Audio Research amps - balanced & non

By adding all this junk to the signal path, you significantly defeat the major strengths of the SP-10 and the VT-130.....and this is portrayal of space. These both were at the top of their class in this key area. Keep things simple and you will be rewarded by what these products can do.

With a single ended input through an XLR adaptor the VT -130 SE will produce less than half the power output that it will produce with a true balanced input signal ...

Really? That seems kinda odd. What does power out put have to do with it? The input signal will be half as the negative phase is essentially ground but that just means the line stage needs to provide for greater output for the amp to achieve full power.

Sorry Eldartford, it's not ignorance, but rather observations with my system. I have played the game with trying to use transformers to achieve balanced signals out of DACs. And the result was a loss of low-level detail and truncation of harmonic overtones.

Once a device takes away detail, and I can survive without it, as far as I am concerned, it is junk. For high resolution system, transformers in the signal path absolutely affect the sound. I suspect this would not be observed with a system loaded with other bandaid devices such as equalizers.

Comparing advice from electronics professionals and their theories vs. observing the affects on such system configurations are very different worlds. And as much as a "corrector" may be a temptation because it looks good on paper, it often gets removed from the system. An example of this or me was the Rives PARC.

Rather than trying to tweak the circuit to accommodate a pairing of balance and single-ended devices, my advice is to use products of the same topology.

The advice to hunt down another D115 or D250 is good. Perhaps you might even find the rare and coveted M100s, a mono block version similar to the D115. The SP-10 and these amps are absolutely outstanding products. Don't piss away their musical magic through other attempts at "correction".

Thank you Martykl, yes I am a big advocate of the "simple signal path". As mentioned above, I tried a Rives PARC, against the advice of two A'gon members I highly respect. Yes it did what it was supposed to do, but the "side effects" that they told me would occur, well, they were right on. We know we should listen to those with much experience but often we need to learn the hard way. And I am simply giving a different perspective for Westchr to consider before going down a path of complication vs. choosing the "appropriate" amp/preamp combination.