My Ref Phono 2 is now (or soon to be) outdated...

[Puma Cat]

I rode high performance sport bikes for many years, and it reminds me of the "600 wars"...where every two years the top 600 would be whichever one was the latest one to market. A lot of guys would jump ship to the latest bike that was the hot setup of the moment. Got to the point where they all so close that the differences came down to tenths in lap times, or 0.05 seconds in 0 to 60 times. Not sure how relevant 0.05 seconds was in the final analysis when what I really wanted was a bike I could live with in the long term, day in and day out, rather than worry about whether I could accelerate from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds or 2.95 seconds.

[darkstar]

IMO, at the end of the day, companies need to make a fair profit. Offering a meaningful enhancement, via an upgrade, is fair to both the consumer and the company. We both win.

Rich

[Puma Cat]

All this being said, I'd love to have an ARC Ref 2 Phono of any vintage!

[Puma Cat]

As are we all...after all, they led the revolution "re-introducing" the use of tubes in stereo products in the late 70s and 80s that developed into the high-end. They were absolutely key in getting audio reviewers away from only being focussed on measuring components in the lab and back into actually listening to them.

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by tima

Don't think for a moment the guys in Plymouth are not totally attuned to the the value proposition in the high-end marketplace. Let's not under estimate how a much prosperous ARC is important for the health our hobby. I for one am happy that Audio Research continues to pursue the state of the art in phono preamplifiers, independent of vinyl sales.

Agreed.

[turntable]

I actually think the SE versions of the ref2 phono and Ref5 are sensible and actually giving the buyer some value for money.

ARC have used similar advances they believe were good for the now finished REF40 pre amp and made them available in their next best, the ref5 and ref2 phono.

That they have made them available for existing customers to upgrade their units is great.

Good work ARC

[Puma Cat]

So, guys, what comprises the SE versions of the two and how much do the upgrades cost?

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

So, guys, what comprises the SE versions of the two and how much do the upgrades cost?

I heard here that the cost of the upgrade would be 1k : so it would equal the price increase between the 2 units.

[Puma Cat]

That's quite affordable, enough so there would be no reason not to do it...I wonder what the changes are.

It's certainly less than what C-J wants to take a Premier 17 to LS2 status: $3550!

Almost all of that is the cost of the Teflon caps, I'm told, which are horrendously expensive. The Ref2 Phono already has Teflon caps, does it not?

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

That's quite affordable, enough so there would be no reason not to do it...I wonder what the changes are.

It's certainly less than what C-J wants to take a Premier 17 to LS2 status: $3550!

Almost all of that is the cost of the Teflon caps, I'm told, which are horrendously expensive. The Ref2 Phono already has Teflon caps, does it not?

Not sure. I think so. But the new power supply will be bigger in the SE so I supposed that they increased the number of the caps.
You're Stephen, 1k will be a good price ( now that we know that major companies are following us, we should never say that and we should keep complaining about high prices....). As always, these 1k will surely be converted in 3k euros here !