"Wilson's will show whatever you put behind them" Not according to my experience I had of the Wilson's 5 yrs ago at a dealer in New Orleans. You could have put Jadis' top of line, 3 or 4 models even, and the W's would have poluted the Jadis sourse. One word, fatigue. Hey Hifimanic, so you bought into a pr of Wilson's did you? What yr? Talk had been big, and i'm sure many like you "went for it".
I don't know which Wilsons you listened to but I own WP7s and have listened to(and about to receive) the Maxx IIs extensively. They really do show everything you put in. Maybe your Jadis was not a good combination. From my understanding everyone modifies their Jadis for this reason. Once modified they are supposed to be excellent but who knows I wasn't there. Maybe they weren't setup right. All I know is that tons of people own Wilsons & you seem to resent it. Yet anytime people here the recent generation Wilson speakers they tend to love or at least respect the sound. Maybe you are right and all the people who buy wilson speakers (which aren't so beautiful in my opinion compared to some other speakers out there) are deaf and only you can hear. All I know is when I listened to the Wilsons w. Levinson, Halcro or Naim or VTL or Krell I knew what I was hearing immediately and they all impossed their signature on the sound.
There are no definites. If you are buying new I would purchase the new MB450 in a heart beat. They should be incredible. Also get the new 6.5 preamp. Make sure it is a brand new one as there are some changes. You will then be in hassle free heaven. Those are my biases. I would match preamp to amp in this case as you will benefit from the super balanced topology which is truly superb. It takes the sound up a level. If you don't run fully balanced you will miss out. Also the 6.5 preamp is a sleeper. It is affordable & sounds great. Don't mistake the synergy of the combination.
I haven't heard the ARC so no comment but every time I hear VTL equipment (or Manley for that matter) I recognize their sonic signature & love it.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
