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In Reply to: RE: AR Integrated Amplifier SN A000030 posted by Mr. Dick Hertz on November 01, 2014 at 17:58:14
I bought one when they were first introduced (I was young and naïve) after reading Julian "tone deaf" Hirsch's review in Stereo Review.
It was the worst POS I ever heard, even after all these years.
On a positive note, the experience taught me a valuable lesson.
The OP should stop wasting his time and money!
Al
Follow Ups:
low level performance. When cranked, it sounded fine. Low level resolution was virtually non-existent.
I owned one (briefly) in 1972 driving Advents. I did, however, really like its cosmetics: clean panel design and the soft pebbly black finish on the top and side panel. :)
I listened to one at a friend's house about that same time, also driving large Advents. In comparison, my Dynaco SCA-80Q sounded awful - rough, gritty, irritating. Which, in retrospect, I think it was.
I have an AR receiver in the closet waiting to be restored. (Maybe when I retire - it's too much work to do in my spare time :-)
Like you, I love the cosmetics.
Just because an amplifier sounded good at high levels, it did not necessarily follow that it could do as well at low levels, which seemed counter-intuitive to me at the time. It took longer for me to fully grasp another lesson - an amplifier that did well at the frequency extremes didn't necessarily shine in the midrange. Huh?
I experienced both seeming paradoxes simultaneously when I borrowed a friend's Conrad-Johnson MV-75a amplifier and compared it to my Threshold Stasis 3. The CJ bettered the Stasis in the midrange with more focus, but didn't do as well at the extremes. And, like the AR Integrated, fell apart at low levels - a characteristic at which the Stasis excels.
Interesting! I have heard the MV75 driving Vandersteens, and it did do very well in driving them at low levels. My current Threshold CAS-1 does well in low levels, but it is a very different amp that the Stasis 3. First, it is not a Stasis, it is a Cascode amp. It is only 60 watts and it is sliding bias Class A, rather than true Class A. It would be very interesting to hear them side by side. I have heard a Stasis 3 and it sounded great, but it was in the 80's, driving Maggies. It is hard to compare at this point. It did make me lust after Threshold products. I was practically dancing out of the store when I bought my CAS-1 for $60 in a thrift store, but I'm not going to count on finding a Stasis 3 for anywhere near that price. Lightning rarely strikes twice!
Dave
I have heard the MV75 driving Vandersteens, and it did do very well in driving them at low levels
Perhaps it was not happy driving the reactive load of the Acoustat 2+2s I used at the time. Not all amps can deal with the low impedance and funky phase angles. :)
First, it is not a Stasis, it is a Cascode amp.
Actually, the Stasis series combined both concepts: separate class A voltage / class AB current mirror operation with cascoded outputs. While the CAS1 used six outputs per channel, the Stasis 3 used sixteen .
Using sixteen 150 watt devices per channel also obviated the need for any protection circuitry. :)
A fellow audio salesman drove Acoustat 3's with a 200 watt CJ Premiere. That was a happy combination! I suspect I would like the Stasis 3.
Dave
about the larger CJ amps.
I still had 2+2s when I purchased VTL MB-450s in 2001. At nearly 500 watts into 4 ohms, they drove the Acoustats very nicely, too. :)
I never heard one but have read that it is a Class B amp. That could account for its sonics.
Dave
I had one of these for a while until it caught on fire. I loved the look of it but wound up tossing it in the dumpster after the fire.
I thought you were going somewhere else with that!
Dave
I too read some posts that declared it a class B amp. Well, I just went through the bias procedure that is clearly class AB to avoid crossover distortion. The distortion spec's are <.25%. AR even states in the service manual that value was chosen as a good comprimise between distortion and the extra heat that would be disspated in the output transistors if they were biased further into class A. The poster that stated it was class B was simply wrong.
Gary
Thanks for the correction!
Dave
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