Lostbears: Thanks for the quick reply! To get one idea "off the table," I eliminated borrowing a newer pre amp (SP17 or LS17) from my dealer, or taking my SP8 in to the dealer, because my objective would be to buy the component used (after all, this is Audiogon!). So taking up his time, knowing that he won't get the sale is, to me, unethical. (When I knew I would be giving him business, as when I bought my Magneplanars, I of course used as much of his demo time as I could.)
ARC SP-8 to SP-17?
The appearance of a couple of SP-17s (and at least one LS-17) for sale over the past month made me day-dream a bit (until I get my taxes paid, this is probably all that I can do for now!). I'm using an SP-8 pre amp, re-tubed and re-capped by ARC in 2009, driving an ARC 150.2. What I wonder is whether swapping the older pre amp for the newer one would be a real improvement, or a very minor improvement, or a lateral. While the obvious test would be to try it, that isn't easy to arrange. The route which seems to be a more likely improvement would be to go for an LS17 plus something like a PH5 phono stage, but that is quite a bit more costly. Any thoughts from you ARC users out there?