ARC VSI 60 vs Cary SLI 80 or BAT 300xse

I have personally owned the cary sli-80 and loved it to death. I had a chance to listen to the new reference 75 from ARC. Which is a power amp version of the ARC VSI 60 or very similar. I personally preferred my sli-80 over the reference 75 which I believed sounds worse then my sli-80 in triode mode. I say try playing with some kt-120 tubes in your little cary. It just might be as comparable or sound better even before you spend money on the ARC VSI 60. Im also sure the sli-80 would be able to run with kt-150 tubes! Though check with cary before purchasing them.

I would think the ARC would be the best choice for Vandersteen speakers. Since Vandersteen can be a bit darker sounding, and Cary and BAT can also be darker sounding, the resolution of the ARC would probably work out best to balance the system.
Enjoy the music.

What did you think of the BAT? I'm just curious. I'm not saying you made a bad choice or anything like that.

Just an update since this thread came back to life. I ended up having the Cary, ARC and BAT all in house for about 2 months. In the end I settled with the ARC VSI-60. I think system dependent, they are all great amps. The ARC was just the best match for the Vandersteen Treo speakers. In the end it took a change of speakers and amp to achieve what I was looking for.

04-17-15: Goldprintaudio
I would hope that the VSI75 would sound a little better then the Cary.....ITS TWICE THE PRICE! $9000 versus $4500
Goldprintaudio

Well you would hope but that isn't always the case unfortunately.

Try 6H30 Supertubes in your BAT. They will give you that sparkle you are looking for. Not cheap but still less than another amp.

I would hope that the VSI75 would sound a little better then the Cary.....ITS TWICE THE PRICE! $9000 versus $4500

Audio Research Corp VSI 75 is a high quality Remote control Integrated Tube amp now shipping with KT 150 output tubes.
JohnnyR ARC dealer as well.
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/the-audio-research-vsi-75-integrated-amplifier-review/

what is a vsi75?

Without question...VSi 75. I have had the Cary SLI 80 and it is actually blown to dust by the VSi 75. IN fact, the Cary sounded weak, think, strained and flat in comparison. The new Vsi 75 is quite the piece. I demoed one and was blown away so hard that I bought one within 3 hours of bringing the demo home. The Cary is not even close. Not sure about the Vsi 60 but the 75 is a lifetime piece. I use Sonus Faber Guarneri Evolutions and have had a few amps in my system recently. The Vsi 75 ended the search. In fact, was so impressed with it that I bought the CD9 to go with it. Now I am done for life. It doesn't get better for my tastes.

With ARC you have to be careful. Their sound, from piece to piece, is not that consistent. Overall, they do make some great equipment. For comparison, I put my VT100 next to 2 other amps I had at the time; a Rowland 112 and a VAC 30/30. Both had a sound that was noticeably on the darker side compared with the VT100. While that's just a matter of personal taste, something else I can tell you about the 2 is that they were both cleaner and more pure sounding. In the high frequencies, the ARC had a bit of noise or electronic haze to it. To be fair, it wasn't too prevalent unless compared directly to the other 2 amps.

All this is leading up to 1 thing. You really have to find a way to listen to any new gear with what you already have. Its possible that ARC may work very well for you. If I'm not mistaken, your speakers have soft tweeters. Mine don't, and I'm very sensitive to high frequencies. The Verity may be forgiving just in the right place that an ARC piece will benefit from.

Another thing you will probably need to consider is feedback. Your BAT doesn't use any global neg fb. That's part of the reason why it has that dark, pure sound. I know you are looking to get away from that, but if you choose something that uses feedback, I would recommend a really thorough demo, because there will most likely be some trade offs.

Personally, I think your BAT is an excellent piece. If I needed an integrated amp, I wouldn't hesitate to by one myself. Thats why I asked about your source. Both your amp and speakers have enough resolution to easily pick up on any changes you make to your source. That might be something worth looking into. Also, I don't know if you would ever consider separates, but my current system consists of an Aesthetix preamp and a pair of Ayre V-5's. Given your descriptions, you would probably like the combination very much. For your speakers, just 1 amp would probably be more than enough. The combo is much more neutral sounding while still using 0 feedback.

For what it's worth, I owned the Verity Parisfal Encores for 8 years and for most of that time, the amp was the Audio Research Vs55, which was a terrific combination. I've not heard the other amps you list.

I am using the SE (6h30) version of the BAT. Both the Cary and BAT are great sounding in their own way but may lean to the dark and warmer side of the spectrum. Based on past experience with ARC gear (VT-50,LS-15) I was hoping that the VSI-60 would be more on the opposite side of the spectrum.

The VSI-75 sounds like a good solution, however the $8000 price tag is more then I care to spend on a 2nd integrated.

I wouldn't trade a BAT 300 for an VSI 60. You won't get more detail. As far as sparkle goes, I have no idea how to define that. Can you be more specific? Also, what's your source and what preamp do you have in the 300x?

ARC has a new Integrated coming out the VSi-75 it is said to be based on the reference 75 power amp. It is listed on the ARCDB web-site.

ARC VSI 60 may do it, but I highly recommend looking for a VAC Avatar Super integrated amp. I thought it sounded wonderful with my Parsifal Encores.