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Audio Research State of the Art Audio Reproduction

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  #11  
Old 02-27-2017, 05:14 PM
birdland birdland is offline
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The Lost Bears:

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I also played around with using pair of VT100s to drive my SL3s. While I felt the sound was a little bit better, I did not think it was good enough to justify twice as many tubes.
I completely agree. I lived with my 2 VT100s for years and finally got tired of spending the money on re-tubing both of them and the multiple set of cables, extra power requirement, etc.

And yes, there are too many ugly speakers out there at the moment.
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  #12  
Old 02-27-2017, 05:18 PM
birdland birdland is offline
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Tim and John - thanks for the additional updates. I am sure the LS25 Mk I is no where near the quality of the REF3.
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  #13  
Old 02-27-2017, 09:11 PM
birdland birdland is offline
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The Lost Bears:

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I also spent a bit of time with a LS25 mk 1. I felt the LS25 mk2 was quite a bit better. The change to the 6H30 tube made a big difference. I now own a Ref 5se. It is a huge improvement over ALL previous ARC preamps. And I have owned quite a few in the last 30 years. I auditioned a demo LS27 for a few weekends. I did not think it was really worth the move from my LS25 mk2. I was sold my first evening with the Ref 5se. I woild suggest either a Ref 3 or Ref 5se. But not an original Ref 5 unless you can get it for around the same price as a Ref 3.
You said that you thought the LS25 Mk2 was significantly better than the Mk1 and you didn't think a move to an LS27 from an LS25 Mk2 was worth it. What about going from an LS25 Mk1 to an LS27? I see some LS27s for sale but no REF5SEs.

Thanks,
Walter
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  #14  
Old 02-27-2017, 10:40 PM
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The Lost Bears The Lost Bears is offline
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I am not a big fan of the LS27. In my system the LS27 sounded thin and lacked life. Yes it is better than the LS25 mk1 in a lot of ways. But it is not a preamp I could live with long term. Not in the system I had at the time anyway. When I bought my Ref 5se I still owned my SL3s. So all my preamp comparisons were with the SL3s and not my current Elipsa SEs. Have you noticed how the Ref 150 sounds fuller, more organic than the VT100? It does with the mk3 anyway. I never spent a lot of time with a mk2. The LS27 sounded the same way to me. While the sound was more detailed, it lacked the magic In a lot of ways I preferred the sound of my old V70 to the VT100 mk3.

A Ref 5se is worth waiting for. One will come up. ARC made some good pieces. But then there are some that are truly great The Ref 5se is truly great. The difference between the LS27 or even the Ref 5 is huge. It is a keeper.

Have you played around with power cords? I found that the right power cord can also make a big difference. The Ref 5se has a 20 amp socket so I also had to replace my power cord. I really like Shunyata cords with Audio Research.
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  #15  
Old 02-27-2017, 11:05 PM
birdland birdland is offline
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I have Shunyata Alpha HC on both the REF150 and the LS25 Mk1. I do not have a Shunyata Triton. Currently have Hydra alphas - 4 and 6. With the 2 VT100s Mk2s, I had two Alpha HCs on the amps and an Alpha analog on the pre-amp. Hydra 6 is connected to the wall using a Sigma HC power cord. Amp goes directly into the wall as I found that the Hydra seemed to limit the amp.

Last edited by birdland; 02-27-2017 at 11:27 PM. Reason: added more power cords
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  #16  
Old 03-03-2017, 09:46 PM
randyhat randyhat is offline
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I have a slightly different wrinkle to add to this discussion. I too have an older ARC line stage. In my case it is the LS-15. Although old, and a step down from the LS25 my LS15 was modded a few years ago by Steve Huntley when he owned Great Northern Sound. I don't recall the specifics but he did a pretty major revision and upgraded a lot of parts. The modification also included a set of NOS tubes. It seemed to be a significant upgrade to the original LS15 but like the original poster, I wonder how it compares to the newer preamps. Is anyone here familiar with the Great Northern Sound modifications...and would care to speculate on the sound quality my preamp relative to the newer models?
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  #17  
Old 03-03-2017, 09:49 PM
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Steve has a storied history in the industry, but no longer operates GNS. I'd be confident that the upgrades he provided would have significantly improved the performance of your preamp, but as to how it would compare to newer ARC models would be very difficult to say without being able to make a direct comparison. Just enjoy it!
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  #18  
Old 03-04-2017, 07:46 AM
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I went from a LS15 to a LS16MKII on the recommendation of the ARC service rep when I checked on factory upgrades to the LS15. The LS16MKII uses the 6H30 tube architecture, and the improvement was immediately apparent. IMHO If I decide to move up the ARC chain the preamp will have 6H30 tubes.

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Jim
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Last edited by ehoove; 03-04-2017 at 07:57 AM.
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  #19  
Old 03-11-2017, 02:45 PM
birdland birdland is offline
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After finding an ARC Reference 5SE for sale on Audiogon and losing it because I hemmed and hawed about the purchase, a second 5SE showed up and I bought it. It should arrive sometime next week. I will see if all of the praise for the REF 5SE is worth it.

I am looking forward to much better sound. Of course, having an ARC Ref 5SE and a REF 150 might reveal other limitations in my setup.
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  #20  
Old 03-11-2017, 03:05 PM
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Walter......Now you're talking! .
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