Anyone Compared ARC Ref 75SE and 75 With KT150

Veerapaneni ... if Oregonpapa doesn't weigh in soon, PM him. He made the switch and is in love.

FWIW, I upgraded my Ref 150 to the SE. IMO, big time improvement.

I understand that the cost to upgrade the Ref 75 is about $2500 or thereabouts. That's about half the cost of the Ref 150 SE upgrade. Btw, the kit includes a complete retube.

I believe Oregonpapa bought a new 75SE but never upgraded his 75 with KT150s.

Veerapeneni ... before upgrading my Ref 150 to the SE version, I dropped in KT-150 tubes. There was a definite improvement in sound. Smoother, deeper and tighter bass, just better sounding all around. The SE upgrade effected another quantum level of improvement.

It's difficult to quantify such changes, but FWIW, Kal at ARC said that the KT-150s likely accounted for roughly half the improvements; the balance relating the SE circuitry changes. Who am I to quibble?