audio research classic 120 question


can anybody tell me anything about these amps? reliability, sound quality, when they quit making them? should I forgo the hybrids and go straight tubes? thanks for any info.
dpm2340
I've had mine for over 10 years with nary a problem. A
shunt resistor burned out when a tube went the first year
or two, but since then they have been extremely reliable.
They are very musical amps, wired in triode, before ARC
started wiring all their amps in pentode. So it takes
twice as many tubes to generate its 110 watts per channel
as pentode amps like the VT100. I'm thinking of having
Steve Hunt at GNS perform his mods on these amps (including
removeable power cords) in the next year or two. I've
had no problem with the bass.

Randy
I had a pair for a while and liked them but, they couldn't control the bass of my Mirage M1s that I had at the time. I went back to my Krell.