ARC Ref 110 vs. Ref 210

Always go with more power.

I faceed the same problem as you did. I eventually went with the Ref 110.

I talked to several ppl who heard both and they all seem to prefere the 110 by small marigin.

Here what one famous british reviewer wrote to me in an email:

"Big question, <----- 110 vs 210

If you want more slam and scale the 210 does it ultimately a bit better, at a cost!

The 110 is a bit more subtle, coherent and focused , partly because it is one box, common channel grounding, but less bass slam.

2x 210 will be hot, make no mistake, lots of standing power.

Hard choice !"

Personally, I have not heard them side by side, but a close friend of mine owns 210s, so I'm somehow familiar with them, and I think that the above statement is correct.

Hope this helps.

You have a relatively large room in your new house so 210 may be a better choice if you need more power to drive the speakers. If you have a smaller room then 110 would be a better choice. Happy listening!!

There is another great option which unfortunately doesn't work with your 4 ohm Dali speakers, but might be helpful to others with 8 ohm speaker systems. We have set up two of the REF110's in balanced bridged mode (also sometimes called push-pull). In this configuration your double the slew rate and cut the rise time in half while doubling power. You also retain the character of the REF110 amps.

A side benefit is that if one of your amps ever has a tube failure or is down for any reason, you have a second 110 that can run your whole system.