ARC Reference 6 or Cary SLP 05 with upgrade?


Yeah, it's me again. The Voyager has settled in nicely and I think I would benefit from a better preamp. A friendly local dealer dropped by today with a ARC LS28. That was headed in the right direction but was not close to a $12,000 improvement. I could probably swing a used ARC Reference 6, but somehow the Cary SLP 05 has caught my attention. Everything I read about it is very positive but I don't know if it would lend more of a full sound than increased transparency. Has anyone been able to compare these two directly? 

Currently: Bricasti M3 > Rogue RP-7 > LSA Voyager > Fyne F1-8

One of the things that appeals to me about the Cary, aside from cost, is it uses 6sn7 tubes which are now being manufactured by Lin Lai and have a reputation for great sonics.

Anyway, I await your wisdom. 

markmuse

@markmuse , A most excellent choice, do post your considerations once your REF6SE has settled in 😎

ARC specifies that the Reference 6 provides 12dB of gain via its balanced outputs and 6dB via its single-ended outputs; 1.7uV RMS of residual noise, IHF weighted, noise with volume at “1” (109dB below 2V RMS output); and less than 0.01% distortion at 2V RMS, balanced output.

 

I just googled it.

Congrats on your decision.  Please let us know how it sounds.  I really don’t think you could have made a bad decision!!!

@ditusa 

It has input gain adjustments L/R. Not the same. And even if it could really reduce the output gain my understanding is the quality of the pots involved are not great.