I can't believe all the praise on the LS2xxx. There are enough people who have owned this, and even upgraded it, paid a lot of money for all this only to learn that a stock LS5 in any version destroys the LS2. Without having heard direct comparisons here, in the same system at the same time, claims of this vs. that don't carry a lot of merit.
I suggest you do a search here on Audiogon to read these comments by many people.
And to hear that a tube product's real strength is that it only has one tube.....hah? I would think that the strength would relate to its musical presentation, resolution, etc. And if you only have $1k to spend, I think buying the LS2 just for the sake of owning an ARC tube product, will result in you getting the kind of sound that I suspect you will not be happy with.
Please talk to Steve Huntley before you go this route. And don't buy the LS15 or LS16 for the sake of their balanced topologies. These too are very analytically sounding units. If you like a super neutral product without the 3-dimensionality qualities of a tube product, then you're better off with something like a Klyne line stage. Why bother with all these LS units that have tubes if they bring on none of the qualities of tubes? If you want tubes because of the incredible harmonic richness and bloom, only the LS5, LS25 and Ref products in the ARC lineup will bring this to you. Again, talk to Steve Huntley and ask him his opinions on the LS5. Enough said.
John
I suggest you do a search here on Audiogon to read these comments by many people.
And to hear that a tube product's real strength is that it only has one tube.....hah? I would think that the strength would relate to its musical presentation, resolution, etc. And if you only have $1k to spend, I think buying the LS2 just for the sake of owning an ARC tube product, will result in you getting the kind of sound that I suspect you will not be happy with.
Please talk to Steve Huntley before you go this route. And don't buy the LS15 or LS16 for the sake of their balanced topologies. These too are very analytically sounding units. If you like a super neutral product without the 3-dimensionality qualities of a tube product, then you're better off with something like a Klyne line stage. Why bother with all these LS units that have tubes if they bring on none of the qualities of tubes? If you want tubes because of the incredible harmonic richness and bloom, only the LS5, LS25 and Ref products in the ARC lineup will bring this to you. Again, talk to Steve Huntley and ask him his opinions on the LS5. Enough said.
John