Pass amp paired with audio research pre?


 Wondering if anyone has had experience matching a pass labs amp with an audio research preamp. Do they make a good combination?  Thinking  about audio research reference 5SE matched to one of the X series pass amps. I have Harbeth 401.2 speakers...kind regards 
128x128fanotunes

Showing 2 responses by caphill

@bdp24 

ARC owners can sometimes resemble owners of Linn ;-) .

In regards to your statement above, that is not true at all. Not sure what you meant by that. 
I have owned Linn products in the past and currently own ARC Reference series gears.

For those of you here who claimed that ARC house sound is uninvolving I would have to disagree with that broad general statement. You should have a listen to the ARC Reference 10 linestage preamp and other Reference series power amps such as the Ref 750 SE vacuum tube monoblock amps. Perhaps the entry level and lower end ARC products might not sound as involving as their Reference series gears. I have only listened to their Reference series gears such as the Ref 10 linestage pre and couple different Reference series models of power amps such as the Ref 750 SE vacuum tube monoblock amps and the newest latest Reference series monoblock amps that were introduced recently (can’t remember model number). So I can’t say for their lower end or entry level series products.

In regards to some of the comments made here about the so-called house sound of a particular brand, I would have to disagree with that. that’s a generalization based on insufficient evidence and facts. The so called and mentioned house sounds might have been attributed by some other components in the chain eg speakers, front end source components (both digital & analog), cablings, etc, etc.
There are so many contributing factors that some people came up with their own conclusions and called it a "house sound".