I wasn't really commenting on how fast the bass was on the ARC compared to the Isabella. I was trying to say the bottom end presence and weight is substantially more on the Isabella. The bass is softer and recessed on the ARC.
Sorry this is a long answer, but...
When I say SLA is fast, I'm being lazy in not fully describing what SLA does for bass. The point is SLA moves a lot of clean current very quickly (low resistance). So it's a combination of speed and the amount of clean current.
Components running on AC need a reservoir of current (caps / transformers). But caps / transformers are not as fast or clean as SLA. Nor do they have the large ready and
low resistance reserve of DC waiting to drive the audio circuit. [Bear in mind I am not an engineer and others may be able to better explain what I'm stating, but IMO any product that is suitable to be run from SLA will likely sound markedly better than it does stock (or even with the addition of power conditioners and add-on power cords).]
On the flip side of the coin, battery operation does not in itself mean a given product will outdo all products run via AC. Think of SLA as the car engine. Fast, quiet, great torque. But the car still needs a suspension system, transmission, etc. That's where audio circuit design comes into play. So about 1/2 the sound can be attributed to the quality of the power supply (engine). The other half goes to the rest of the audio circuit. Any product running on AC is at an automatic disadvantage to RWA when it comes to the power supply (or engine if we follow the car analogy).
Amperex 7308s. Do you have another NOS suggestion?
Nice choice. I had assumed you were using stock JJs. In my system the NOS 7308s (I think mine are '60s vintage) make a big difference. Vinnie and a few others ACers have tried multiple tubes. Vinnie may be in the best position to give you a feel for the differences you can expect from Amprex pinched waist or Seimen CCAs, etc. Send him an e-mail.
Also, I had not read that on the Black Lighting. To tell you the truth, I did not really know anything about it other than it was available. So, do you think putting that in Front of the ARC would help it out? Why should a 12,000 preamp need help to compete with a 4 thousand dollar line stage? Yeah, I'm kind of being a smart@$$, but it does seem a little off if you think about it.
I sold ARC in the early days, for a number of years. I've owned a few of their pieces, dating back to the D-76 and SP32a1 days. They make very fine gear. So do a number of other manufactures. Where Vinnie has an edge (IMO) is he creates his designs specifically to take advantage of SLA. There's a good chance the ARC requires a higher voltage than is practical with SLA. If this is the case, ARC did not build the product with SLA in mind, rather they followed the path they've been on for years which is to build the best circuit possible using a conventional power supply.
So the net (IMO) is not to say RWA can beat every product on the market. But if you factor in price, RWA is (IMO) tough to beat at a given price point. Like I said in my earliest post, I’ve heard systems costing anywhere between 2 x 10 times what I now own, and in many aspects my system (IMO) is able to outperform the more expensive comers. In almost all cases, the gear I got rid of when it was replaced originally cost at least twice what the replacement did. Yet my system sounds far better than anything I’ve owned in the past.
This is the first system I’ve owned where I can consistently get an OMG out of virtually everyone who hears it. It’s also the first system I’ve owned that I feel sounds as good in my room as the what reviewers in the big magazines made me “think” the gear sounded like in their room. Before this I always felt something was missing.
Black Lighting is new, and the current models are any easy fit for any product that uses an external AC adaptor. Some other products (with internal AC power supplies) can be modded by RWA to take advantage of Black Lightning, but they need to fit within the voltage and current parameters supported by the current Black Lightning models. If you dig up voltage and current requirement specs for the ARC, Vinnie can look at them and let you know if SLA is a possibility.
Good luck and good listening!
