ARC SP16 vs SP8

Nick, you make a great point, i might have my speakers too close to eachother. I will try to space them further apart. My room is small which is why i bought magnepan mc1 on stands with a sub for the low end. They are about 4 feet from the wall. Im gonna space them out about 5 1/2 to 6 feet apart. I had them about 4 feet apart. I usually sit 6 feet away from the speakers. The sub is behind the right maggie in the corner which sounds really good.
Elizabeth, 1,400 for a 15 is steal if its anything like the 10 or 11. I paid more for the 16 lol. If i ever see that pre amp for that price im all over it. I also use a ps audio duet which at first was really bright but calmed down over time. Im not sure if it improved my system, but i havent removed it.

Oh yea as far as cables are, i use tara labs prime m2 from the turntable to the preamp, tara air 2 from the preamp to amp, audioquest rocket 88 speaker cables, and shunyata venom power cords.

Yea im starting to think that even 6 feet apart is still not enough, im gonna have to live with it. Im not sure how far i should sit from the speakers.

Honestly from what i heard about the 10, the cost to retube it is alot. What i do like about the 16 is how neutral it is, im not sure if i would like a warmer coloration. I think the 16 is more closer to the sound of your 15 than the 10, but mabey not as detailed or as front row.

Thank you everyone for your help. I think im gonna keep the preamp and work on speaker positioning. Moving them around as wide as i can get has helped. I also tried tilting the speakers slightly downward because the stands made for the mc1 are 24 inches high, making the speakers 70 inches tall. My seat is 16 inches high. I think that was part of the problem. Hifi geek, i do hear noise in the power supply, i did recently retube it with arc's west germany tubes from arc.

Wow i gotta say with the speakers 6 feet apart, 4 feet out into the room and sitting 8 feet back, the system is much more stereophonic. Fantastic actually you guys nailed it and i was looking at the preamp. The speed of the sp16, vs110 and maggies is jaw dropping.