Audio Research DSI 450 vrs. HD 220 against all tu


I am in need of upgrading my power amps and am requesting insight from anyone who had had the opportunity to compare there two amplifiers. The amps will be paired up with Wilson max 2's. No,, tubes (110 or 210s )are not out of the question, i guess this is the comparison im really interested in, if the solid state or hyber can get me close enough to all tube, then that will be my direction. Thanks for you opinions

Mike
acrylic
Cmalak, Im looking forward to finding out why the AR dealer is in Co. and audition the amps. Man do i hope your dealer is right. Ill purchase the 450 in a second.
Acrylic....here is Marc Mickelson's (former editor of Soundstage.com and now founder/editor of The Audio Beat) response to a letter I sent him on the DS450: http://www.theaudiobeat.com/letters.htm

It sounds like he walked away with a favorable impression.
How do all the subsequent solid state/hybrid/class D models compare with the D100.2 ?
Cmalak, thanks for
the follow up and staying on tract. I am a big fan of Marc's and do not take his comments lightly. This is great news and maybe the solution for my wants/needs
Not sure what bad recording might have been playing while Jwm was in the ARC room, but on multiple visits listening to various recordings including my own live recordings that I had with me, the system sounded fantastic. It was antithesis of what Jwm described. The DS450 sounded less like a switching amp than any of ARC's previous models.

For the record, I used to be an ARC dealer but no longer work in the high-end audio industry.