Burmester as a replacement to Audio Research
- Thread starter Woots
- Start date
Audio Research is lean sounding yet very detailed. AR is also tubes.
In general Burmester is in a different league altogether from AR and is very natural sounding and has a bigger sound stage. Your Wilson speakers will love Burmester.
If possible do a audition with Burmester and you'll quickly hear the differences.
Just my opinions.
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ARC has its own house sound and so does the Burmester. I believe that you will need to first hear Burmester and than decide if you like it or not. If you like its sound, the rest is easy. Quality of craftmanship, factory back up, longevity of products, value, you name it, its there. The more Burmester gear you put together in the system, the better it sounds
After extensive auditions at Paragon sight and Sound (spread out over the course of many months), I replaced my ARC REF 250 SEs and my REF 6 SE with Burmester 911 mk3 and 088. This was in 2023. My speakers are Sasha DAWs. The audition ARC amps for the comparisons were the REF 160s.
I loved my ARC gear, and I still prefer my REF Phono 3SE to the Burmester stand alone and 088 built in phono stages. However, to my ears, the 911 mk3 and 088 win the amp and preamp comparo.
There are a few dealers who can demo both ARC and Burmester on Wilsons. Paragon in Michigan and LMC in Arizona come to mind quickly. It’s worth the trouble on this level of spend to travel for an audition.
I love the 911 mk3 and 088 on the Sasha DAWs. I never feel like something’s missing … even after listening to demos of systems costing two or three times as much. And I NEVER have any feelings of seller’s remorse looking back at ARC.
I loved my ARC gear, and I still prefer my REF Phono 3SE to the Burmester stand alone and 088 built in phono stages. However, to my ears, the 911 mk3 and 088 win the amp and preamp comparo.
There are a few dealers who can demo both ARC and Burmester on Wilsons. Paragon in Michigan and LMC in Arizona come to mind quickly. It’s worth the trouble on this level of spend to travel for an audition.
I love the 911 mk3 and 088 on the Sasha DAWs. I never feel like something’s missing … even after listening to demos of systems costing two or three times as much. And I NEVER have any feelings of seller’s remorse looking back at ARC.
Thank you for your very helpful comparison. Did you run the Burmester in stereo or mono? I guess the answer to this is obvious, but I take it, you never felt like you could use more power to easily drive your speakers? Again, thanks for the information.
I have had the chance to add the second 911 mk3, and also the chance to move up to the Reference level. But I have absolutely no audio incentive to make a change.
The 911mk3 is rated for about 350 watts per channel into the DAWs. If we were talking 150 Wpc and an upgrade to 300 Wpc, I might have gone for it. But 350 Wpc does not need to be upgraded to 700 Wpc on DAWs.
I am still in love with the performance of the single 911 mk3. Obviously YMMV.
Thanks for your feedback. I just purchased a Burmester Integrated (082) for my office and like it so much I am going to swap out of my Audio Research in my listening room. Can't believe the low end versus my AR.Audio Research is lean sounding yet very detailed. AR is also tubes.
In general Burmester is in a different league altogether from AR and is very natural sounding and has a bigger sound stage. Your Wilson speakers will love Burmester.
If possible do a audition with Burmester and you'll quickly hear the differences.
Just my opinions.
Thank you for the great information. Very insightful. I just purchased a previously owned 082 for my office and love it.Audio Research is lean sounding yet very detailed. AR is also tubes.
In general Burmester is in a different league altogether from AR and is very natural sounding and has a bigger sound stage. Your Wilson speakers will love Burmester.
If possible do a audition with Burmester and you'll quickly hear the differences.
Just my opinions.
