Frankly, I am pleasantly surprised. My take (rightly or wrongly) is that Mr. Wasserman must sell a lot of ARC gear such that the folks at ARC could not say "no".
I love my Ref 6 and Ref 150SE combination. I paid full boat for each three years ago. I will not be spending $3000 to upgrade. I have no doubt that the SE will sound both different and better. How much different and how much better will vary among listeners. Whether the $3,000 is a value play will also differ among each owner. I invested long green on Cardas Clear Beyond XLR's to connect the two after experimenting and finding ARC's recommendation to buy the very best XLR's one could afford very true.
My own personal situation is that my loudspeakers and listening room (combined) are a much greater impediment to better sound than any incremental difference there might be between the Ref 6 and Ref 6 SE. ARC's price structure for both new equipment and accessories (e.g. replacement tubes) is on the very high side. They have always positioned themselves as a barely affordable luxury brand compared to the likes of Lamm and CH Precision. I sense the same applies to their upgrades. This is just pure conjecture, but I think ARC is charging $3K to do changes that someone like, say for example, Mike Sanders at Quicksilver would charge $1000 for doing. They don't give existing owners breaks on upgrades.
And further, the Ref 6 SE will then be eclipsed in 2-3 years by a Ref 7.
I have reached a point in my personal audio journey where I feel content and don't have to have the latest/greatest. I hope it sticks.
