CES 2018

Audio Research's Transparent Ref160M

John Atkinson  |  Jan 13, 2018

Some manufacturers weren't exhibiting at CES but did have suites elsewhere in the Venetian hotel. One such was Audio Research, who was showing the first amplifier to be designed following the passing of the company's long-time Senior Design Engineer, Ward Fiebiger, who died of a heart attack last March. The Ref160M monoblock offers around 150W into 8 ohms and will cost in the region of $30,000/pair. If you look closely at the photo, you can see that the illuminated power meter on the front panel is transparent, allowing you to see the glowing tubes behind it.

COMMENTS
Lincolnmat's picture
Submitted by Lincolnmat on January 13, 2018 - 12:20pm

This looks like a development of the Foundation Series VT80. I was hoping they might do something like this but leave it in the Foundation Series and not move it up to the Reference Series. Would be nice to have a more powerful option in the Foundation Series. If it has the automatic bias of the VT80 it wouldn't even need the fancy meters. Looking for Audio Reference power for my Apogee Stages without jumping to the Reference Series.

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