Ref 5 SE Fever? I say wait.

[Banter]

Criss said they are still experimenting with the cover part, right now the Plexi sounds the best. They will send a metal one for me. I also have to do my part and improve on the ventilation; even though Ref. 5 was happy in that spot.

The remote is a supply issue. As soon as the metal one is available they will exchange mine.

All in all very good customer service and man.......that 5se sounds good.

I will take back on my original advice about waiting out on the upgrade. For some it may be just as well to do what I did; just trade up to brand new Ref. 5se. That way I got full warranty and new set of tubes..and it cost me less than 1k$ extra vs. sending it out for upgrade.

I am very happy with the deal and the product.

[Banter]

Originally Posted by jwhite613

Banter... Welcome To AA!!!

your avatar. My eye sight is getting poor in old age!

[Ritmo]

Banter,

I'm glad ARC is taking care of you.

Indeed, the 5 SE is sweet!

Mike

[karsajid]

The plexiglas cover on my Ref 5 SE also warps on top of the 6550 tube after using it for 3-4 hours. It gets very hot there even though I have 6 inches of clearance on top.

Thinking of getting a metal cover to be on the safe side.

Got a metal remote as spare part. Much nicer than the plastic one .....

[jdandy]

Banter.......The idea that anything about the new Acoustic Research Ref 5SE isn't 100% perfect is disappointing. At that price point ($13K) there should be no drooping plexiglass covers. What a poor design flaw, and a rediculous oversight on the part of AR engineering and design. They should have used tempered glass if heat warped the plastic. If I owned a Ref 5SE, I would be royally pissed off about a drooping cover. I'm supposed to be impressed looking at the interior circuit boards through a deformed plastic window? Geez!

[Ritmo]

I'll keep an eye on mine. I've had it for about a month and have not seen that issue with the plexi top. I do run it for quite a few hours in the weekends...

From a performance perspective, the R5SE is sublime.

Mike

[dmnc02]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Banter.......The idea that anything about the new Acoustic Research Ref 5SE isn't 100% perfect is disappointing. At that price point ($13K) there should be no drooping plexiglass covers. What a poor design flaw, and a rediculous oversight on the part of AR engineering and design. They should have used tempered glass if heat warped the plastic. If I owned a Ref 5SE, I would be royally pissed off about a drooping cover. I'm supposed to be impressed looking at the interior circuit boards through a deformed plastic window? Geez!

As an ARC owner, I appreciate the fact that they are willing to experiment with the use of alternative materials for the covers and select them on the basis of sonic performance. If the price to pay for better performance is some temporary warping as the plexiglas covers heats up, I personally do not care (although I have not experienced this issue after over 800 hours of use). As far as we know, they might have experimented with tempered glass and concluded that plexiglas sounded better. Therefore, it is not at all obvious to me that this is an oversight on their part.

I believe that owners of recent Reference preamps have the option to select a metal cover if they want (at least this was the case with the Reference Anniversary). In addition, ARC does state in the Owner's Manual that there should be a minimum of 6" of clear space above the preamp to ensure proper ventilation. Since the warping is only affecting some owners, it would be interesting to know if it is due to improper ventilation.

[jdandy]

dmnc02.......It may also be a case of AR using plexiglass of different chemical compositions from different suppliers. Perhaps certain types of plexiglass are more immune to being softened by heat than others. In any case, a warped top cover on a premium preamplifier is not something I would be pleased to discover or tolerate.

[TOGA]

Hi,
I do not put screws in as those silver screw look so cheap for such a product. But when time to
sent my Ref40 back to have a blown capacitor replaced and wanted to put in screws, the holes at plexiglass were not anymore aligned with holes at the unit, I guess heat must do something to the plexiglass.
But I think ARC make such a good sound for a very reasonable price partly due to cheap material they used on the case and remote. So we get great sound without spending to much $$$.

Toga

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by jdandy

dmnc02.......It may also be a case of AR using plexiglass of different chemical compositions from different suppliers. Perhaps certain types of plexiglass are more immune to being softened by heat than others. In any case, a warped top cover on a premium preamplifier is not something I would be pleased to discover or tolerate.

Nor I...