
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