Stefanovitch, it appears to me that what you really want is the AI and are hoping that the comments about it being the equal of the AR are true. I am with Mofimadness; I would take the SP11 any day. He also rightly points out the price differential. I would submit that there is a reason that the differential exists; and it is not only because of the AR's original list price. I think that this thread proves, once again, that there is no substitute for listening for oneself and that "better" for one listener can be a totally different thing than for another. My perspective:
I owned the AI Modulus 2C and then the 2D for many years before replacing the 2D with a Counterpoint SA5 which I thought was an infinitely "better" preamp that the 2D. Why? Because although the 2D had a larger and more stable soundstage with practically no image wander, it lacked the sense of dynamic aliveness (like live music) that the Counterpoint had. The Audible also sounded dark and with images that were too thick (but pinpoint stable). A couple of years later when the upgrade bug bit again I purchased the recently released Audio Research SP9 which was very very similar sounding to the SP11; the hottest preamp at the time. While auditioning the SP9, I was able to also listen to the SP11 quite a bit in order to compare. They both sounded fantastic in the two different systems that I heard them in. I bought the SP9 and it turned out to be one of the most frustrating audio experiences that I have ever had. Long story short, what the experience taught me was that, while the SP9 was a potentially much better preamp than the Counterpoint, my system was not ready for the true neutrality of the SP9; it did not add much character to the overall sound and caused the system to sound way too lean. However, it was very realistic dynamically and very very clean sounding in comparison; the potential was obvious. After living with the SP9 for a while I sold it and started looking again; around this time the AI M3 was released and I was able to compare it to the SP9. Similar reaction as to the AI M2D: the Modulus had beautifully stable and large soundstaging, but sounded thick and dark in the sense of not having a sense of limitless extension in the highs; it also sounded dynamically polite to me.
IMO, the Audible is a terrific preamp for the money; maybe impossible to beat. However, in my audio book, it is not in the same league as the SP11. The SP11 is one of the classic preamps and I don't think it does anything less well than the Audible. However, I believe that for your system to make its superiority obvious, it needs to be at an overall level where you, as it's architect, are thinking more in terms of removing sonic character instead of adding character in order to come up with a pleasant end result. If the price difference between the two is not an issue, I think that you would ultimately have much better sound with the SP11. Good luck.
I owned the AI Modulus 2C and then the 2D for many years before replacing the 2D with a Counterpoint SA5 which I thought was an infinitely "better" preamp that the 2D. Why? Because although the 2D had a larger and more stable soundstage with practically no image wander, it lacked the sense of dynamic aliveness (like live music) that the Counterpoint had. The Audible also sounded dark and with images that were too thick (but pinpoint stable). A couple of years later when the upgrade bug bit again I purchased the recently released Audio Research SP9 which was very very similar sounding to the SP11; the hottest preamp at the time. While auditioning the SP9, I was able to also listen to the SP11 quite a bit in order to compare. They both sounded fantastic in the two different systems that I heard them in. I bought the SP9 and it turned out to be one of the most frustrating audio experiences that I have ever had. Long story short, what the experience taught me was that, while the SP9 was a potentially much better preamp than the Counterpoint, my system was not ready for the true neutrality of the SP9; it did not add much character to the overall sound and caused the system to sound way too lean. However, it was very realistic dynamically and very very clean sounding in comparison; the potential was obvious. After living with the SP9 for a while I sold it and started looking again; around this time the AI M3 was released and I was able to compare it to the SP9. Similar reaction as to the AI M2D: the Modulus had beautifully stable and large soundstaging, but sounded thick and dark in the sense of not having a sense of limitless extension in the highs; it also sounded dynamically polite to me.
IMO, the Audible is a terrific preamp for the money; maybe impossible to beat. However, in my audio book, it is not in the same league as the SP11. The SP11 is one of the classic preamps and I don't think it does anything less well than the Audible. However, I believe that for your system to make its superiority obvious, it needs to be at an overall level where you, as it's architect, are thinking more in terms of removing sonic character instead of adding character in order to come up with a pleasant end result. If the price difference between the two is not an issue, I think that you would ultimately have much better sound with the SP11. Good luck.