Just Pulled The Trigger - ARC REF 5SE

[Kingsrule]

Originally Posted by BillK

Funny that that "old, tired" Levinson didn't constrict the soundstage anywhere near the way the LS-27 did.

I've heard other preamps that sound as good as or in some ways better than the Levinson - but the LS-27 isn't one of them.

For the record, the Levinson No. 326S also sounded worse than the No. 380S to me when I auditioned it, but a Pass Labs XP-30 and Boulder 2010 sound noticeably better.

From what I heard at the last RMAF, I also suspect the Ref 5 SE would as well.

BillK

As we have discussed before, I'm pretty sure you demo'd a defective or not fully broken in LS27. I had a 27 and it was real open.
I haven't heard a current PASS preamp but I have heard the Boulder. Its pretty good but not the most dynamic preamp. Good width but lacking depth. Plus it's pretty industrial looking
I know all the Levinson products up until they left CT very well (having had them all in my personal systems and knowing the people who voiced them) and I can say they all were dark, slow and constricted.

Regards

GJ

[tunes]

Not heard the LS but owned a levinson 32 for years and after hearing the ARC ref 3 several years ago, sold the 32 right away. The 32 was beautifully made and more user friendly, programmable and good synergy with the ML432 amp, but like the previous thread comment, it was very polite, constrained and dark. The ref 3's magic soundstage detail and liquidity has made me an ARC convert of their ref series till now.

[BillK]

Originally Posted by g997

BillK

As we have discussed before, I'm pretty sure you demo'd a defective or not fully broken in LS27. I had a 27 and it was real open.

It wasn't defective and Audio Research themselves say break-in does not have any effect on presented soundstage width.

I get you don't like Levinsons, that's your preference, but my experience is that my No. 380S constricted the soundstage less than the LS-27 did.

I'm not trying to cut down the LS-27, I'm just stating I was disappointed by it (and was much more disappointed by the ML No. 326S which was supposed to sound better than the No. 380S but most certainly did not.)

Note as I've also said before I didn't notice the difference in soundstage width compared to my 380S when directly comparing the two, but when comparing the Wadia connected directly to the amp to running through the LS-27, the reduction in soundstage width was readily apparent.

Note also that other factors disqualified the LS-27 for me as well (most notably the fact you could still hear the tuner input faintly when other inputs were selected.)

That having been said, we should probably move this to my original LS-27 review thread, as it has nothing to do with the Ref 5 SE, which I suspect sounds absolutely wonderful but would never work for me as I'd need to retube it about twice a year since my system is on 24x7x365.

[Fabiano]

Guys, last night I had the chance to listen to Ref5 SE, so I just wanted to put my views here.

First, the listen was under good circumstances. It was at a friends house whose system I know for quite sometime. On top of that, the only item being changed was the pre-amp upgrade. Ref5 to Ref5 SE. For reference, his system consists of SF Futuras, CD8, MC601 as amps and Siltech Cabling (Roayl class, don't remember exactly which one).

First impression, I think it is a hell of a upgrade. 2k very well spent! And we are not talking moving from 1k to 3k pre-amp, but from 12k to 14k.
His pre-amp has only about 30h on it and it was, IMO, sufficient to see the upgrade.

I found the sound bigger, larger sound stage. What impressed me the most was the bass. The realism and body of the bass was incredible. As we all know, 30h is not close to full break in, so things will improve even further.

Just wanted to leave my testimony here for those that are in doubt about pulling the trigger and do the upgrade. I believe it is 2k very well spent.

best,

[darkstar]

Thanks for sharing Fabiano.

I am getting more and more excited each passing day.

Monday will be 2 weeks since my order.

As the song goes - "The waiting is the hardest part"

[Fabiano]

"The waiting is the hardest part"

[Underhill]

Big jealous grats

[BillK]

Just as a quick update, I finally heard a Ref 5 SE over the weekend and it sounded spectacular; it took me less than 15 seconds to hear the clear improvements over the LS-27.

[Priaptor]

Got my upgrade last week. Real big difference. Cleaner, very open bass to die for and very very smooth midrange. Now I also had one of my REF 250 monoblocks fixed, so that led to an improvement as well, but the SE is a big step forward. I love it.

[Ritmo]

I concur.

Mike