ARC vs LFD

The pre-amp tubes last 4000 hours and they only cost 120.00 so that is not a problem. The amp tubes are replaced every 2000 hours at a cost of 500.00. It would be nice to get away from this constant maintenance. I just don't know If I would be happy with this 60 watt Intergrated. And since there are only 2 dealers that I know in the country that carry it I doubt I could get a home trial. I hear these Intergrateds sell as fast as they come Into the country.

I think your wish* is almost universal. (* Having SS stuff that sounds as 'good' as tubes and doesn't require maintenance.) But if you've become fully appreciative of the value of tube sound you may never acclimate to SS and regret your decision to move back to SS. And, if Murphy's law is still in force you will discover that SS requires maintenance, and you will want to change the tone, etc slightly and not be able to make the adjustment.

I don't know what your ARC system is but if you are using seperates you might consider scaling back on the amp by buying tubes and biasing them in your self (it sounds like you are having the work done by ARC. Ditto on the pre amp. An amp with a quad of power tubes only costs $150 to $200 when you do it yourself.There is a small learning curve attached, but its fairly shallow.

Would contact Gene Rubin at Gene Rubin Audio. He is a dealer for both Harbeth and LFD.

Have you considered using one of ARC's solid state amps with your ARC tube preamp? I ran an SP16 into both a 100.2 and later a 150.2 driving a pair of Harbeth Compact 7's with good results. The 100.2 sounded better but used more energy and gave off more heat. I moved on from Harbeth a few years ago and am now running an LS26 into an SD135 driving a pair of Daedalus DA-1.1's. The SD135 is a phenomenal solid state amp, providing much of what is great about tubes but without the ongoing operating costs. It also runs cool and has all the dynamics, power and drive that you could want. Perhaps something to consider?

I second going to a solid state amp and keeping the tube pre, if you are sick of replacing output tubes. even the older audio research solid state amps are very good. good luck, chris.