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Audio Research State of the Art Audio Reproduction

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  #121  
Old 12-31-2014, 02:36 PM
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Cascais Cascais is offline
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Congratulations Tim and good call on the difference between the Ref 5 and the SE. You did well to buy a broken-in dealer's demo since not only did you save money but the SE won't have to go through the pain of break-in which takes >400 hours. I traded my well-used Ref 5 for a new Ref 5 SE and so didn't experience the improvement right away because of the inconsistencies in the sound of the SE out of the box. Now after a couple of thousand hours it is great and you have that to look forward to. It just seems to get better with age.
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  #122  
Old 01-06-2015, 04:02 AM
RLF RLF is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by soundslikemusic View Post
Looking forward to your comments on this regards. I also now 5 demo. Can't wait to get my 5se sometime end of January. Hopefully a start of a great audio year.
Congratulations. I upgraded my GNS modded Ref 2 to a 5SE and couldn't be happier.
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  #123  
Old 01-31-2015, 01:02 AM
soundslikemusic soundslikemusic is offline
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i can share my experiences between the REF5SE vs REF5.

I was lucky to audition for a month a dealer's demo unit REF5 with over 600++ hours on the unit. It was very well broken in.

I paired this w/ the REF75 and i really loved the sound. So much that i ordered the REF5 SE.

Today my REF5Se arrives and out of the box, with zero hours, the REF5SE easily wins over the REF5. Here are the differences:

a.) ref5se== very effortless sound, smooth
b.) more open and detailed
c.) refinement is a notch or two higher, its cleaner, clearer
d.) bass is not as strong as the broken in ref5 but i think due to break in issue
e.) the new 5SE is sibilant, again due to break in issue

The Ref5 is a great pre-amp and definitely i can live with as I enjoyed with it in the month i had it with me. But the REF5se is clearly a level or two higher... Worth the jump between the two pre-amp but by all means, the REF5 is still a great pre-amp !!!

I will report here again after 100 hours... i will enjoy the process!!!
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  #124  
Old 01-31-2015, 08:37 AM
Ritmo Ritmo is offline
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Congrats on your new 5SE!
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  #125  
Old 01-31-2015, 02:13 PM
jpgr4blu jpgr4blu is offline
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congrats on new 5se. After you break it in, you will most definitely find a stronger low end from the 5se and more corporeal presentation. It's mainly the caps baby.
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  #126  
Old 01-31-2015, 03:58 PM
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You'll need more than 100h to get where SE is going, before 300h it's all over the place, LOL!
That is of course if it is with white Teflon caps.
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  #127  
Old 01-31-2015, 07:16 PM
soundslikemusic soundslikemusic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MPS View Post
You'll need more than 100h to get where SE is going, before 300h it's all over the place, LOL!
That is of course if it is with white Teflon caps.
yes its white telfon caps... i did notice that the sound varies quite a bit. add to the fact that the powercord am using shunyata alpha hc 20amp i s also brand new.
But nonetheless the system is listenable!!
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