For those of you who admire the sound of ARC tube amps and haven’t heard the recent incarnations of their efforts, I think you would be in for a pleasant surprise. I really do think that the sweet-spot in their current line-up is the VS115. Depending on your point of view, you can say it’s the little brother to the REF 150 or you could say it’s a distant cousin. The REF 150 has power and output transformers that were designed specially for the KT-120 tubes in order to take advantage of the extra output power they are capable of providing. The power supply is also much larger in terms of the capacitor bank which results in more energy storage measured in joules. Outside of those differences, I assume the basic circuit is fairly similar in both amps.
I like the looks of the VS115. I like seeing my output tubes and being able to bias them easily. This amp looks much nicer in person than in pictures. It’s also nice not to have to remove a million screws in order to take the top plate off like the ARC VT-100 series and every amp that came after that using the exact same chassis.
There is no doubt in my mind that the VS115 is the finest ARC amp I have ever owned. It also has the best tube bass that I have ever heard in my home. This is one clean, clear, and transparent amplifier. I think the output transformers that ARC uses today are much better than ARC output transformers from yesteryear. I know there are some who think newer doesn’t always equate to better and they are correct. Where I differ is to assume that newer can never be better than gear from yesteryear.
The VS115 makes music come to life via realistic tonal colors, very good dynamics, surprisingly good bass for a tube amp, and a purity that I found lacking in earlier ARC tube amps. I bought another LS17 to pair with the VS115 thinking it should be a good match and I wanted to try a pure-hybrid tube chain (how’s that for an oxymoron?). I quickly discovered the reasons why I sent the LS17 packing the first time I owned it.
The LS17 didn’t get any better sounding when paired with the VS115 and it made the VS115 sound worse compared to hearing it through my Krell KBL preamp. The KBL is a much more pure and transparent sounding preamp and it has a super-low noise floor. The LS17 is adding all kinds of things to the signal that don’t belong there including noise. The good news was that I paid $2300 for the LS17 in 9/10 condition and I sold it within an hour on Audiogon for $2375.
Now I’m going to tell you where I think the VS115 falls a little short of the mark and that would be the reproduction of voices. I think one of the areas that separates the boys from the men in great amplifier designs is getting the human voice correct. Some amplifiers (and preamps) give you singing heads that are seemingly detached from a body. And by that I mean that you get no sense of the physical person and hearing the impact that their chest cavity (diaphragm) has on the sound of their voice assuming the recording captured that sound in the first place. I think the VS115 falls into the singing heads category of amplifiers. Listen to Kurt Elling sing “Joe’s Bar” and you will understand what I mean. Kurt sounds like he caught a cold and is singing through his nose with the VS115. There is no chest or body behind the voice like there is with the KBL/KSA-250 combo.
So, if you love tubes and you love ARC tube amps, the VS115 has a lot to offer and brings a new level of purity to ARC tube amp designs.
I like the looks of the VS115. I like seeing my output tubes and being able to bias them easily. This amp looks much nicer in person than in pictures. It’s also nice not to have to remove a million screws in order to take the top plate off like the ARC VT-100 series and every amp that came after that using the exact same chassis.
There is no doubt in my mind that the VS115 is the finest ARC amp I have ever owned. It also has the best tube bass that I have ever heard in my home. This is one clean, clear, and transparent amplifier. I think the output transformers that ARC uses today are much better than ARC output transformers from yesteryear. I know there are some who think newer doesn’t always equate to better and they are correct. Where I differ is to assume that newer can never be better than gear from yesteryear.
The VS115 makes music come to life via realistic tonal colors, very good dynamics, surprisingly good bass for a tube amp, and a purity that I found lacking in earlier ARC tube amps. I bought another LS17 to pair with the VS115 thinking it should be a good match and I wanted to try a pure-hybrid tube chain (how’s that for an oxymoron?). I quickly discovered the reasons why I sent the LS17 packing the first time I owned it.
The LS17 didn’t get any better sounding when paired with the VS115 and it made the VS115 sound worse compared to hearing it through my Krell KBL preamp. The KBL is a much more pure and transparent sounding preamp and it has a super-low noise floor. The LS17 is adding all kinds of things to the signal that don’t belong there including noise. The good news was that I paid $2300 for the LS17 in 9/10 condition and I sold it within an hour on Audiogon for $2375.
Now I’m going to tell you where I think the VS115 falls a little short of the mark and that would be the reproduction of voices. I think one of the areas that separates the boys from the men in great amplifier designs is getting the human voice correct. Some amplifiers (and preamps) give you singing heads that are seemingly detached from a body. And by that I mean that you get no sense of the physical person and hearing the impact that their chest cavity (diaphragm) has on the sound of their voice assuming the recording captured that sound in the first place. I think the VS115 falls into the singing heads category of amplifiers. Listen to Kurt Elling sing “Joe’s Bar” and you will understand what I mean. Kurt sounds like he caught a cold and is singing through his nose with the VS115. There is no chest or body behind the voice like there is with the KBL/KSA-250 combo.
So, if you love tubes and you love ARC tube amps, the VS115 has a lot to offer and brings a new level of purity to ARC tube amp designs.