Audio Research Ref 5 preamp

I wish I could say that the improvements of the Ref5 are slight versus the Ref3, but IMHO they are not.
The Ref 5 has lower noise and higher resolution, but also handles dynamics in a more musical way.
I have measured the noise and distortion spectrum of the Ref5 and both broadband noise and mains harmonics are really lower than those of the Ref3.

>how the heck can these guys justify charging more then the
>Ref3 list price when it's less work etc.

Just consider that the usd/euro rate is less than .70 today.

I owned a Ref3 and now own a Ref5. It was a mystery for me how ARC could sell the Ref3 for 10000 usd - other preamps in this price did not have the build quality of the Ref3.
Looking at current used prices of the Ref3 at audiogon it is now definitively a true audiophile bargain !

I bought the Pagode rack some years ago when I still had the Ref3 and CD7. I had an old Target that was solid and had a special decoupled upper shelf for the turntable that I used for the CD7, but I was astonished with difference when I moved the system - everything become more solid and bass become quicker, voices were more defined and articulate, becoming more dramatic. After a few months I returned to the old rack to try another system in the Pagode and it was a big step back - some parts of the music seemed blurred.

Dev, you just wrote it much better than me! But I got a similar improvement in my ARC system CD8 + Ref5 moving it to a Finite Element Pagode Master Reference rack.
This rack is unhappily very expensive, but was one improvement I could hear! Curiously, at that time I also owned a Dartzeel preamp that was much less sensitive to placing.

Do you know which cables were being used with these ARC systems?