Audio Research GS150 vs REF150 SE

@smoffatt 

What did you end up with?

My first tube gear purchase was a pair of CL120s here about 3 years ago.  I had Parasound HCA 2200ii X 1 and X 2(bridged mono), Parasound HCA 3500 and a B&K 200.2.  

Can you believe that my system's dynamics and volume was stronger from the CL120s compared to all 3 of those setups???  Those Parasounds are 750 watts bridged and the big boy(3500)is 385 wpc.  Spec sheets can drive us crazy, we have to trust our ears and those 110 watts from the CL120 are amazing.  

I tried to like the SS amps more to eliminate maintenance and fuss, but every time I reconnected the CL120s it was like, ahhhhhhh.  

BTW, I have over 4000 hours on my 6550s and they still sound amazing!

I am very curious about a REF75, REF150 or GS150, but haven't tried one yet.  I have a friend that has heard the CL120s and he is adamant that the REF75 was a big improvement.  He has heard about every older ARC amp there is and was blown away by the REF75.  He has NOT heard the amps beyond the 75.

The REF 210s are another model I have been very curious about, but I would like to move away from having so many tubes to tend with.

The GS150 is a far more advanced amp that previous generations like the 150SE.  

This is total bunk. The two amps were functionally and operationally identical with different cosmetics. This is why ARC discontinued the GS150. It was not worth the extra production cost to sell two identical costs. 

I dont think they were the same. Many of the GS150's had to be sent back for repairs shortly after being issued. THAT could very well have been the reason they were discontinued....too much product coming back under warranty

I dont think they were the same. Many of the GS150's had to be sent back for repairs shortly after being issued. THAT could very well have been the reason they were discontinued....too much product coming back under warranty

"I think" and "THAT could", signal nothing more than conjecture on your part. Rather than conjecture, why not just call ARC and ask, like I did? They will tell you that other than the layout in the chassis and the meters, the GS150 and the Ref 150SE were functionally and operationally identical. When the GS150 first came out, the Ref 150 had not yet been upgraded to the SE version. So this is the reason for so much confusion. Ward Fieberger, the engineer behind the design, was quoted as saying that the GS150 would outperform the Ref 150. Then came the Ref 150SE. GS stood for Galileo Series and the idea was to refresh the looks of ARC amps with more of an "Italian/European flair". Other than the meters which could also be used to set biasing of the tubes, the GS150 and the Ref 150SE were identical. I have an email from ARC on this too and if I had to, I could reprint it here as more proof. But in the end, this is silly. The GS150 is gone. The Ref 150SE remains. 

To answer your question...I obviously dont care enough to bother calling up a manufacturer about trivial info. Funny how I dont remember seeing all those "issues" with returns on the other IDENTICAL amps sold under another name.