Question for the current (and former) Ref 6 owners

[tima]

Originally Posted by PHC1

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As for our example of Reference 6 and C47 and say MC501 monoblocks. The MC501's voltage gain is not high. It needs over 2 volts to reach maximum output. The Reference 6 starts to clip at 2.7V balanced. Ok, perhaps not terrible but it is too close imho.

The C-47 has 100/200 ohms SE and balanced output impedance. The Reference 6 output impedance in balanced reaches 1378 ohms at 20khz. That's quite a difference. Reference 6 should be paired with an amp with at least 100k ohm input impedance (which the MC501 for example has but other amps may not be)

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Interesting analysis. How did you take these measurements of the Ref 6? From reading test reports, such as Atkinson's in Stereophile, I see manufacturer specs and independent measurements can differ, though typically not by so much.