Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Local AR Dealer - De

Summary:
The D130 was my first amp that I purchased. Due to my price range, I tested out Adcom, Aragon and few other amps in the same $ neighborhood and decided on the D130. I really like the bass extension and the clarity in the vocals and noticed that the D130 drove my speakers without any strains. Highly recommended. Currently, I'm running: Sony 555ES SACD > Sunfire Theater Grand II > Audio Research D130 > B&W CDM7SE main

Strengths:
Clarity, Power and overall performance.

Similar Products Used:
N/A

Price Paid:  $800.00 from auction site

Summary:
I have listened to and owned several ARC amps. both tube and solid state. This is a great product from a fine company. Warm tube like sound and clarity. The soundstage was exellent. I am using it with a ARC LS3 pre-amp. This is the best solid state combination I have found and you would have to spend a heck of allot of money to improve on it. Some of these critics are unfair to this amp because it is solid state. My hats off to the folks at ARC. You have found a winner, what is depressing is the amp was discontined, what a shame. Is there a MKII on the way?. I hope so. My reference system: ARC D-130 Amp ARC CD-1 PLayer ARC LS-3 Pre-amp Purist Audio Design Sattelites and Subs Power Line 2 Cables Modern Audio Peral interconnects

Strengths:
Clarity and Great sound Stage. Warm tubelike sound.

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
ARC SP-7, SP-6A, LS-8, Krell

Price Paid:  $750.00 from ebay

Summary:
I don't know what all the negativity is about with certain reviewers below. You have to wonder how legitimate they are when they have to post a negative review twice or can't spell or write. Anyway, to me this amp does what it's supposed to do. I use it for my center channel only and it does a great job. As soon as I hooked it up I noticed a smooth and powerful clarity which allowed vocals to come through a little more clearly than before. Since I cross over my center at 80 HZ, ultra low bass is not a factor. Down to 80 though, it performs fine so I don't see what the bass concerns are. Obviously, some people fool themselves based on their mood or the desire to sound like an expert. On the used market, this amp is a good buy. I'm rating it according to used because you cannot buy a new one now. System wise, I have a Lexicon processor, ribbon speakers, Sunfire and Infinity subs, and a lot of amp power.

Strengths:
Smooth midrange, power to spare

Weaknesses:
not easily bridged

Similar Products Used:
AMC, Odyssey, Yamaha, Denon, etc.

Summary:
I am very thankful to have found a demo model to purchase as this amp has now been discontinued. That is a shame because ARC managed to create a great product at a decent price.

This product brought new life to my system with tighter bass and a level of detail I thought was unattainable at this price point. It also has a way of sounding warm without losing any resolution. Leave the amp turned on as much as possible and you will reap many rewards for it. It just keeps getting better and better as the unit warms up.

I'm not sure there's much more to say that hasn't been said already in some of the previous reviews. I agree with most if not all of the positive comments posted before me. I would like to add a comment about the positive response I've received from the folks at ARC. Dave Gordon in particular has demonstrated outstanding customer service skills by talking to me at great lengths about their products along with any other audio-related questions I had. He also was willing to help me search the country for a D130 once the product had been discontinued.

If you have the opportunity to pick up one of these on the used market or as a dealer demo model, run don't walk to do so. The price point of this amp causes it to compete with many mid-fi products (such as Adcom and Rotel) but yet it offers performance far above the others.

Here is my current setup:
Theta Pearl CD Transport
Genesis Digital Lens
Theta Prime IIa DAC
Adcom GFP-750 Preamp
Magnepan MMG Speakers
Transparent Audio Interconnects, Speaker Cables, and Power Cords
NBS Digital Cables

Strengths:
Tight bass, excellent soundstage/imaging. Smooth midrange and treble.

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Adcom 5500, Adcom 5503, Rogue Audio 88

Summary:
This review is an addendum to the one I submitted 9-20-00.
There're some things I feel compelled to say that I didn't say originally. The more I thought about it the more it bothered me. The majority of negative reviews I have read on this amp have been by people who've only listened to it for a short period of time. One guy said after five minutes he could tell,which is ridiculous! There is not any component that you can listen to for five minutes and really tell how it sounds. If that were true no one would've liked the Link Dac and that has gotten rave reviews! Also, I mentioned that system matching was important an everyone knows that. Everytime I listen to the D-130,LS-15
combination I can't belive the knock about no bass, so much so, that I had a audiophile friend of mine listen and he couldn't belive the bad rapp about the bass either. I think it is unfair and not in good taste for people to give negative feedback on components they haven't really fairly auditioned. As I've said before the D-130 is a good amplifier period!

Strengths:
detailed,neutral,smooth musical and has good bass

Similar Products Used:
ARC-D120 & ARC-D100B