2. amps-preamps
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Unhappy with tubes so which transistor amp?

Hi guys,

About 6 months back I bought an ARC Ref110. For one reason or another I am still running on the demo unit which has failed 2 times during this time. The first time it was one of the output tubes which was blown. This time it simply won't power up. I have checked the fuse and it looks ok but the amp shows no sign of life.

Based on my experience so far I am thinking that I will sell my unit brand new when I get it next week. I don't want to deal with a piece which breaks down often as for me reliability is one of the key criteria as I am totally zero on the technical side of electronics (changing the fuse may be as technical as it gets for me). So even stuff like biasing, changing tubes after x amount of hours looks like a lot of work to me.

Now after this background I come to the million dollar question. Since replacing the amp with my old Aragons I have noticed that I have lost significantly in 3 areas.

1) Soundstage does not seem to be as big as with the Ref110 specially in regard to sound coming from outside the speaker thing, which btw is gives you an awesome feeling if you are listening with the lights switched off

2) I have lost the mid range magic. This is painfully apparent in vocals as they have lost their sense of realism.

3) Digital glare and harshness has also crept back in the system.

Now I am looking for an amp that is SS but can give me back what I have lost although I am not sure about number 2 as everyone says you can't do it with SS. Basically I am looking for an SS amp with huge soundstage, beautiful and natural (not "smooth" as in muffled) midrange and san any digital glare. Price should be ~10K new or used.

The related equipment is ARC CD3 MKII, ARC LS26 and Peak Consult Empress loud speakers.

Any help or ideas is welcome.

Thanks

P.S. I posted the same on speaker forum by mistake. Mods please feel free to delete the other thread. Thanks
rayden1972
rayden1972 OP
22 posts
 
Thanks guys. More information leads to more confusion. Ngjockey writes:

[QOUTE] Both the Pass and the Plinius will be more laid-back than the ARC, like sitting further back in the audience or as though the stage were behind the speakers. [/QOUTE]

I don't like the sound of it. I don't want to give up the feeling of being a part of the performance. I just love the sound stage of my 110 and don't want to give up anything there. Also I would like stay balanced through out the chain so I guess Plinius goes out as well.

Funny thing about me is that I have never had any European electronics and American speakers in my setup so I don't want to change this now. The American speakers I have heard (Revels and Wilsons) were too forward for my taste and European electronics too laid back :-)

As its been pointed out countless times system synergy is more important than the individual components so maybe the best mating between an ARC pre and Empress can only be provided by an ARC tube amp :-(

tpsonic
1,092 posts
 
The CFs and ARC designs are on opposite ends of the spectrum.It would be easier to switch to SS from an ARC,than from CJ.IMHO.In addition to the fore mentioned products,i will also give a nod to the Pass X or XA series.
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
3,204 posts
 
If your Aragon amplifiers sound better than the ARC, the latter is broken. As for the digital glare "creeping back into the system", you should probably look elsewhere for the culprit.

I can understand that tubes might not be your cup of tea for practical purposes, but good tubes amps consistently whup SS in most areas.

Oz
rlawry
485 posts
 
I, like you, had tube amps that continued to fail in one way or another. I even had some OTL tube monoblocks that had the biggest soundstage I had ever heard. But I got tired of going to my music room and panicking when the amp failed. When I went back to solid-state for its reliability, the midrange magic and dimensionality of the instrumental images and soundstage were mostly gone. So I tried a number of SS amps and never found one I liked until I bought a used Essence amp here on the Gon. Superior dynamics, bass, and detail to any other amp I have heard with some of the dimensionality of tubes. And no tube biasing nor tube failures. I will never look back.
honest1
586 posts
 
One other to check out is Audiopax, if they are available in your country. They are from Brazil, and the 2 years I went to CES, they had one of the best sounding rooms in the show. Although mostly known for their tube amps, they were showing a pair of solid state monoblocks in 2006. Although there was a year separation between the 2 shows, I thought the 2006 system (w/ solid state amps) sounded better than the 2005 system (w/ tube amps). They had also upgraded their speaker design, so this probably contributed, but the amps certainly weren't hurting.
I would also recommend Pass amps as very musical and detailed.
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