Audio Research Ref. 210 questions

Dev, it seems the 210's really need time for the listener to become accustomed to them. I find them very musical and not rolled at either end - just very enjoyable with 3d wraparound quality. The soundstage is quite a bit wider than the Lamms in my system. Before the Cary's I had the Supratek Burgundy 4 chassis amps. They were outstanding but lacked a little drive. They ran out of steam pretty quick when pushed. If not pushed they were very nice. The Cary's had much more drive that the 100wpc Supras. The Cary's ran pretty warm but no more so than the Lamms or ARC's. I have a good size room thats open to the rest of the house so heat isn't a major factor. The Cary's were very quiet thru the speakers but did have a bit of transformer hum. I did find them just a little slow sounding at times but very enchanting. Hope this helped a little ;)

Mantis007, you might want to read Elberoth2's threads another member on Gon. He had the same Lamm's, he had Cary amps but the Cary 500 solid state and then REF210's and now 110 amp. I'm sure his thread will be helpful giving suggestions, he is currently using Wilson Sofia 2 speakers.

Thanks for the info., reading into your reply I did not see any real passion towards the Cary so I take it was not all that for you.

HI ALL, has anybody have any problems with these amp? ie, blowing up resisters, tubes etc etc? My pair has blowed up once from new (appro 6 months old , with 550 hours), both pair!! Also the stupid fan is anoiying! Also, my REF 3 got problem too with resisters when it was delivered new..

Hifi223, boy are you having bad luck. I have owned a few ARC pces REF 300, 6OO and 2 MK2 pre. and have been very lucky not to have any issues what so ever but about three years ago I did have some problems with my first REF3 I purchased but then replaced it with another one which I currently own and never had any issues.

Yes, the early ref 3 had problem with some resisters that they used...the problem sounded like valves noises but its the resisters instead..Now, i have the later version for 6 months and seems to be ok..But the ref 210 really "P" me off.!! The service department here in Sydney, Australia says that its the power tube...