Summary:
Equiptment:
1) Amp.: Forte' Model 4A (Class A) 50w/ch.
2) Pre.: Audio Research LS7 (w/tube dampers(a must!))
3) DAC.: Adcom GDA600
4) Speakers: Thiel CS 2.2 (dymamics)
5) Transport: Theta Data Basic II
6) interconnects: Nordost Red Dawn
7) digital cable: Nordost Moon Glo
8) Nordost ECO3, Black Diamond Racing Cones(Mk.3/Mk.4), & tube dampers

I heard through the 'vine that the ARC 100.2 solid statue caused
quite a positive stir at the CES '98 so I thought I would give it
a try in my system. First, after allowing the 100.2 to stabalize
for one hr. before any serious A/B listening, I settled in to
some of my natural acoustic guitar CD's to start the fun. The following
are some of my listening notes...

a) First impression (as compared to the Forte') was that the bass was
powerful, very dynamic, exciting and detailed.

b) Midrange and treble was sweet, refined, again highly detailed but
not at all agressive in any sense. Cymbal crashes, brush strokes
came through with incredible reality! Much better than I ever heard
before through the system.

c) The noisefloor was almost dead silent! This characteristic alone
gave me greater info. retrieval from the soundstage in terms of
depth, microinfo., reverberance, etc.

d) Basic speed and attack was excellent, resonance and decay all came
through with fine timing.

e) Most importantly, the music was more "involving" than with my
50w/ch. Forte'.

However, further A/B listening (with lots of other quality source material)
revealed some characteristics that slightly detracted from the
"natural you-are-there" feeling I been trying to create. First, the
mid-treble seemed to be a little "rolled off" as compared to the
Forte'. The initial attack (on string guitar especially) was definitely
rolled off somewhat. The "quality" of the instrument was there but
the "life" of the instrument was somewhat lacking. I found this
characteristic to be true of many other recordings in my collection.

The other characteristics of the ARC 100.2 is that the the bass octaves,
that at first gave me a very dynamic presentation to music seemed to be
on further listening somewhat tilted up. Maybe, too tilted up for me...
The music just came through like the gain control for bass freq.
was cranked up a few too many notches for my taste. Don't get me wrong,
the music was certainly dynamic but in contrast to the slightly
subdued midrange and treble, things just felt like being a little
out-of-sync.

Just maybe, I'll try the newly revamped version of the ARC VT100(Mk. II)
that is just coming out, and see if tubes are the way to go... Until then
I'll just keep on searching.