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Equally interesting were albums centered on vocals, from Me Myself and I through Audiofeels to the fantastic young Sinatra from the 40s on Sinatra Sings Gershwin. The latter features a track recorded in 1947 and originally issued on shellac entitled I’ve Got A Crush On You. That was simply spectacular over the American amp. Despite age it perfectly captured the character of Sinatra’s vocals. The REF75 credited it very well by adding some weight to the sound which actually turned out for the better.

It was the same or similar with other albums such as the Japanese release of Gold – Abba’s hits or the Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin duet album. I could cite many more because the amp treated them all in the same way. It elevated them regardless of how they originally sounded and in a sense thus revived them. It acted as a kind of conditioner, giving them its own imprimatur and that of its designers.


Those who know Audio Research products must know that one sacrifices something in turn. One can secure nearly everything but would have to pay three or even four times more. At 42.000 Polish the Reference 75 offers a whole lot of sound yet has its own set of limitations. The first concerns improvements in tonal balance. I think of them as improvements rather than problems because they are inherent to and almost synonymous with ARC gear. First, bass is stronger than neutral. It will be a blessing to many systems and albums but you must keep it in mind whilst assembling your system. This bass extends quite low and is nicely fleshy but isn't the type of unrivalled well-controlled affair exhibited by the Soulution 710 or Accuphase A-200 solid-state amps. A tube amp simply can’t overcome certain limitations. But unless we have such refined expensive amps for direct comparison, we won’t even know what we're missing, all the more so since the REF75 bass isn’t sloppy and far better controlled than that of the Tenor Audio 175S which I once reviewed even though it had a transistor output stage, high power and a very mighty price.

One simply needs to carefully pair the ARC with the system and loudspeakers. For example the Tabla USB-S/PDIF converter from Human Audio, not the best example of bass control, added too much ‘goodness’ to the REF75 sound. With fast transients the decays became too long. The ARC midrange is bloody good and reminds us of a small low-powered SET amp without its ultimate delicacy or etherealness. Everything else—presence, density, harmonies—is present. The treble here was the most difficult to define because it simply is, seeming slightly round like the midrange but without unpleasant consequences. Its extent was dictated by the recording and nothing else.


One thing that is superior in more expensive ARC amplifiers is their treble resolution and selectivity. In the REF75 these qualities are slightly inferior to the midrange which by contrast can have the treble perceived as quieter and darker. That was true for the quite warm recording of Miles Davis’ “So What” from the gold edition of Kind of Blue released in the Master Works series. The cymbals seemed to be warmer than the rest of the range and slightly hidden in the background until they were struck harder and the recording opened up. In reality the treble was not at all withdrawn, warm or weak. It could be full and resonant as was clearly exemplified by the 24/44.1 file of the new Dead Can Dance Anastasis album issued on USB in a special box set edition. Percussion instruments featuring prominently on this album were strong, vibrant and even piercing just as I assume they should have been.



Conclusion. I already reached certain conclusions above. But I wouldn’t want my discussions of certain weaker traits to obscure the main message that this is a fantastic amplifier. If I were to reiterate its limitations, I’d simply remind you to be aware of the fact that nothing is free and that you need to carefully rethink the entire system which the ARC would be paired with. I see it in the company of well-saturated natural sounding components with well-controlled bass. A potential customer would be a fan of chamber, vocal or experimental music including electronica but generally more instrumental fare and not bands from the Accession Records stable like Assemblage 23, Diorama, Diary of Dreams and such. With them the amplifier gets too involved in tonality and not enough in rhythm. It may seem paradoxical since it’s a big amplifier with beefy power fitted with butch KT120 to secure improved control. It’s simply that said power and control translate into exceptional midrange ease and provide the amplifier with something more than just a 'good' presentation of vocals, violins etc. They had the kind of magic that is just as difficult to come by for this money as it is in more expensive products. It either happens or it doesn’t. Money has nothing to do with it.

Design. Although the REF75 is a tube amplifier, its design is different from 90% of devices of that type. From the outside it looks like a classic solid-state amp and only numerous vents in the top and side panels indicate the need for efficient cooling. It is however convection cooling with thankfully no forced fan air movement.