I did get to compare the REF 1 against it at home - REF was clean and I loved the remote, but the magic was much more evident on the LS5 MK III. I have since upgraded the III with Infinicaps and am thinking about tube rolling.
Help with an ARC LS5 MK III
Hi all. I bought a used Audio Research LS5 MkIII to basically see what I was missing if anything. This Model has gotten rave reviews as being very musical and considered to be one of the best preamps that ARC made. This replaced a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 in my system. I've been listening for about 2 hours now and can't help but think that the Line 1 may be the better preamp.
With the Line 1, I have a mix of NOS tubes in there including a pair of Siemens and Ediswan. The sound is very detailed and smooth, but what bothered me has a tendency towards glare on dynamic passages.
I expected the ARC to be more holographic and just overall better, but it sounds like there's just a veil over the system. The soundstage is a little bigger and wider and the glare is almost gone but it's missing the bass slam of the Line 1 and the high end extension. The ARC still has the stock Sovtek 6922's in there but I've read on a few threads that some people prefered these.
I looking for some advice at this point. Is it the tubes, the cables or just me? Here's my associated equipment:
Sonic Frontiers Power 2
Cary CD303/100
Vienna Acoustics Beethovens
Cardas Golden Reference XLR's
and Cardas Neutral Reference Speaker Cables.
Thanks in advance for all the advice. Mike.
With the Line 1, I have a mix of NOS tubes in there including a pair of Siemens and Ediswan. The sound is very detailed and smooth, but what bothered me has a tendency towards glare on dynamic passages.
I expected the ARC to be more holographic and just overall better, but it sounds like there's just a veil over the system. The soundstage is a little bigger and wider and the glare is almost gone but it's missing the bass slam of the Line 1 and the high end extension. The ARC still has the stock Sovtek 6922's in there but I've read on a few threads that some people prefered these.
I looking for some advice at this point. Is it the tubes, the cables or just me? Here's my associated equipment:
Sonic Frontiers Power 2
Cary CD303/100
Vienna Acoustics Beethovens
Cardas Golden Reference XLR's
and Cardas Neutral Reference Speaker Cables.
Thanks in advance for all the advice. Mike.