Audio Research LS vs SP?

The SP series are full function pre-amps manufactured by Audio Research from the 1970's through the late 1980's. They all have a phono stage. The LS series are line stage only pre-amps from the early 1990's to the present. If you have a turntable and vinyl is an important part of your listening pleasure, you may be interested in an SP series pre-amp. I have owned both the SP-6 and SP-8 which I presently use. They are very well made units and are probably one of the best values in a full function pre-amp on the used market from a price performance standpoint. They may not have the ultimate neutrality and transparency of the newer pre-amps but you really won't care once you hear what they do with the music. I recently was on a quest to locate a SP-10 MK2, one of the most musical tube pre-amps ever made and still highly sought after. I received a call from a gentleman who was interested in selling his because he was finally upgrading. He called me back a few days before I was going to go look at the unit. He told me that after listening to his new pre-amp over the past 2 weeks (a really expensive well known unit)he decided to stick with the SP-10 Mk2 because he just couldn't part with the wonderful phono stage of this unit. This gentleman has a system well over 100K including Infinity IRS 5 speakers. If you don't play vinyl the LS may be for you. The LS-15 is a very good line stage pre-amp that you can find at a reasonable price, 1.4K-1.5K. Good Luck

Cobra95 so far as what combination is right, it is hard to make a recommendation on an amplifier without knowing what the rest of your system is and how much power you need. I definitely prefer the ARC tube amps over the D200 which is a solid state amplifier that Brauser recommends but there are many things to consider. The ARC tube units run very hot, there is the tube replacement cost to consider and they may not work well with certain speakers. But on the up side ALL of the ARC tube amps especially the D series tube amps offer much better midrange presence than do the SS amps from ARC, IMO. Examples are the D-70, D-90, D-115, D-76, D-250 (mucho power!)and the D-79. I personally do not care as much for the Classic series which came after the D series amps. The VT series are also very good but you are going to pay more, they are the current models. Some of the above are in Audiogon and at quite reasonable prices. Solid state is the safe easy route but once you go with tubes you will have trouble going back to solid state. Many would argue that point so you really have to listen and make up your own mind.