Hello,
Great suggestions from Steveaudio. I would throw in the ARC VT130 to consider if you see yourself going into the ARC line. Right when the VT100 II came out, I listened to this and the VT130 at a local ARC dealer and they each had their strenghts. The VT130 has a midrange bloom and harmonic richness to die for; I ultimately bought this. The VT100 had a little more neutrality across the entire range. Each does the top end well with the VT100 giving just a little more presence in the bass. But if you want the magical "liquid" midrnage only possible with tubes, the VT130 is THE best value I have ever heard. I still am kicking myself for selling this even though it did not mate well with the Magnepan 3.3 speakers due to their demand of more power. But this is the kind of amp we keep forever to use in those more gentle sound systems in our home. Now that I have the Wolcotts, all that VT130 magic is back with power reserves to drive the Maggies well. Just stay away from the ARC Classic series as this was very much part of ARC's analytical period. One other option is a good deal on a pair of M100 monos.
John
Great suggestions from Steveaudio. I would throw in the ARC VT130 to consider if you see yourself going into the ARC line. Right when the VT100 II came out, I listened to this and the VT130 at a local ARC dealer and they each had their strenghts. The VT130 has a midrange bloom and harmonic richness to die for; I ultimately bought this. The VT100 had a little more neutrality across the entire range. Each does the top end well with the VT100 giving just a little more presence in the bass. But if you want the magical "liquid" midrnage only possible with tubes, the VT130 is THE best value I have ever heard. I still am kicking myself for selling this even though it did not mate well with the Magnepan 3.3 speakers due to their demand of more power. But this is the kind of amp we keep forever to use in those more gentle sound systems in our home. Now that I have the Wolcotts, all that VT130 magic is back with power reserves to drive the Maggies well. Just stay away from the ARC Classic series as this was very much part of ARC's analytical period. One other option is a good deal on a pair of M100 monos.
John