ARC VSi75SE v. MF Nu-Vista 800

@cundare2 Back when I still owned the Harbeth 30.1, I borrowed two amps from my friends to test. One was the Moonriver 404 integrated amp -- one of the worst amps I have ever tried. The other one was Pass Labs INT-25. It was very impressive but lagged behind in terms of dynamics. Finally tried it with Luxman 590AXII ... that was the ticket!

Now I know this might cause some heartburn for a few Audio Research fans, but I found the ARC I/50 to be underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice piece of kit but you're paying a lot for the AR brand name. Right after I auditioned the ARC, I bought an Audio Hungary Qualiton a50i which, IMO, was a much better sound and value than the I/50. 

I later sold the 30.1 and bought SHL5+. The pairing with this speaker and Qualiton a50i was sublime. Oh, and the a50i is auto-biased, no need to take it to a technician for something as simple as re-biasing the amp. I mean who does that in this day and age?

@arafiq

Actually what you say is completely consistent with the performance of these amps… for with someone who values lively detailed sound. Luxman would be perfect for you. Your comments on the Pass INT 25 sound right on, it is not that high a power so the Pass INT 60 would provide more solid sound. The ARC would sound a bit dead to you because it does not have the sparkle of the Luxman. Audio Research folks are looking for the natural musical perspective, and it delivers that (at an incredibly low cost).

arafiq: I’ve spoken to others who found the 25wpc Pass gear more than adequate for mid-sized Harbeths, but again, the devil is in the details. Can you give us an idea of the size of your room, listening levels, etc. when you found the INT-25 to be underpowered?

E.g., Was your experience closer to playing string quartets at moderate volume in an 8x10 room or blasting Black Sabbath at realistic volume levels in a 30x25x8 room?

Just trying to put things into perspective, since I’m about to purchase a simiilar amp for my Harbeth C7s without the ability to audition the gear before buying.

Hi cundare2- I have a couple of vsi75s paired with Proac 1sc bookshelves and d48 floor standers.  I recently auditioned the i50 prior to picking up the second vsi75.  Tonality was similar but I thought the vsi75 was more resolving and capable.  Sound quality aside, the other issue with the i50 was that it appeared to be manual bias only, whereas the vsi75 has individual bias for each kt150 that can be adjusted quite easily with the included plastic screwdriver.  Hope that helps and good luck with the search. 

classicalreflections:  So you're saying that the biasing procedure is much simpler on the VSi  than on the i/50?  You don't have to open up the chassis, clamp probes onto a resistor, etc.?