Audio Research ref3, vtl 7.5 vs FS paramount MKII

In wandering about the analog preamp world...mainly due to the fact that the 861 v4, while good...is not a the top of the class in analog reproduction. I listened to a number of preamps in stores...a benefit of travel...and the ARC LS26 and Ref 3, Ayre 5 and VTL 6.5 in my home...driving solid state monoblocks...for me the VTL provided the best balance between the speed/fast settling of the best of SS and the detailed clarity of the mid range without turning the lowend control towards the soft end of the scale...thus for now the 6.5...but I am considering the 7.5mkII, Ayre KX-R...and possibly the new Spectral DMC30SS...so those are my thoughts....bottom line the VTL seems to combine the best of tube...with SS...my only quibel....it would be nice to have ZERO feedback....but on the other I can't point the finger at a problem it causes...

John

salvo: i am wondering if you have had the opportunity at this time to audition any of the preamps on your list? if you are seriious about the ref 3, i would also see about an auditon with the vtl 6.5 if the vtl7.5 mk2 is not in the budget.

guidocorona - your comments noted. wishing you the opportunity to explore the vtl 7.5 mk 2 at length for your comments some day. i know you have done good listening with the vtl 6.5 at your friend's on the east coast.

hikejohn - dont forget to share your opinions and comparisons after ample audions of the high end ayre.vtl/spectral preamps when you have the time. inquiring minds want to know LOL. cheers

I had the experience in my listening room to compare the VTL 6.5 and my Ref 3. I have to notice that my Ref 3 has 2800 hrs on the tubes and that I read on many threads this isn't right especially for the 6550 (Guidocorona thanks for your evaluation). To be honest I did not experience any downgrade in my listening...but I will keep you posted since i have decided to retube in the next month or so. Now on the listening...
The firt thing and most important to report is that the ref3 has very high acceptance in the input and does like input voltage of about 4 Volts better than 2 Volts. For the VTL is the exact opposite. Infact just switching from Ref 3 to VTL with High voltage CD made the vtl sounding very bad in comparison; Harsh sound, flat dinamics, flat soundstage... With High Voltage there is no comparison: Ref 3 is much much better.
Adjusting the voltage to 2 volts ( possible on the wadia 27) the situation has strongly improved and the Vtl started to sing. In this situation what we noticed has been a warmer sound on the VTL, the low frequency more extended and the piano more silky... In other words less stressing sound...especially for Piano. The ref.3 seems to have more definition but at the expense of being sometimes stressing.
Now the evaluation has been made with the input set at 2 volts...But ARC likes 4 volts and with this set-up it gains a lot of dynamic and lifelike sound. So with appropriate set-up I still prefer the Ref.3
I'm not sure I would trade my ref 3 for the 6.5. This is especially true for the Phono input. Infact my Ref Phono has high gain and I fear this would be not compatible with the vtleven I did not do this experiment. I sense the 7.5 is probably really superior. I will let you know if by changing the tubes to my ref 3 anything will shift toward a warmer sound.

"You might be surprised but I owned a pair of Avalon Opus(25000 Euro) and I replaced them with the Harbeth"

Hello Drubin
I'm not surprised! ehe
I had the Harbeth C7ESII and I know how magical is the Harbeth production

Marco_esposito - 2800h is indeed a bit too much for the 6550 in Ref 3.

If you are about to change 6550 tube, I would strongly suggest trying NOS TungSol 6550 tube. The improvement is very substantial. It brought my Ref 3 to another level sonicly. There is a thread on this topic:

ARC Ref 3: Tung-Sol 6550 in power supply?