Audio Research LS10

My local dealer had one two years ago. I took it home for an audition. When I tried it, a problem surfaced - there was no isolation between inputs - in other words a signal applied to input x was still quite audible when another input was selected. After the dealer sent it back to ARC for repair, I tried it again.

This time it worked fine. I liked the sound. It was very neutral with good bass control. I would have kept it except for one thing - I really wanted a remote controlled phase inversion switch which the LS-10 didn't support.

I ended up with a Krell KRC-HR.

There was a favorable review of this preamp in the now defunct Fi magazine, but I can't recall which issue. I remember the reviewer commenting on the large power supply and good dynamics of the preamp.

I sold an LS-10 here on the 'Gon about 5 months ago after keeping it for about 3 years. I have since purchased the Ref-1, I kept it 2 months, sold it and I now have the Ref2 Mk2.

When the LS-10 is good, it is astounding. Pitch black background, excellent layering and broad and deep soundstage and incredibly detailed. It had the best vocals I've ever heard.

The converse is that it can be awfully inconsistent. On some recordings that I've been familiar with for years, it did not deliver all of the information on the recording. Background vocals were sometimes too faint, certain musical passages were not fully fleshed out and sometimes the vocals sounded like the singer was singing from a deep hole. It got to a point where I had to separate which recordings were playable with it.

The funny thing is though, because of it's price, I'm considering buying one again for my second system.....I'll just have to cull the recordings that sound good with it.

I had the AR SP9.....it's not even close to the LS-10. The Ref-1 was better all around than the LS-10 because it was much more even from recording to recording. I got rid of the Ref-1 because of the mid-bass bloat. The Ref2 Mk2 outclassed them both across the board with it's total presentation.