# treo engineering vs ARC vs treo engineering.



## stopdrpnro (May 15, 2008)

2:1 odds aren't really fair but i figured I'd share my experience that i recently had with some of the best amps I've ever owned. 

I'm currently running the now old school Boston acoustics z6 components which i fell madly in love with forever ago. With the proper deadening they work incredibly well in stock locations and are rated for 400w rms per side. Initially i thought it was more of a max rating but these have gracefully handled every amp i've thrown at them but i digress. I had the joy of hearing them on 3 different amp configurations in a very short period of time. Each configuration was bi-amped with a tiny os sony amp driving the tweeters with the mids being ran by 1)Arc ks300.2 2) a pair of treo engineering tsx75.2s bridged to each side 3) a single treo ssx 200.2 amp.


1) ARC ks 300.2
The first thing to mention about the arc is it's awesomely simple design and relatively small size. It uses ALL phillips head screw terminals rather than a mixture,which drives me crazy. overall the sound of this was great very smooth and natural sounding. Arc throws in a pretty nice crossover section which everything you need. like all of the ks series amps it also runs super cool but i was able to get the fan to kick in .I feel like the class g/h sounds just as good as most mid-entry level a-b amps.One characteristic about this typology i should mention is you could very easily pinpoint by listening the exact moment where the amp started to distort or receive a clipped signal from the hu. 


2) pair of treo tsx 75.2 
These things are paper thin! actually ended up stacking them since their height is right at an inch. For these to be "entry level" amps they have features such as rca outs that you don't typically see much anymore . Clearly power wise these have an advantage over the arc. the mid bass seemed to have more authority in the lower end mid-bass notes(~80hz). I'd the arc sounded a hair more clean and had a warmer sound but these were very close in sq and didn't have the drop off in sq around the clipping point. like most 2 channels these aren't rated for anything less than 4 ohm mono but even at 3 ohm mono(z6 has 3 ohm mids) these never even got warm. I'm tooafrid to try but I've heard these and be taken down to 1 ohm with larger fuses. These were very impressive for "entry level" gear


3) Last is the ssx200.2.having dealt with the older treo ssx 2/4 channel amps I was expecting more of a gentle giant than a snarly beast . Gain ranges were the same as the other treos so i eye balled them checked the clipping indicator and let her rip. I have to say i was(am) absolutely blown away. the mids sounded like they were ripping the doors apart... in a good way. I went back and turned the gain down further and set the x overs higher. It's apparent after hearing the arc which has very similar power ratings that this thing is VERY underrated, i'd say it's just as strong if not stronger than the 2 tsxs. Sq on this best both the arc and the other treos.This amp isn't without weaknesses though.The treo isn't as efficient as the arc just based on the heat sink which was slightly warm to the touch. I was extremely disappointed that treo decided to use the older clamp-screw type terminals,this made installation a little more difficult than the others.the other shortcoming is the fans the newer ssx amps are always on rather than on demand. so despite the amp being cool to the touch you have faint hum of the fan. while you can barely hear it from the drivers seat i can see how in a silent car it could drive a passenger insane.


All 3 setups were great imho as these are some of the best overall amps I've ever owned.I would say that these are all in the same ballpark as far as features, and sq although i felt like the treo amps had a more solid build to them. In the end I feel like the ssx200.2 works best for me although it has a larger footprint it offers plenty of power, great sq ,and pretty good efficiency not to mention it matches my ssx1400.1 . thanks for reading


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## jward84 (Jul 21, 2011)

I loved my tsx. Mounted under my seat never got hot ran it bridged at 2ohm and never had a problem


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## ebrahim (Sep 21, 2009)

They are both good but it all comes down to how much you want to spend.


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## matdotcom2000 (Aug 16, 2005)

Thanks for the review


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