Is my ARC LS25 MkI holding back the sound?

[2fastdriving]

Originally Posted by birdland

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.

Niiiiiiice. Congrats! You are definitely doing the right thing

[birdland]

To be honest, I am a little bit wary of the change. I have not heard ANY ARC pre-amps with 6h30 tubes. I love the fact that I can tweak the sound of my LS25 by changing its 6922 tubes. Now, I will be 'stuck' with whatever the 6h30s do to my system. However, I keep thinking that there must be something to the REF line so I took the plunge.

First, I replaced my two VT100 Mk IIs with a REF 150 and now an LS25 Mk I with a REF 5SE. This is really scary boys and girls BUT do try this at home.

[2fastdriving]

Originally Posted by birdland

To be honest, I am a little bit wary of the change. I have not heard ANY ARC pre-amps with 6h30 tubes. I love the fact that I can tweak the sound of my LS25 by changing its 6922 tubes. Now, I will be 'stuck' with whatever the 6h30s do to my system. However, I keep thinking that there must be something to the REF line so I took the plunge.

First, I replaced my two VT100 Mk IIs with a REF 150 and now an LS25 Mk I with a REF 5SE. This is really scary boys and girls BUT do try this at home.

Many people would love to be "stuck" with a Ref 5SE.

[tima]

Originally Posted by birdland

To be honest, I am a little bit wary of the change. I have not heard ANY ARC pre-amps with 6h30 tubes. I love the fact that I can tweak the sound of my LS25 by changing its 6922 tubes. Now, I will be 'stuck' with whatever the 6h30s do to my system. However, I keep thinking that there must be something to the REF line so I took the plunge. .....

First, I replaced my two VT100 Mk IIs with a REF 150 and now an LS25 Mk I with a REF 5SE. This is really scary boys and girls BUT do try this at home.

I went through that in ~2010, upgrading from an ARC PH7 with 4 6922s to a REF Phono 2, where ARC began using the 6H30 in their REF gain stages. (Here for a comparison.) As an inverate tube roller I know the 6DJ8-family well - and yes tube rolling is fun! With proper implementation - which ARC has done - the 6H30 dual triode is a worthy replacement. It is not as sweet or warm as many 6DJ8 types; it is more neutral and clearer with less grain. And perhaps equally important, it is manufactured with a high degree of consistency at a "reasonable" price. The NOS stock of really nice 6DJ8 types is dwindling and their price continues to rise - decent pairs of mid-'60s Siemens, Amperex, or Telefunkens are in the $200-$500 range.

The REF 5SE will yield clearer imaging on a more credible soundstage with better instrument separation, purer pitch, improved harmonics particularly in the mids and upper frequencies, more detail, dynamic vivacity, and low end weight.

You'll want to keep track of tube hours, particularly the single 6550C/WE; and you might as well buy a replacement tube set to have on hand, assuming you keep the unit.

No worries, I bet you love it.

[Randy Myers]

So what are you doing with the LS25 mkI ....

[birdland]

Randy - I think it would go very well with the VT50 although I do not know how it compares to the W4S STP-SE. However, you can tweak the sound because it uses 4 6922s. They aren't really expensive NOS tubes but they will give the buyer an idea of how they affect the sound.

[brad225]

Originally Posted by birdland

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.

I assure you won't be disappointed with you decision on the Ref 5SE.

I had a LS15 Mk1, then MK II then, moved to LS16 with Classic 120 amps. Upgraded the LS16 to the LS26 and moved to VTM 200's. The change of preamp was very noticeable for the better each time.
I moved to the Ref 3 from the LS26 and it was the biggest change of any of the other Line Stages. My speakers started with SL3's to CLS IIz's and now CLX's

Considering you are going further up the Line Stage progression no doubt you will be very happy.

My Ref 3 left to be replaced by the 40th Anniversary Line Stage that is closer to the Ref 5SE than the Ref 3 is.
The VT200's were replaced with 610T's.

I included all of this as I went through a very similar anguish to what you were trying to noodle through.

I can't wait to here your thoughts once you have some listening time. My guess is 30-90 seconds and you will have that goofy grin that comes with an amazing upgrade.

[birdland]

Thanks to everyone for their encouraging feedback. I am really looking forward to listening to the REF 5SE with my standard testing repertoire especially now that I have my W4S DAC-2v2SE with ESS 9038PRO chip. The DAC-2 DSDse to DAC-2v2SE was a considerable upgrade.

After the pre-amp replacement, I'll probably look to upgrading my turntable. I still have an original Rega Planar 2 albeit modified, it is still an original Planar 2.

[Randy Myers]

Gratz on the new pre-amp and the new W4S DAC.... awesome!

[John49]

Is my ARC LS25 Mk1 holding back the sound? If you are like most of us here, your limited income stream is holding back the sound! [emoji33]