ARC VT-100 MK II vs. Sonic Frontiers Power 2

Hi K; I'll follow your thread with interest as I have not heard the VT 100 MK II, but would like too. I bought the Power 2 and used it for about 30 days in my system about a year ago. The Power 2 does tend toward neutral/accurate rather than "tubey" or euphonic. I thought it had a nice clear, non-fatiguing mid-range, but kind of soft bass. Soundstaging was OK, but not spectacular. But then I was comparing it to my long time standard McCormack DNA-2DX amp (now Rev. A).

The DNA-2DX is very fast with excellent bass (and mid-range too), and when I put the McCormack back in my system, it was "no contest"-- I preferred the DNA amp in all important aspects. That said, the Power 2 was a pleasant non-fatiging amp to listen with, and as I have an SF Line 2 pre-amp, I expected there would be good synergy between the Line 2 and Power 2. I'll be interested in seeing comments from those who have heard both the tube amps you ask about. Cheers. Craig

my impressions (strictly from reading the magazines) is that
the ARC is one of the best and most well rounded amplifiers made, and that the Sonic Frontiers, though competent, is somewhat uninvolving. Again, I have not heard either but read a lot of the trade magazines. I am trying to give a conservative view.
have fun

I owned the ARC VT100MKII and it is in fact a fairly neutral sounding amp. The low end bass and "slam" was outstanding and the air and soundstage was also very good. I tend to enjoy a more tube like sound though especially with a wee bit of midrange sweetness so I sold the ARC and kept my CJ Premier 11a. The ARC was almost "solid-state" relative to the CJ. On the other hand I preferred the ARC over my Classe solid-state amps.

If you enjoy tube rolling, be warned that the ARC VT series are not user friendly in this regard. Swapping power tubes is relatively straight forward. If you want to mess with the drivers, you better be preparred for some heavy duty disassembly, reading schematics, tweaking a handful of trimpots, and reading digital meters.

I have owned VT-100MKII and currently have SF Power 2.
SF Power 2, with stock tubes(Svetlana 6550Cs and Sovtek 6922s), sounds very neutral and does not have the warmth of VT-100MKII. But with different tubes, KT88s and other NOS 6922(such as Amprex, Phillips, Valvo, or Siemens) SF Power 2 sounds like a completely different amp, you will be rewarded greatly. It will bring the warmth of VT-100MKII along with more refined bass with better details/accuracy along whole frequency than ARC VT-100MKII.

Also I have experienced SF Power 2 being a lot less fussy and more reliable than VT-100MKII(retubing VT-100MKII is a whole story itself). ARC preamp works very well with SFP2 as well. If you are considering SFP2, make sure to select tubed preamp.
I have sold my ARC VT-100MKII once I retubed my SF Power 2 with KT88s(I have a set of Svetlana and a set of JJ Tesla) along with Philips 6922s(I have Valvo set put a way).