2. amps-preamps
  3. 1444543472

ARC ref 5SE current or past owners

Hi
I have an option of buying a preowned ref5SE.
My amps are the Audionet MAX and my natural choice would be the Audionet top of the line pre but I don't have where to audition.
My current pre is the MBL based MC601 by music culture technologies.
I never thought I will go for a tube pre again but I can audition the ref5 probably next week so I will give it a shot.
What should I expect from the ref5 Se?
Previous owners - which pre replaced it and why?
Did anyone compare it to Audionet pre G2 by any chance ?
Thanks in advance to all repliers.
icorem

Showing 5 responses by icorem

icorem OP
149 posts
 
BIF
Thanks for the reply.
I'm leaning currently towards the Audionet pre.
icorem OP
149 posts
 
Thanks
I will be able to audition. I'm hesitant as for the impedance matching with my amp in balanced.
Do you use it balanced or single ended ?
icorem OP
149 posts
 
Hi again
I had the Ref5SE for home audition for the past 2 days.
As anticipated I had impedance matching problems with my Audionet MAX amps. In XLR - total mess but in RCA it worked fine when the volume was at 50 and up. It sounded then much better than my current pre but I won't take it because of these synergy problems. My lesson was however that i have much to upgrade in the preamp department. As previously said I might eventually buy blindly the matched Audionet preamp but until then I will try to audition some more. Any recs ?
icorem OP
149 posts
 
BIF
When hooked to the RCA input the ref5 sounded very good but as I said the volume level was at 50 and up so I won't go for the ref5 as these limitations might cause problems in the future.

BDP24 - can you elaborate a little bit ? I didn't understand exactly what do you mean by "improve test bench specs". Do you think Audionet is trying to push the owners away from high output impedance tube preamps...?
icorem OP
149 posts
 
Bif
I totally agree with you, but when other owners say that their volume level rarely go over 40, I think it has something to do with the impedance ratio between the units and the long IC between the amps and the pre.
I've yet to find a better solution but will probably audition the Constellation 1.0 line stage or buy blindly the Audionet pre g2...
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