Audible Illusions Modulus 3 Audio Research SP-11

I'll throw in my perspective, (for what it's worth). I was an ARC dealer for many years and an AI dealer for a few years.

I have personally owned an AI 2C, 2D, 3 and 3A. I have owned almost every preamp that ARC made back in the day.

I would take the SP-11 or SP-15 any day over the AI 3A. This is just a personal preference.

Since we are taking used here, the price difference is pretty large. The ARC SP-11/15 are still going for around $3000 and I've seen AI 3As for around $1000. So that would have to be a factor.

"Counterpoint SA-5 and it was far beyond anything Audio
Research ever did."

This is total BS! I was one of the top Counterpoint dealers
in the country. While the SA-5.1 was an excellent preamp
and one of my all time favorites, this statement is crap.
Two totally different flavors of sound. Each had it's pros
and cons, but to have a blanket statement like this is
wrong.

I really liked what Frogman stated: "I think that this
thread proves, once again, that there is no substitute for
listening for oneself and that "better" for one
listener can be a totally different thing than for
another."

Sounds to me like you have already made your decision, so
just move on.

Stefanovitch...so you saying that you currently own (4) ARC SP-11's? I find that kinda hard to believe?

Also ARC never made a SP-11MK3. They made a SP-11SE (Special Edition) out of the last 50 or so SP-11MK2 models, but never a MK3.

I am really confused by your initial post if you already have the ARC unit(s)? Not sure what your end game is here?

To clear things up, the "Hotrod" mode uses the
bypass switch AND the DIRECT outputs to be fully hotrodded
:-)

The SP11 has four different RCA outputs: Main 1, Main 2,
Direct and Invert.

So to be fully hotrodded, the unit needs to have the bypass
switch engaged and use the Direct outputs. You can use the
bypass switch with any of the RCA outputs, but again to be
in full hotrod mode you need both.