Waiting and nervous about the ARC 75

[Macca]

Might as well optimise everything, no point in spoiling the ship for an hapeth of tar. You can always keep the old valves as spares. Cool looking amplifier btw.

[Ali Tait]

Yes doesn’t hurt to have a spare set.

[farflungstar]

Spent a few hours listening to Boris Blank electronica - holy cow. Stunning - tremendous power and drive and with the meters reading barely 7 watts.

[Bigman80]

Spent a few hours listening to Boris Blank electronica - holy cow. Stunning - tremendous power and drive and with the meters reading barely 7 watts.

It must sound better with meters.

I love them. Great looking amp.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

[montesquieu]

Okay so whilst some may say my opinions are expectation bias here's what i think of the 75 after an initial critical listening session.

My worries about single ended to balanced were unnecessary.

The top of the range Cardas connectors work really well - zero hum or noise. There is only silence with my ear up against the Tannoys. Great. However I hate connectors so will ask speedy Steve to knock me up a cable.

Okay so how does it sound?

To be honest I had expected it to sound less sweet than the 300b/845 I'm used to and yes it is, but marginally. What it has is an incredibly wide, tall and deep soundstage with tremendous definition and resolution. Timbre and nuance is the best I've heard. The treble is extended beyond anything I've heard in my system before, midrange is stunning, and the bass is breathtaking - I've never heard such tonallity to bass, or such power. It grips the Tannoys perfectly, letting them breath but not get unruly - stunning. I would say it has the effortlessness of a big solid state amp twinned with the beauty of valves.

Of course I need new valves but even so I am over the moon with what I'm hearing. It's been a long journey, but this year wth the addition of the Tannoys and the Reed, and now the 75 I feel like I'm where I wanted to be.

Fit and finish is exemplary, though the functional look isn't what I'm used to. Operation is a dream and the amp sounds fabulous almost from cold. Bias adjustment is fiddly but easy.

So - the question. I loved my Carys, the look of them, their sound - have I made the right choice? Without a doubt! I can understand why 3 of 5 reviewers bought one.

Missed this! Nice one Adey, great choice.

I wouldn't worry about the power valves too much I don't think they are too stressed out in that configuration, should last a long time.