ARC Reference 5 visiting my place.

[PHC1]

I will continue to listen to the Ref5 over the weekend. To say that I am impressed would be an understatement. Many of you know that I have some nice preamps such as the Lamm, Ayre, McIntosh in the not too long ago past. I can honestly say the Ref5 combines many of the strengths of those preamps into one single, extremely impressive package. I love the body and rich harmonics of the Ref5. There is no leanness or grain, no fatiguing, brittle sound that tries to impress with extra resolution and airiness. With both the Tannoy and Wilson speakers and the 2301 amps, the all tubed system I have been using to audition this preamp with is simply superb. Breathing with three dimensionality, palpable, rich, full bodied images appear on the spacious soundstage. Conveying the true emotion and unraveling the threads of musical content along with the rich harmonics into a breath taking, engaging, easy to absorb presentation, this preamp presents music in a way that is both addicting and intoxicating...

Dynamics are superb, the Ref5 will also bring out the very best of the 2301s. There is evidently much more performance still burried in the 2301s waiting to be discovered by a preamp that is truly capable of doing so. The Ref5 gets it done!

You can't ask for much more from a preamp. This ARC Ref5 gets an A+ in my book. If the Anniversary Edition is that much better, well, I'd be speachless and wouldn't dream of anything else again.

[cmalak]

Originally Posted by PHC1

If the Anniversary Edition is that much better, well, I'd be speachless and wouldn't dream of anything else again.

Serge...glad you are liking it. As for the Anniversary preamp, JV seems to think it is substantially better. He called the Ref 5 a hot rodded Ref 3. The Anniversary amp he says is in a different league. Ofcourse one must hear for themselves to make their own judgement. Glad the Ref 5 is getting it done for you with the MC2301s

[Jerome W]

Great write up Serge !
Now you gave me the will to listen to the Ref 5 !
Someone told me that he listened to the 2301's with both the 500T and the Ref 5 and the Ref5 outperformed the 500. It seems that you found the same.
This guy now says all the time : " Preamps = ARC. Tube amps = McIntosh".
I have to arrange a demo of the Ref 5.
Thanks a lot !

[joeinid]

What is the typical tube life for the Ref 5?

[cmalak]

Originally Posted by joeinid

What is the typical tube life for the Ref 5?

Joe...the 6H30 signal tubes in the Ref 5 are rated to last up to 10,000 hrs although many suggest you should start thinking about swapping tubes after you hit the 5,000 hr mark.

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by cmalak

Joe...the 6H30 signal tubes in the Ref 5 are rated to last up to 10,000 hrs although many suggest you should start thinking about swapping tubes after you hit the 5,000 hr mark.

Thank you Cyril! I bet it sounds nice, although I'd be eating tubes like crazy.

[cmalak]

Joe...it depends. Most people don't leave their tube pres or amps on 24/7. So if you estimate 3 hrs of usage a day (which is a lot), then you will use 1095 hrs in a year (assuming you listen 3 hrs a day every day), which for the 5000 hr tube life mark gives you 4.5 yrs of usage, and at the 10,000 hr tube life mark, gives you 9.1 years of usage. And that is with very aggressive listening assumptions. Not too bad really. You will probably change the amps due to the LuFlu before running out of tube life

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by cmalak

You will probably change the amps due to the LuFlu before running out of tube life

Ha! I hear there's a lot of that going around. It's too bad the pre's don't have a built in timer to turn them off . But your math makes sense. Sometimes I get lazy and fall asleep to the music . Good music is so relaxing.


Serge,

Thank you for sharing your experiences with all the new gear. Must be a ton of fun.


Joe

[Tonepub]

The 6H30 is a really robust tube. I actually got 18,000 out of the set in my CJ Act2. I was very impressed. We'll see how they do in the REF2 Phono...

[cmalak]

Jeff...that's impressive!